I am trying to set up a state variable in my Pani PT- 53wx52, to turn the internal speakers on and off. The problem is that the "switch" for this is deep inside the setup of the TV. Three different actions need to be performed to three different "variables" before you can "Toggle" this switch. I have sent this question over to the Harmony Support Team last week, and from the E-mails I have recieved, I guess they are working on it. I have attempted all kinds of XML with all different attempts to nest the three variables so that when you attempt to set the next variable, the first variable is in the correct position, the second is in the correct position for the third etc. I'm getting frustrated because the only way you know that it's (in my case wrong} in position is by attempting to upload it. Of course, I have gotten nothing but errors. Has anyone attempted this type of state variable with any success? Anyone even get close? I'm looking for any ideas that I may not have thought of, so I will try anything.

In many devices MUTE is a toggle, can you use MUTE in your TV to accomplish what you want to do?

Unfortunatly not. I knew someone would bring this up after my post, but what I really need is to have the TV, Set the Variable to "speakers off Fixed Audio Out" which is a setting in the audio section. This allows my kids to watch their TV shows using the Dolby Pro Logic amp in Prologic Surround. Mute would just Mute the sound.

In our 'old' Surround system, we switched a lot between the TV speakers and the amp with surround mainly because we could not be bothered to deal with all the remotes or all the buttons we needed to push just to do simple things on an all-in-one.

When we got the new TV/amp/DVD it just made matters worse. That is when I began my search and found the Harmony.

Like you, we started wanting to use the really nice internal TV speakers of our Sony XBR, but found the switching too tedious to do via any remote. Then the light dawned. With the harmony, operating the surround is a no brainer. We simply turned off the TV's speakers forever. (I wish TV manufacturers would offer their high end displays without any internal sound to save some $$ for those of us who will never use the internal speakers)

The harmony does a great job switching the sound and TV inputs to do whatever we want and it is SO easy to just relax and enjoy our full potential all the time.

I don't know about your surround, but mine automatically decodes prologic, dolby digital, etc based on what it 'sees' coming in. It actually does a pretty good 'phantom surround' on those signals that have no such data.

Ever since we decided to go this way, we have never seen a need to ever use the TV's internal speakers again.

I agree that seting the TV speakers to off fixed out and allowing the dolby pro logic amp to do all the audio work is the best sounding with only one problem. As I noted in my first post, the ability to run just the TV speakers is more for my children. I have a 9 and 5 year old.
If I didn't have to worry that they love to use the 5.1 surround at it's MAXIMUM volume... it wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunatly, I can't tell you how many times I've been awoken from a deep sleep at 5:00AM to find the entire house shaking from the subwoofer. You know... that earthquake effect?!?

You are attempting to set state variables for three variables. Is it possible to set the starting point so that one of the variables remains fixed? For example, I tried out MENU on our TV. It defaults to the option that was last used. This sounds similar to one of the state variables you're trying to control. If the TV is shut off and on, it always defaults to PICTURE when MENU is pushed. Is it possible to reset your Panasonic MENU so that it always starts in the same place? If so, that would be one less state variable to know the position of.

I don't believe switching the TV off and on is a good option, but you may be able to figure out the other two variables with this one out of the way.

You could also set up a Watch TV activity for your children that would use the TV speakers, and a Watch TV for you using the receiver.

xandypx,

I understand. Still might be easier to correct the 'behavior' than try to work the 'magic' on the remote.

I solved my kid's abuse of the old TV and surround by installing a 13" Black and white TV in the Computer room and hooking his Sega to that. When the new system was brought in, he got an X-box with the understanding that if he plays the volume too high or is caught sitting any closer than the front of the coffee table, the B&W will come back out. So far, no problems. He has even gone so far as to keep friends from touching anything. I like not having to clean fingerprints. (^_^)

Hi xandypx,

Considering all the help you give others, its a shame to see you get no assistance for your problems. Why dont you start a new thread, and in that thread give as much information as you can about your question. In particular, I know it would help me to know
a) What the problem is (in detail)
b) How you do it using your old remotes
c) Any 'gotchas' that you have already tried
and then maybe we can do some communal head-scratching.

roflmao,

Appreciate the offer, but I was so frustrated that I worked on it all day today. Silly Me... The solution was very simple. I over complicated it by adding an additional "Parent" TAG [STATEVARIABLES] as an Element above the [STATEVARIABLE] TAG. All my nesting and XML was correct from the start. The Harmony XML will accept multiple STATEVARIABLE Tags without a parent TAG. Who Knew?????

Thanks Anyway, But I finally got it all worked out. I think I'm done messing with this thing for a while. Or at least untill I think of something else I want it to do. LOL