Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote Control

Zascar

No I have two activities - one for the DVR and one for the TV. The reason i want to do this is if the TV volume is high but the DVR is low, I get an annoying buzzing noise. I usually leave the tv up high and use the DVR to control the volume. Right now its controlling the DVR which is fine - but I'll see if I can get it to do both.

bk

Zascar wrote: »

No I have two activities - one for the DVR and one for the TV. The reason i want to do this is if the TV volume is high but the DVR is low, I get an annoying buzzing noise. I usually leave the tv up high and use the DVR to control the volume. Right now its controlling the DVR which is fine - but I'll see if I can get it to do both.

The trick here is to get the volume right first with your Harmony remote, before looking at Alexa.

What I suggest you do is use the TV Volume for both the "TV Activity" and the "DVR Activity". In order to solve the buzzing problem, adjust the DVR's volume so it the volume of the DVR activity is the same as the TV activity. This is something you should only need to do once. Then in future you can adjust just the TV's volume from within the activity.

londonred

Interested in one of these and some hue lights , do not still need a separate HUE hub if you have one of these ?

mossym

londonred wrote: »

Interested in one of these and some hue lights , do not still need a separate HUE hub if you have one of these ?

you do. the harmony hub doesn't replace the hue hub .

londonred

mossym wrote: »

you do. the harmony hub doesn't replace the hue hub .

Thanks , assume both then need to be wired into router? Running out of slots on router currently have android box and TP link extender plugged in.

mossym

harmony hub is wireless. hue hub needs to be wired.

if running out of slots on a router, buy a cheap 5/10 port switch and plug it into the router.

yoshimitsu

Has anybody had any success in controlling an iRobot Roomba with their Harmony? I've set it up properly on the app but cant get it to work... if anybody has followed an online tutorial or has any tips pls share.
Cheers

Edit: it's a 700 series; 786p to be precise

mossym

way outside my experience level. only thing i can suggest to check is if it is Ir controlled, and you are usign the hub, you can assign whether IR commands are issued from the hub, the remote, both, etc. if it is set to only be the hub, and you hide away the hub in a shelf with your av equipemtn it can still reach them by IR, but maybe not external devices where the IR is blocked.


i had this issue with a lightswitch. i'd be fairly doubtful this is your issue(simply as i assume it uses IP control), but in the absence of being able to provide any other suggestions...

Irish Gunner

Ok trying to synch my Samsung TV and Virgin Media (Horizon Box) with the ultimate Harmony Hub and Alexa. On the Skills in Alexa there are 2 skills , Harmony and Harmony –Optimised for Smart Home.  I set up a skill in the Optimised to turn on the tv and open with RTE 1 and I can use the Harmony remote to change the channel. I also have some favourites set up and on the Harmony remote I can click on the screen to change channels. During the set up I set the Horizon remote to change channels and also sound. However I cannot get the sound to increase using the Harmony remote, yet I can change the channels???

 I then used the Harmony Skill to have the ability to change channels via Alexa so I can go Alexa, tell Harmony to turn on BBC1 etc. It can change the channels for a few stations but when I try others like RTE1 no joy there and cannot change volume either.

 So now  have the weekend free to try sort this out so any tips etc to try to sort this out appreciate it before I waste my Saturday trying to figure it out

setanta1984

Not sure if it's just my placement of the echo dot, but I've found it close to impossible to use voice commands (particularly Harmony ones as the commands are so long) to do anything while the TV is on - the noise from the TV just interferes with everything.
Not sure there is much value to the volume up/down or change channel voice controls which are always used when the TV is making noise. They're pretty reliable when the room is silent

bk

Irish Gunner, I'd recommend forgetting about Alexa for the moment. The first thing you should do is get the Harmony Remote working consistently.

I'd set up the Harmony remote first, put away all your old remotes and just use the Harmony remote only for two weeks.

Once you are happy with the Harmony remote after two weeks, then try setting up Alexa with Harmony.

This is pretty much general advice for everyone. A lot of people here seem to be trying to setup both their Harmony remote and Alexa with Harmony at the same time and I think that is a recipe for disaster!

They are two, very complicated system and people seem to be getting themselves tied up in knots and not understanding when the issue is Harmony or Alexa.

Start with just Harmony, get that working well first, volume working on the remote, favourite channels setup, etc.

Once you have the Harmony remote working well, then for the most part Alexa just works with the Harmony with little difficulty (as long as she can understand you).

BTW I don't know why everyone is using the Horizon remote to control volume! It doesn't make sense. Just set the Horizon box to 50% volume and instead set your TV to control volume on the Harmony remote.

As for RTE channels as favourites, Alexa seems to have difficulty with understanding the word RTE, probably because we pronounce differently then English speakers would. I'd rename this channel in favourites to something like Ireland 1, Ireland 2, etc. Or maybe Bog 1, Bog 2 Also you can try the same trick for other channels that don't work.

bk

setanta1984 wrote: »

Not sure if it's just my placement of the echo dot, but I've found it close to impossible to use voice commands (particularly Harmony ones as the commands are so long) to do anything while the TV is on - the noise from the TV just interferes with everything.

