Your Universal Remote Control Center
RemoteCentral.com
Harmony Remote Controls Forum - View Post
Previous section Next section Up level
Up level
The following page was printed from RemoteCentral.com:

Login:
Pass:
 
 

Topic:
Multiple remotes for one system
This thread has 9 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Thursday October 15, 2015 at 14:12
Ronno6
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
November 2008
15
My wife and I each have Harmony 700's to control out home A/V system from separate chairs.
It is annoying that we are never on the same Activity screen at the same time.
If the previous watcher turned the system off while the other is on the "Watch TV" activity screen, they are out of phase.
If one controller turns the system on while the other is in the "(Select) Activities" screen, that one cannot control the system without attempting to select "Watch TV" and shielding it from the system, less things get really screwed up.
A real pain.
So, the question is: Isn't there a way to toggle the controller into an "Activity" without actually transmitting power on/off commands?
Certainly I am not alone with this situation;however, I was unable to find any search results.

ed. From Logitech's Help Forum, it appears that only the 890Pro has this capability, as one can be assigned Master status.

Unless anybody has discovered a trick??

Thanks.

Last edited by Ronno6 on October 15, 2015 14:54.
Post 2 made on Thursday October 15, 2015 at 15:00
mdavej
Active Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2002
627
No. But you can go to device mode, or rework your activities so they use discrete commands. With discretes, it doesn't matter if you send additional on or off commands, as the devices won't toggle. Of course your devices have to have discrete commands available. Posting the brands should tell us.

Another option would be to remove all power commands from your activities and simply put power buttons on the screen for manual control. But that kind of defeats the purpose of one-button activity macros.

You may want to consider replacing your Harmonys with Nevo C2's from ebay (~$16 each at the moment). They are equal to or better than the 700 in every respect except for the rechargeable battery and state tracking (precisely the feature that's giving you problems). You have full control over the contents of the activity macros and can go to activity mode at any time with or without running the macro since the final mapping is any mix of devices you choose. You can make a virtual device that contains whatever mix of devices and commands you need, similar to the final state when you run a Harmony activity.

The JP1 community has created some fantastic free software to program them (Remote Master) that is far better than Harmony software.

A review of Nevo's twin, the Xsight, is on the first review page of this very forum. A lot has changed since that was written, but the basic features of the remote itself are the same. FWIW, I have 2 Harmony 700's in my closet and 5 Nevo's in service in my house, two of them in the living room like you.
OP | Post 3 made on Friday October 16, 2015 at 12:38
Ronno6
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
November 2008
15
Thanks for the reply and info.
TV is Sony 46" LCD KDL46EX645
A/V receiver is Sony STR-DH830 (Bravia Linked to TV)
Blu Ray is Sony BDP-S590
Satellite is Genie HR34 DirecTV

Somehow ar other, when the devices get out of whack with the macro, the TV changes its speaker setting to the default "internal" settings rather than the "External Audio" setting. Would using discreet on/off cause this result as well?
Post 4 made on Friday October 16, 2015 at 14:01
mdavej
Active Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2002
627
All of those have discrete codes available. It's possible there is a speaker command in there somewhere that's causing problems with the TV.

Go through your device setup again and when asked, answer that each device has individual commands for on and off. Then you'll have to reconfirm all the activities. Make sure there are no audio input commands involved in the TV activity or device setup (could be the source of the internal/external audio commands).

You also need to turn off Bravia Link (Sync) on all your devices. That is likely the major cause of everything getting out of whack. Bravia Sync (BS) is great if you don't have a universal remote, but doesn't work with Harmony at all. BS does its own power and input switching, then Harmony comes right behind it with its own. Recipe for disaster.

You may have to get Logitech support involved via phone, email or forum (free) to sort out all the details.
OP | Post 5 made on Monday October 19, 2015 at 12:08
Ronno6
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
November 2008
15
The Bravia Link has performed flawlessly under normal conditions. Only when the controller is on the wrong state for the on/off command given that the audio switching goes awry.
Seems to me that the setup for the previous Harmony 650 included a request for info as to which device in your system controlled volume and maybe power for other devices. That was not part of the setup for the 700.
Too bad Harmony doesn't include a "State Swap" command to facilitate the situation. I would think that would be easy enough to do using the soft buttons.....
Post 6 made on Tuesday October 20, 2015 at 10:21
mdavej
Active Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2002
627
I'm sure Bravia Sync works fine. I use it myself, but I don't use Harmony remote. It's Harmony that comes behind it and messes things up. The only way to avoid that, besides setting up the activities to send no power/input commands is to turn it off.

The setup for the 650 and 700 should be identical. Try making a custom activity instead.
Post 7 made on Wednesday October 21, 2015 at 02:48
Tom Light
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2006
229
I allways set every link OFF, with a programmable remote.
OP | Post 8 made on Saturday October 24, 2015 at 14:08
Ronno6
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
November 2008
15
After a couple of emails to Logitech Customer Service, the rep indicated that their technical dept. will look at a firmware upgrade to permit a "state swap" type of function. (Initially they offered the "shielding the controller signal while pushing the ON or OFF button to sync the controller with the system" work around. Brilliant..))
We'll see....
If that does not occur, I will have to tell them that their sophisticated software-driven universal remote is less useful than the "dumb" controller furnished by DirecTV. That unit could care less about the state of the system, as it has hard ON and OFF buttons. I know that it is really only concerned with the video and audio systems and is not as versatile as the Harmony.
For now, I have given the DirecTV unit to the wife, as she is too electronically challenged to manage pushing a button on the Harmony while shielding the signal with her hand..........
Post 9 made on Monday October 26, 2015 at 15:10
mdavej
Active Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2002
627
As I said, all your devices have discrete codes available. If you program your remotes to use them, that will solve your problem. There is no need for state swap or shielding. Try the logitech forums if you need more details. The techs and other users there seem to have more knowledge than the rep that helped you via email.

Here's the big picture of how I would handle this:

- Go through device setup for each device and specify that each uses separate commands for on and off, as I said before
- Optionally add additional commands to the start of each activity with redundant discrete on commands to cover cases where your second remote would have turned things off (this may require learning dummy on/off commands from your other Harmony)
- Create an activity that turns everything off

Last edited by mdavej on October 26, 2015 15:19.
OP | Post 10 made on Wednesday October 28, 2015 at 21:16
Ronno6
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
November 2008
15
That is kinda beginning to sink in.
I'll give it some thought.
Thanks!


Jump to


Protected Feature Before you can reply to a message...
You must first register for a Remote Central user account - it's fast and free! Or, if you already have an account, please login now.

Please read the following: Unsolicited commercial advertisements are absolutely not permitted on this forum. Other private buy & sell messages should be posted to our Marketplace. For information on how to advertise your service or product click here. Remote Central reserves the right to remove or modify any post that is deemed inappropriate.

Hosting Services by ipHouse