It's been several months since I last programmed my Harmony 880 but last week I replaced my cable box for a cable box with built-in DVR. Now this new cable box is exactly the same as the old cable box (except for the DVR part of course) and they use the same remote.

Since the Cable Box/DVR wasn't in the database yet, I created my own new device and had the Harmony learn all commands. When I programmed the Harmony, I noticed some things had changed although I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Anyway, I'm now experiencing the following problem: Right after programming, I test the remote and all is well. If I choose the "Watch TV" activity, my tv and cable box switch on and the tv switches to the proper input. If I press the "Off" button on my remote, everything switches off. Now the weird thing. After a while (sometimes this is a few minutes, sometimes a few hours), the remote no longer switches the cable box ON or OFF. If I choose the a "Watch TV" activity, the cable box does not switch on. And when the cable box is on, pressing the "Off" button does not switch it off. Pressing "Help" does not work. Trying to switch the cable box on or off through device mode does not work either. The only thing that helps is to reprogram the remote, after which everything repeats again (will work for some time, then it will stop working).

Is this a known (new) problem? Is there a solution? And mst importantly, whose @ss do we need to kick at Logitech to get some decent software?

Which cable box? I would be very suprised if there is a DVR box that isn't in the database...

When this problem occurs, does it do the same with the cable box OEM remote?

It's a Cable Box that's being made by the cable company itself and was released Dec 2006.


No, I can still switch it ON/OFF with the original remote.

Is the make and model of the DVR a secret? I promise, we won't tell.

Try relearning the power commands from the original remote in RAW mode.

I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. ;)

No secret here, it's UPC's Mediabox with built-in PVR.


I did that and that really, really sucked. Everything was really slow even though I had set the inter-key interval to 50ms (also tried 100ms and 0ms). So I ended up using an existing device (the UPC Mediabox *without* DVR) and learned the missing commands. It still has difficulty controlling the Cable Box. For instance, sometimes I press the Channel up button and the Cable Box reacts like the key is stuck (and continuously do a Channel Up) until I press another button on the remote. This never happens with the original remote. Nor did this ever happen after the previous time I last programmed the Harmony (a few months ago).