You do have to raise your voice with Alexa when the TV is on and it is better if the Echo isn't placed near the TV.

Irish Gunner

bk wrote: »

Irish Gunner, I'd recommend forgetting about Alexa for the moment. The first thing you should do is get the Harmony Remote working consistently.

I'd set up the Harmony remote first, put away all your old remotes and just use the Harmony remote only for two weeks.

Once you are happy with the Harmony remote after two weeks, then try setting up Alexa with Harmony.

This is pretty much general advice for everyone. A lot of people here seem to be trying to setup both their Harmony remote and Alexa with Harmony at the same time and I think that is a recipe for disaster!

They are two, very complicated system and people seem to be getting themselves tied up in knots and not understanding when the issue is Harmony or Alexa.

Start with just Harmony, get that working well first, volume working on the remote, favourite channels setup, etc.

Once you have the Harmony remote working well, then for the most part Alexa just works with the Harmony with little difficulty (as long as she can understand you).

BTW I don't know why everyone is using the Horizon remote to control volume! It doesn't make sense. Just set the Horizon box to 50% volume and instead set your TV to control volume on the Harmony remote.

As for RTE channels as favourites, Alexa seems to have difficulty with understanding the word RTE, probably because we pronounce differently then English speakers would. I'd rename this channel in favourites to something like Ireland 1, Ireland 2, etc. Or maybe Bog 1, Bog 2 Also you can try the same trick for other channels that don't work.

Sound Advise if you pardon the pun.:P
Think I will start with getting the remote working first as OH still using old remotes. I may just try to set it up to have favourites and also be able to control channel changing and volume control but choose the Horizon remote as the channel changer and the Samsung as the Volume. Happy enough that I can get Alexa to turn on and off the TV so will keep that for starters.
Yep with the TV on Alexa sometimes does pick up the sound from the TV so it does not pick up say change channels when TV is on. Also while watching football other night I used some expletives and Alexa gave out to me
I'm on the US amazon skill set so which skill do I use the Harmony or the Harmony –Optimised for Smart Home.

mossym

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Ok trying to synch my Samsung TV and Virgin Media (Horizon Box) with the ultimate Harmony Hub and Alexa. On the Skills in Alexa there are 2 skills , Harmony and Harmony –Optimised for Smart Home.  I set up a skill in the Optimised to turn on the tv and open with RTE 1 and I can use the Harmony remote to change the channel. I also have some favourites set up and on the Harmony remote I can click on the screen to change channels. During the set up I set the Horizon remote to change channels and also sound. However I cannot get the sound to increase using the Harmony remote, yet I can change the channels???

 I then used the Harmony Skill to have the ability to change channels via Alexa so I can go Alexa, tell Harmony to turn on BBC1 etc. It can change the channels for a few stations but when I try others like RTE1 no joy there and cannot change volume either.

 So now  have the weekend free to try sort this out so any tips etc to try to sort this out appreciate it before I waste my Saturday trying to figure it out

one answer for you, alexa does not like rte. some say it's because of the fada, i'm not sure why, but i couldn't get rte to work for me either. when you linked to alexa though it allows you to add other buzzowords to an activity and favourite channel, i jsut added irish 1 to rte 1, irish 2 to rte2 and so on, worked perfectly. you may need to unlink from alexa first and relink to redo this though

as BK said though, resolve the problems with the remote first.

answer me one question on your setup, do you watch all your tv through the virgin box?

Irish Gunner

Yeah need to get the remote sorted first.

 I use the Horizon to watch TV but to be honest I don’t watch that much TV maybe odd program and the News and other stuff I record or do a catch up on Rte or iPlayer and android box. I wanted to switch to saorview but contract with Virgin up to Oct and €200 to break it.

 As for RTE yeah could change the name of channels but will sort out Harmony remote first as each time I ask for RTE Alexa turns on the Radio

Irish Gunner

Dupe post

bk

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Think I will start with getting the remote working first as OH still using old remotes.

Your OH using the old remotes still would certainly complicate things. You end up with the Harmony remote getting out of sync with the activity it is currently on.

Best to spend an hour or two when the OH isn't around getting the Harmony setup properly and easy and consistent to use. Then take the batteries out of the old remotes and hide them Show the OH the Harmony and get them using it.

After a week or so, go back to getting Alexa set up with it.

mossym

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Yeah need to get the remote sorted first.

 I use the Horizon to watch TV but to be honest I don’t watch that much TV maybe odd program and the News and other stuff I record or do a catch up on Rte or iPlayer and android box. I wanted to switch to saorview but contract with Virgin up to Oct and €200 to break it.

