This message was actually a response to "Pablo", but was buried in a very long thread (message #38), and I thought it might prove useful to have a thread dedicated to people's ideas on working around this problem, as it seems to come up frequently.
I found a workable solution for the lack of discrete power codes problem. I have a Toshiba TV, Philips VCR, and a Pioneer DVD, none of which have discrete power commands. My Yamaha receiver does have discrete power.
On my top Home panel (I have 2), I have one button for power on, and one button for power off. I also have 2 tabs at the bottom of the panel, to toggle between home panel 1 ("System Power"), and home panel 2 ("Component Power"). Home panel 1 Power On button contains macros to cycle power to all the non-discrete devices, and powers on the receiver. This is because the assumption is made that everything is currently off. Home panel 1 Power Off button contains macros to cycle power to the non-discrete devices, as well as putting my receiver in "standby" (essentially power off). At the beginning of using the home theater stuff, everything is off. Hitting Power On turns on everything, that way I don't have to worry about powering up individual pieces. The last thing done when finishing using the home theater is a jump to Home panel 1, then press Power Off, which turns everything off. The next time the remote is picked up, it's waiting there at Home panel 1, ready to turn everything back on.
One tab on my Home panel 1 jumps to Home panel 2 which contains a power on/off for each non-discrete, and a power on and standby (power off) for my receiver. It also has a button to jump to my "Activity Selection" Device panel. The second tab on the Home section jumps back to Home panel 1 from Home panel 2.
I know it would be preferable to have the discrete power codes, but for some short-sighted reason many equipment manufacturers have not seen fit to include them. With the advent of so many programmable remotes, perhaps they'll do so in the future. In the meantime, powering EVERYTHING on and off at the same time is a workable solution, at least for me. As long as you hide the original remotes, and keep people from touching the power buttons on the equipment itself, everything stays in sync.
Sorry this explanation was longwinded, and may not be too clear. I'll post my CCF later this week (as most of you can relate, it's still under revision) so anyone interested can see some of it's interesting features. I plageurized ideas and graphics from several individuals including Barenata and Daniel, and a couple of the graphics were modified by me. Modifying the graphics was actually kind of fun, and fairly straightforward using Photoshop. I'm sure I'll be doing MUCH more of it in the future. Rob.
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