Hello everyone!
I just bought a Samsung LE40M86BD 40inches FullHD TV :) Whilst I find it great, a thing that annoys me is that the TV "noise reduction" setting is global and can't be set per source... so I was thinking of adding a dummy device to each activity and configure it so that it's inputs corresponds to the various noise reduction settings... this way they would be switched at the beginning of the activity. However, I can't find a way to change the noise reduction settings without entering the TV menu. Anyone knows if, somewhere in the various Samsung devices in Harmony DB, one of them has a "noise reduction" ir command? Thanks

PS I know I should be able to set the remote to go in the menu and change the setting, but I'd prefer a faster way :)

What type of "noise reduction" feature is it and why do you think you need it?

If you do need it then you simply need to add commands to the various activities to set it accordingly - you don't need a dummy device. You can add commands to the start or end of an activity by selecting "yes, but I want to add more control........" during the activity setup wizard. You can add all the commands necessary to set the noise reduction for each activity. You just need to make sure it's the same sequence of commands every time you enter the activity - which means you might need to put it back to a known state whenever you leave the activity so the next activity works correctly.

It's a filter that tries to reduce noise, banding and compression artifacts seen when watching analog TV, compressed Divxs and when using badly screened scart cables or composite cables: it's useful, but whilst it cleans these situations, it reduces the quality of the video if it's already clean (component, hdmi etc). As this "filter" can only be activated on all sources or on none, I want to make the harmony activate/deactivate it on activity basis... the problem is that I can't find in the db a discrete command, or even a standard command to do so from the remote... the only way is entering the menus, with a painfully slow sequence like

[MENU][RIGHT][DOWN][DOWN][DOWN][DOWN][DOWN][RIGHT]
then
[ENTER] to deactivate noise reductor
[DOWN] [ENTER] to activate

I was wondering in anyone ever found an ir command to do it directly in other samsung harmony devices... I tried a few, but found nothing :(

You're most likely stuck with the menu system. If it was me I'd probably just live without it and manually activate it on an as needed basis. You can do that with 2 sequences.

Some devices have new commands for power and inputs but I haven't come across one for any others.
With the series as Additional when activity starts and ends it should work as fast - or slowly - as on the original remote, though dividing it between two Sequences to send manually might speed it up a bit.

Thanks for you help..
however I noticed yesterday that, without a discrete command or ir command, I'm stuck... the sequence idea is good, however I noticed only now that the number of options in the menu changes on source basis AND on other options status basis... so the sequence to enter in the menu has never the same number of [DOWN] pressures...
I guess it can't be done :(

Wouldn't it be nice to know these things before you buy a TV?

Really...? I thought the Harmony's knew how and what to adjust when switching sources? ..."automatically and dymanically"...from what I can recall. Sorry but akirby's last post brought that out of me. Like it's the displays fault that your remote can't do the quoted above.

Have you exhausted searches for discreets online? It took me a sec for me to figure out your model number was the UK version, but it still didn't help when surfing the Samsung site for codes. Odds are, that something buried within the menus wouldn't have a discreet code to operate it. Don't know how badly you want to have this setting done for you automatically, but you may have to consider a new remote.

This has nothing to do with "automatically and dynamically" selecting the inputs - it still does that just fine. Once again you're comparing apples and oranges.

Sequences (mini-macros) are unique to each activity (source) so as long as the sequence is the same for each particular activity (source) you can still do it with 2 sequences per activity.

But it sounds like the menu is dynamic based on things other than just the current source. In that case you'd need multiple sequences for each activity so you can't do it automatically at the beginning of the activity. What - exactly - affects the menu options and how?

And don't let smokinghot fool you - you can't do that easily with other remotes either. It requires a significant amount of programming with multiple state variables.

It surely would :) The problem is that event the manual doesn't tell this thing... and after all is a logical feature from the user point of view: if there are only 3 options enabled in a 20 options menu, why the user should have to press down on all the unavailable ones? My samsung solves this problem by "jumping" over disabled options: great when using the TV remote, a nightmare when trying to automate things -_-
The options disabled varies on source basis (hdmi has more options in the menu than scart: for example black level) other option status basis and even something more... I admit that ofter I have to look at the user guide to understand WHY something is greyed out in the menu -_- But it's the price to pay for a TV wich allows you to change nearly everything in how the picture is displayed (up to the level of each color, the gain of each color interpretation toning the flesh color etc...)
I think that I'll have to give up, thanks anyway :)

But having those features should not force a convoluted and inconsistent menu system. That is a design choice by the TV mfr and they seem to ignore the universal remote user community when designing the user interfaces.

I'm sorry akirby. I was just trying to take a shot ya, and by no means have any intention of starting another comparison "discussion" ;) with you.


Again sorry... (OP this time) Although I never made such a claim. I didn't mean to imply that it would be an easy set-up with something else. As akirby says.. It could be extensive programming to nail down all the possibly scenairos (sp?), but certainly can be done with consumer grade equipment.


Well, this situation is unfortunate, but it's not like they're out to get the end user for not using the OEM remote. Usually advanced PQ adjustments are set and left alone. Everything has it's limits, including what developers can spend their time on.

OP: I was running through your display's features and it does mention an RS-232 port. It does detail this as "service only" and although this won't help you concerning your Harmony, but I have heard and personally own a display that claims the same but can be controlled via that port. Again, although pointless in your current set-up. You may be able down the road to have the functionality you want. It would involve more $$$ and time than I'm sure you'd spend for sake of one feature, but I thought I'd mention it all the same.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Thanks for not going down that road again. But it sure sounded like that's where you were headed.

Burying something in menus is fine as long as it's consistent. It's the inconsistency that causes problem for anyone trying to write macros for universal remotes, regardless of the brand. As a former software designer myself I just don't think they take the universal remote user into account when designing the user interface. They focus on the user using the OEM remote and making that as simple as possible without considering the impact on UR users. This can be a problem with input selection where inputs only appear in the list if the device is powered on.

If I was doing the design and it really made sense to do a dynamic menu I would also give the user an option of doing static menus so it would work either way. Then again hardware mfrs are typically not that good with software and vice versa.