Hi AKirby, thanks for replying and feel free to give up on me if you get fed up, but this has now become a challenge for me!!

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* As I only use AV/HDMI it always goes to that otherwise I would have to scroll on the OEM, however my H555 has a discrete command for HDMI that works fine.


If so then you'll need to

The above is the bit I dont get. The H555 database gives me a custom TVMODE which toggles. Remember my Activities are based on I could come from one of 3 activities i.e. could be the same, the other TV mode or HDMI. So as I understand it the activities could get me out of sync, which is where I started from i.e. Press Help or the Activity again to reverse it.


So I assume the based on the above that the switch to HDMI activity would use the Clone to switch and the 2 TV modes would use the toggle and if i sed the same activity consecutively the H555 would remeber?

I'm sure the light will dawn soon!

Thanks for your patience, Alan

First, the activities only know that the device needs to be on a particular input. It's the device itself that's responsible for figuring out how to get from the current input to the required input. So activities aren't the problem. The problem is the device thinks it can go directly to the digital or analog input by pressing the TVMODE button - but that's not correct. It only takes you back to the previous input which as you said is a 50/50 shot. So it's the device input setup that's incorrect.

Once you setup the clone TV device to use an input list to cycle between digital and analog then the harmony smart state will remember whether it was on digital or analog and it will dynamically figure out whether it needs to switch from one to the other depending on where it was.

Setup the main TV device with discrete inputs - HDMI and a bogus input with a bogus command that does nothing.

Watch DVD - main TV device on HDMI input, no clone device
Watch Digital - main TV device on bogus input, clone on Digital input
Watch Analog - main TV device on bogus input, clone on Analog input

Hope that helps.

OK. I get most of that and I'll try what I think you have written, but I dont get the following


There is no input list between TV Analog & TV Digital



Clone on Digital Input & Clone on Analog Input. They are the same thing then? Right?

Cheers, Alan

I am confused with your usage of the original remote button names and the dataset command names.
1) Test the following commands in device mode, and tell us what they do:
TvVideo........Is it the same as your original remote AV button?
InputTuner....Is it the same as your original remote TV button?
Mode...........?
Note: There is no "TvMode" command in the dataset for the Panasonic TH-42PX70 TV. Maybe you are using a different model.

2) Which of these 3 discrete commands (test them in device mode) select the HDMI input:
InputHdmi1, InputHdmi2, or InputHdmi3?

3) Does the discrete HDMI command reset the TV Tuner Toggle?
Set the TV tuner to digital TV, in device mode, send the discrete HDMI command, now send the TV tuner Toggle command but only once. Which tuner did it select (digital or analog)?

The input list for the Clone has 2 entries - Analog and Digital. Analog tuner is one input, digital tuner is the second input. You cycle between the 2 inputs using the TVMode button (or whatever it's called). It's no different than having 6 different inputs - it works the same either way. You press a button to cycle through the list of inputs.

I think you're viewing both analog and digital as ONE input because it uses ONE button, but in reality it's two different inputs that use one button to toggle between them.

Do what jlet suggests for further clarification.

In the Clone TV device Adjust Input Settings, select Method 1, edit the input list to have only 2 entries. Call them "Analog Tuner" and "Digital Tuner" for example. Select the cycling/toggle command from the drop-down list. It's probably the "InputTV" command (you need to answer the questions in my post #19).
In the Main TV device Adjust Input Settings, select Method 2 (discrete method), edit the input list to have at least 2 entries (HDMI and whatever you plan to use in the future). Make sure the commands you select are discrete (test them in device mode). Don't forget to set the Clone device Adjust Power Settings to "no power button". It's the main device that will control the power.
Set your activities as follow:
Activity Name....Primary TV Device.......................Added TV device
Watch DVD........Main TV on HDMI input................None
Watch Analog....Clone TV on Analog Tuner input.....Main TV
Watch Digital.....Clone TV on Digital Tuner input......Main TV
Use the Activity add device feature (Yes, but I want to add more control of options and devices for this Activity) to add the Main TV device to the 2 TV Tuner activities. When it ask what input to use for the added main TV device, select "I don't need to set the input on my main TV". Here, all you want the main TV to do is control the power.

Note: The above technique will work properly if the discrete HDMI command does NOT reset the tuner cycling/toggle command. I am still waiting for the answer to my question #3 in my post #19.

jlet thanks


Yes, they both select the Input list and each further press scrolls thru the list. TV is 2 down from HDMI1



No, it does nothing


Mode is a command on the Additional buttons from Harmony that does the same as TV i.e. toggles analog/digital. There is no mode called TVMODE , just me explaining it.



1 selects 1, 2 selects 2 and 3 does nothing as there are only 2 x HDMI



No, it stays as it was.

I only use HDMI1, so if I use AV it stays on HDMI1 and selects it, even after switching with the TV button, AV still returns to HDMI1. So selecting either does not reset the other.

Hope this helps, have just seen your next post so will check that next, except TV is in the Bedroom and wife just gone to bed (UK)!

Cheers to you both!

OK I have pretty much set it up to try in the morning.

There are a couple of things I need to check first.



