I'm a new 676 owner. I spent 15 minutes last night with the Harmony Wizard and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to get base functionality established between it and my TV, satellite receiver, stereo receiver, DVD player, and VCR. Now I'd like to take the remote to the next level.

I'd like to have the 676 emulate some of the advanced features of the remote that came with the satellite receiver (Dish Network 811). When I press the Guide button on the 676, the Dish Network guide appears. The PgUp and PgDn soft keys emulate the up/down keys on the satellite's remote, but how can I emulate the left/right keys to move backward and forward through the guide? There's a subtle cursor pad around the OK button that could serve to emulate all four keys, but it doesn't seem to respond. I'm sure I will find additional keys/functions that are either missing or difficult for me to find on the 676. What's the best way to proceed? How easy is it to customize what the Harmony Remote wizard has programmed into the remote? Where do I begin? The manual that came with the 676 doesn't describe anything other than the basics.

I'd also like to specify where the audio should come (the TV or the stereo receiver) when watching content from the satellite receiver. The satellite receiver sends one audio signal to the TV and another signal to the stereo receiver. I typically listen to audio through the TV, but I'd like to be able to program the 676 to have it toggle between the audio on the TV and the audio on the stereo receiver. Originally, I programmed the "Watch TV" activity to include the stereo receiver, but I wasn't able to figure out how to have the option of choosing which device should play the audio--so I removed the stereo receiver from that activity. What is the best way to proceed?

Thanks!

Each device has it's own set of button customizations that are active when you go into device mode (hitting device and picking one). You can customize these so that the buttons are mapped to whatever IR command you want. Make sure your Dish device has the left and right buttons mapped to the cursor pad.

Each activity has it's own set of button customizations - the difference is you can assign IR commands from any device to any button. So volume can control your receiver while channel up/down goes to the Dish receiver and other buttons change the TV function, etc.

Most people find that it's so easy to use the Receiver for sound with the Harmony that they just use it all the time. It will always sound better than the TV and the harmony takes care of turning it off and on and setting the input so it's really a no-brainer. If you really need to use the TV speakers sometimes then create a new activity and tell it you use the TV for sound and don't include the receiver.

To be slightly more specific if you have not done this before, you can customize the behavior of buttons for a device by clicking the link to the options for the devices down the left hand side of your member home page. You can customize the behavior of buttons for an activity by clicking the link to the options for the activities down the right hand side of your member home page.

Thanks, guys!

So I can customize the behavior of all the buttons for when an activity is active? And I should do this through the web interface? If that's the case, there doesn't seem to be much need for customizing the behavior of buttons for particular devices, is there? Except for the really advanced and/or rarely used functions. Or am I missing something?

When is there ever a need to have a Harmony learn from an existing remote? Only if the associated device isn't already in the database?

I recall someone saying that they preferred to bypass the web interface altogether and program their Harmony from scratch. What is the advantage of doing that?

Good suggestion on using the receiver's audio exclusively. My only concern is that the components are below the TV and there is a coffee table between our line-of-site on the sofa and the components. I noticed a few times already where one or more of the components didn't receive the signal unless I held the remote up over the coffee table. Not sure how I'm going to address that.

Yes, you can customize almost every button on the remote. It is worth it to make sure that the buttons are assigned correctly for each device and for both picture and sound modes, but there is rarely much need to go into great detail.

There is no way to bypass the web interface on a Harmony its the only way to program it. It IS better to go into the advanced setup and make that your default - its really more intuitive and easier to navigate.

You will need to clean up your LOS (o/w other users will become quickly confused) either by moving things around our by getting an IR repeater of some kind.

An inexpensive IR repeater mounted on top of the TV will solve that problem.

You should setup the device buttons for the few occasions that you have to go into device mode. Not required but it makes it easier, especially if you're using the cursor pad buttons to move around menus. They may already be setup that way and just did not get carried over into the activity button config.

Yes, you only need to use the OEM remote if there is a command or an entire device that isn't already in the database.

Thanks. How would a repeater help, especially on top of the TV? I would think that would have even more difficulty gaining LOS to the components that are underneath the TV.

The reciever is on top of the the TV. The transmitter is somewhere with good LOS to the components.

Most IR repeaters have a receiver and one or more emitters. The emitters have long cables and can be placed anywhere. There are flood emitters that can flash an entire rack of components (if you have a place to mount it with LOS to the rack) or individual emitters that attach directly to each component.

So worst case you have the receiver on top of the tv and individual cables going to each device. The devices can even be behind closed doors.

In my case the receiver is in the wall above the tv and all my components are 20 feet away inside a closet. Works great!