I have a Harmony 659. I have it set up to "Watch TV" and "Watch Movie" working exatcly the way I want it, with all of the devices working perfectly. Now for some background on my new desire.

I have an SA8300HD for which I have to go into the settings menu to manually change the "Audio" setting from HDMI to Dolby Digital. This is the only way to hear in Dolby Digital programming on the SA8300HD. I then need to have my receiver switch to "CD" in order to have it play the audio. I'd like to set up a macro that will make those changes for me.

1. Switch the SA8300HD's "Audio" setting from HDMI to Dolby Digital;

2. Turn the input on the receiver to "CD".

3. When done, I'd like to be able to have it all switch back to its normal state. Meaing, the "Audio" setting on the SA8300HD back to HDMI.

Is this possible, or am I grasping at straws here. If it is possible, where, and how would I set up this macro?

Devices:

TV = Samsung HL-R5678W
Receiver = Onkyo TX-SR503
DVD Player = Sony
Cable Box = Scientific Atlanta - SA8300HD

Re-run the activity setup wizard for the activity in question.
When it finishes and asks if the setting are correct, select "Yes, but I want to add more control".
You will then be able to add commands to be sent when the activity starts and/or ends.

If you only want the DD audio sometimes, you will probably need to create a new activity for this, called something like "Watch TV DD". Switching between "Watch TV" and "Watch TV DD" will change the audio as you want.

I tried walking through the procedure as you describe, but I'm somewhat at a loss.

Here are the steps that I need to take in order to use the DD feature of my cable box.

SA8300HD Commands:

1. Press settings menu twice;

2. Go to audio menu and change from HDMI to Dolby Digital;

3. Exit Settings menu

How do I set up those commands to function on the Harmony?

Did you at least get to the part where you can add commands to activity start/end?

If so, you will probably need to sit down with your original remote in front of the TV and write down the exact button sequence to do what you want. Then go to the setup and add this same sequence to the activity start sequence. If the required commands are not available, you will have to learn them from the original remote.

I do get to that point (I think). I see a screen "Please review the actions for your Listen to CDs Activity". It then lists all the devices in this order:

1 - Onkyo AV Receiver - Set to "CD"
2 - Samsung TV - Set to "HDMI"

I added:

3 - PVR (this is the SA8300HD) - Send "Settings" command to this device

4 - PVR - Send "Settings" command to this device

I listed the 3/4 command twice, because I assume that since I have to press the "Setting" button twice to get to the correct menu that I need. This is where I end, because I do not see the command needed to access and change the PVR's audio menu.

Is it at this point I would need the original remote and have the Harmony learn the commands?

Hey dude, if you figure out how to do this, post your results. I've been trying figure this out for the last 3 days.

Will do...

First you need to go into device mode for the SA box and find the commands that need to be entered. If they're not there, then you need to learn them. Once you can do the necessary actions from device mode, then you can add the same commands to the activity.

Since you're using a separate input on the receiver this really should be a different activity, then all you need to do is send the appropriate audio commands to the SA box at the beginning of the activity.

Please explain why you need to switch from HDMI to DD. How is your SA box connected to the receiver and TV and what happens when you're not using DD mode?

How do you do it with the original remote? Is there a button dedicated from switching from HDMI to DD or do you use the arrows to navigate around? If it's a dedicated button then you can learn it on your remote probably and send it, if it's a bunch of arrows and such I guess you would have to go and add each button press until it goes through the menus itself...

In order to hear Dolby Digital with the SA8300HD, you have to switch the default HDMI setting to Dolby Digital. The SA8300HD is connected to the receiver via optical/digital cable; HDMI cable to the TV.

Ok, I get it now. It's really switching from the HDMI audio output to the Digital optical output.

If you leave it on Dolby Digital all the time and use the receiver for audio for all activities then you shouldn't need to switch back and forth.

That's just it. I don't want to have the leave the audio receiver on all the time. The wife really doesn't need to watch her soap operas all with my AV receiver on. She much prefers just listening to the audio over the TV's speakers.

When I listen to programming, I sometimes prefer to hear it in DD (i.e., The Sopranos; HD movies, etc.). This is why I want to have an alternate set up to use...

I'll assume getting a new wife is too expensive. In that case, set up different activities and add the audio commands to the activity startup as needed.

I think our shared problem isn't that we need two activies to accomplish the task (I have two set up, one for Watch TV and one for Watch TV 5.1). The problem is that since there's no discrete code to switch from HDMI to DD, we need a button combo. The approximate button combo (I'm at work, so this is from memory) on the original 8300 remote is page down;page down (to get to settings); scroll down with arrow button; push select (to highlight HDMI/DD); down with arrow again (to change between DD and HDMI); enter (to make the selection; exit (to get out of the menu).

Since the 880 is activity based, rather than macro based, I could not figure out a way to perform the foregoing, and have pretty much accepted that fact. But, hey, if somebody has a solution, I am all ears.

Czzer told you how to do it twice, and I told you once. I guess the 4th time is the charm:

Add the necessary additional commands to the startup of the activity. This is the only place you can easily add a string of commands similar to programming a macro. When you finish the activity setup tell it that the setup is correct but you want to add more controls (or something like that). Then you can add extra commands at the beginning of the activity to perform the exact sequence you just outlined.