When I was answering your previous post, I used the HDMI1 to select the input list and scroll thru. On setting the above bit up I could not find an AV button equivalent and I am not sure what the scroll keys would be as I seem to remember the Direction buttons did nothing.

Thanks for your efforts, I'll check it out and get back tomorrow.

Alan

The original remote should be used only to teach missing commands (and for confirming the dataset when the device supports multiple addresses). When using the Software interface to configure you Harmony remote, forget the original remote (put it away), and select the appropriate command(s) from the drop-down list (the window with a tiny v). Don't confuse input label names with command names. Also remember the Harmony interface is very infantile. Put your thinking hat on - think outside this infantile box - read between the lines.

So for your main TV device Adjust Input Setting, select Method 2, then edit the input list (label names) to show only HDMI1 and HDMI2 (you can add more inputs later once you understand the concept). On the next page, it will ask what command to use for these 2 inputs. On the left is the label name, and on the right is the actual command name. So for input label HDM1, select command "InputHdmi1" (from the drop-down list - click the little v), and for input label HDM2, select command "InputHDMI2".

For your Clone TV device Adjust Input Setting, select Method 1, edit the input list (label names) to have only "Analog Tuner" and "Digital Tuner" in the list. On the next page select no (you don't skip input). On the next page select the command named "Mode". On the next page select "Stays on whatever it was when it was turned off". Note: Based on your reply, the TV tuner toggle command is named "Mode". I would have never guess that one. Now you see why I was confused with your usage of the original remote button names and the dataset command names.

Note: The activity input setting goes by the label name. So for example, in your Watch DVD activity input setup, select HDMI1 (label name). The activity configurations are like high level managers and the device configurations are the grunts.

jlet. I think we are there, thanks to you, akirby ... and me starting to think outside the box.

First, your last post said Main Device method 2, but the previous said method 3. I figured reading the words it should have read 2. Anyway I proceeded on that basis.

To start I thought we had cracked it. The TV digital/analog switching worked great, pressing the same activity twice kept it on the correct input.

The problem came after I switched to HDMI. Only one of the TV activities would get me back to TV and that would be the wrong one and the buttons thereafter worked in reverse.

I tried 2 things which resolved the problem (completely I think) although I think the first may not have been necessary.

1. I restricted the Main TV to only 1 input - HDMI1
2. At the end of the HDMI activity I send a Main TV MODE command

At this stage I was pretty made up. However because my HDMI device is a Linksys 2200 DVD/VMC extender and the DVD effectively acts as a different device I have a 4th Activity. I therefor added the leaving MODE to this activity as well. I thought that this might cause a problem going from the VMCE to DVD and get the MODE out of sync but apparently not.

So, it now actually does what I want. If I wanted to be picky the leavimg MODE switch from HDMI cycles the TV modes if its on the wrong one, but Hey that's fine.

So a big thank you and would be interested in your comments as to how it ended up!

Now I am thinking out of the box I am wondering if I should set the DVD part of the 2200 as a clone device but for now I'll just bask in your glory!!

Cheers

Alan

Glad you got it working.

Yes, I meant Method 2 (I corrected that).
I think the dataset "Mode" command does not quite work the same way as the original remote TV toggle button. You could teach your TV toggle command from the original remote under a new name like TunerToggle and use it in the Clone input setup. Then the extra command at the end of the activity would not be required. However, you may have to teach your TunerToggle command in RAW mode. This will require more work and more testing. It's up to you since you got it working already with the funny "Mode" command.

Many thanks to you both, you saved me a long call to Harmony and I learned a little (lot) more about how they work.

Now if you could both just solve the way VMC Library folders work....ah...

Take Care

Alan

Hi guys, hope you are still listening in!

Most things fine but as I have continued testing I find that there is a POWER ON problem i.e. On power on I am back to the 50/50 choice of Digital/Analog.

I think that although the Activities work fine when set is on, when you Power On the set goes in to 'Starting where it left off' mode.

It is similar to that I had when returning from HDMI, and I was able to resolve that by switching MODE on leaving but of course if I do that I will just reverse the 50/50!

I have checked that in both cases the Main set turns on before the Clone.

Thanks, Alan

1) The Clone should not send power command since its power setting should be set to "no power button".
2) The Watch Analog/Digital Tuner activities should select the Clone as the primary device for both channel changing and the Display function. Add the the main device like a passthrough device using the activity add feature, and when it ask what input to use, select " "I don't need to set the input". If you add the main device any other way, it will force you to select an input. In these activities, you don't want the main device to send any input command - just the power command.
3) In the Clone adjust input settings, make sure you answered all the questions correctly.
4) Check the interaction of the database commands "InputHdmi1" and "Mode" in device mode. Are you sure the "InputHdmi1" does not reset the TV Tuner cycler to one of its 2 possible states? If it does, then you will have to use a different scheme (like the pseudo discrete sequence scheme instead of the clone scheme). You should NOT need to send additional Startup input command with the Clone method.
5) Does the database "Mode" command behave the same as the original remote TV toggle button? Like I said before, you may need to learn the TV toggle command from the original remote. You may need to learn it in RAW mode to prevent it from picking up the existing "Mode" command.