Hi. This is my first time here and my first post. I hope the answer to my question has not already been posted!

I have a DirecTV H10-250 Satellite Receiver with DVR (Tivo) and a Harmony H659 remote.

There is a command called 'List' which I have mapped on my remote to an LCD button, which allows me to access the 'Now Playing List' screen.

Is there any way I can program one LCD button to get me directly to the 'To Do List'?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Have you tried all the commands under device mode? It could be under a different name. Else, teach it using your original remote.

This requires multiple commands (Tivo->Select Programs to Record->To Do List) or you can use a shortcut (Tivo->2). Just teach the Tivo->2 command sequence to the harmony if it isn't already there.

Thank you to jlet and akirby for your responses.

I am a little unsure as to how to program 2 or more separate commands into the remote.

I once programmed a command into my Harmony using the device's original remote and lining up both remotes so that the Harmony gets the signal coming from the other remote, etc., etc. But of course this is only allowing the Harmony to learn ONE command!

Could you please give me a simple step-by-step as to how I do what I want to do?

Also, I do not know what you mean when you say 'Tivo->2' as a short cut. What exactly is this?

My apologies for being so naive when it comes to these matters, but with some additional help from you guys, I could do this (I think!).

Thanks again.

If you learn in RAW mode you can actually get away with 2 or even 3 different button presses which the harmony learns as one command. But it's trial and error.

A better way is to teach the macro to another remote, then learn the macro. That's much more effective but requires a second macro capable remote.

Take your Tivo peanut remote, hit Tivo, then the number 2. It will take you directly to the To Do List without going through the intermediate menus. In fact, try all the number keys from the main menu and you'll find each one is a shortcut.

I attempted (twice) to get the Harmony to learn the 2 consecutive button pushes from my DirecTV remote, but when I actually tried out the new Harmony command on the satellite receiver, it was obvious that the Harmony had only learnt the first button push.

Maybe my technique is wrong. Have you any suggestions for what I can do differently to get the Harmony to learn 2 button pushes on the original remote? (What I have done both times is to push one button, followed very quickly by the pushing the second button.

P.S. I called Harmony on this and was informed that if the desired action requires pushing buttons twice on the original remote, then it will require pushing buttons twice on the Harmony. Surely not?

That is the way the software is designed, but basically you're tricking it into thinking the 2 button presses are 1 command.

Are you doing this in RAW mode? It won't work in normal mode. You have to play around with the timing to get it to work - definitely trial and error. If you have access to another remote with macros you can teach the Tivo-2 macro to it and then use it to teach the harmony.

Another solution is to add a clone TiVo device to your activity. Map the activity button so that the real TiVo device sends the "Tivo" command, and the clone device sends the "2" command. Make sure you set the clone device power settings to "There are no power buttons".

DOH! I can't believe I forgot that one. That should work just fine.

akirby and jlet

Thanks again for your advice.

Unfortunately being almost a complete novice in these affairs, I don't understand what you mean by a 'clone' Tivo device.

Do you mean setting up a kind of 'dummy' Tivo, whose only function is to send a '2' command? That would mean the activity would contain 2 Tivos?

1) If all my speculation is correct and with the limited experience I have in customizing my remote, I was not aware that you could have two of exactly the same device in the same activity. Though I guess you could add a second Tivo to the list of devices.

2) Even if all this is correct, how can you set up the activity so that the 2 Tivos are sending out the commands 'Tivo' and '2'?

What you have said sounds like a really good solution! If you could just answer my questions in as simple a way as possible, I would love to try all this out!!!

Again, many thanks for your continued interest in my problem. No wonder you guys are Advanced/Senior members!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll look forward to hearing from you.

1) Click the "Add a Device" and add the clone device the same way you would add any device.
2) Set the power settings of the clone device (under Device > More Options) to "There are no power buttons". You want only the real device to control power.
3) Run the "Watch TiVo" activity setup wizard again. When it ask you if these settings are correct, select "Yes, but I want to add more control of options and devices for this Activity". It will go through the setup again, but this time it will give you the opportunity to add passthrough device(s), and also sequences of commands to run at Activity start and Activity end. In you case just add the clone device.
4) Next to your "Watch TiVo" activity, select "Customize > Change the behaviour of buttons". You will see a column for each device participating in that activity. The clone passthrough device will be at the far right. Next to your desired button (hard or soft), select the "Tivo" command under the real TiVo device column, and select the "2" command under the clone device column (in the same row).

When you're customizing the buttons notice that each button (row) has a potential command in each column (one for each device). You can select one command from each device to be sent when that button is pressed. I use this for the Play and Pause buttons in Watch a DVD. The Play button sends the Play command to the DVD and a scene selection command to the light controller that turns down the lights. Pause works the same way but sends an All Lights On scene control command to the light controller in addition to sending the DVD Pause command.

You can use this feature to send a pseudo macro string of commands with one button press. But you can't directly control the timing and I'm not sure if the order is guaranteed (left to right e.g.). But it does work.

YES! YES! YES!

IT WORKS! IT WORKS! IT WORKS!

Darn it, but I followed your instructions and it really does work!!!!!!!

YES!

jlet and akirby, both you guys are going on my Christmas card list!

This is so cool and I am so grateful.

THANKS TO BOTH OF YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!