 As for RTE yeah could change the name of channels but will sort out Harmony remote first as each time I ask for RTE Alexa turns on the Radio

the reason i ask is i still can't get my head around the double volume problem. i think it's an unnecessary problem. presumably you have your virgin box hooked up hdmi to the tv, audio over hdmi is sent as i2s, which is volume independent, which means there should be a setting on the virgin box to stop it controlling the volume. 99% of sources out there do not adjust the volume on the hdmi signal. it's up to whatever device is doing the actual sound producing, in your case the tv. turning off the volume control on the virgin box would mean you send teh digital equivalent of a line level signal(the traditiolnal red/white cables you see on audio gear) and all volume would be controlled by the tv

Honestly, i cannot think of a single reason why controlling the audio on the virgin box is a good idea, i know you need to now to balance the audio, but if you send the audio properly you won't have this problem

bk

mossym wrote: »

Honestly, i cannot think of a single reason why controlling the audio on the virgin box is a good idea, i know you need to now to balance the audio, but if you send the audio properly you won't have this problem

If the Virgin box is the one and only way you watch the TV, then I suppose this feature would allow you to use the Virgin remote for everything and no need to use the TV remote at all. One remote rather then two.

But this definitely doesn't apply to the Harmony remote, as you say it makes no sense to use the Virgin boxes volume control then.

mossym

bk wrote: »

If the Virgin box is the one and only way you watch the TV, then I suppose this feature would allow you to use the Virgin remote for everything and no need to use the TV remote at all. One remote rather then two.

But this definitely doesn't apply to the Harmony remote, as you say it makes no sense to use the Virgin boxes volume control then.

you'd still need to turn on the tv. CEC was an option but notoriously buggy

they could have copied sky, which allows you to program the sky remote with the codes for your tv and control the tv volume, power and most of the settings with the sky remote.

don't often praise sky for many things, but that they got right

bk

mossym wrote: »

you'd still need to turn on the tv. CEC was an option but notoriously buggy

Yes, power the TV on with CEC. And yes I agree it is buggy.

I also agree that Sky's approach is better. But then most people didn't know how to set it up in the first place. It was normally the installers who did it.

If CEC worked consistently (and in fairness it does for some people) then the Virgin approach is argubally easier to get up and working.

But as you say CEC is the pain point here.

However in summary, I'd encourage Horizon users with a Harmony remote to forget about the volume control on the Harmony remote and use the TV's volume control instead. It will be much easier.

Irish Gunner

Got the Harmony remote working for Horizon, Tv and external sound system. Also got it linked to the Android box but difficult when opening play store need to figure that out and update of apps but can scroll easily enough.

Also set up activities to turn on TV and linked that up to Alexa along with changing channels.

However activity set up so tv comes on, HDMI 2 port and Android box and sound system come on but I can't source sound to external optical sound still on TV sound. Tried amending and re running activity but no joy yet.

Anyone got any ideas or tips to get this activity?

clintondaly

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Got the Harmony remote working for Horizon, Tv and external sound system. Also got it linked to the Android box but difficult when opening play store need to figure that out and update of apps but can scroll easily enough.

Also set up activities to turn on TV and linked that up to Alexa along with changing channels.

However activity set up so tv comes on, HDMI 2 port and Android box and sound system come on but I can't source sound to external optical sound still on TV sound. Tried amending and re running activity but no joy yet.

Anyone got any ideas or tips to get this activity?

Have you got the right device which controls your sound as part of the activity set up ?

mossym

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Got the Harmony remote working for Horizon, Tv and external sound system. Also got it linked to the Android box but difficult when opening play store need to figure that out and update of apps but can scroll easily enough.

Also set up activities to turn on TV and linked that up to Alexa along with changing channels.

However activity set up so tv comes on, HDMI 2 port and Android box and sound system come on but I can't source sound to external optical sound still on TV sound. Tried amending and re running activity but no joy yet.

Anyone got any ideas or tips to get this activity?

how does it work with the normal remotes? what do you need to do to get it working with those?

Irish Gunner

[font=Times New Roman","serif]Have you got the right device which controls your sound as part of the activity set up ?[/font][font=Times New Roman","serif]

Yes I have a yamaha rx-v359 Av receiver and Amp and have synch up the remote for these so I can turn up the sound using these. Synch the remote for this on initial set up. Its just when I open the activity its source is TV sound and I have to select External sound on source[/font]


[font=Times New Roman","serif]how does it work with the normal remotes? what do you need to do to get it working with those?[/font][font=Times New Roman","serif]

Yeah works ok for the Horizon Box and Samsung TV so in the initial set up synch the remotes up had to wire it up to laptop first to update it and then used combination of app and desktop login. Ok for the changing of channels, volume and info on program. Have to check re recording and pause of live TV but don’t think it’s too difficult just have not looked at it thoroughly yet.

Can also synch the Neo A2 lite remote for the Minix android box but sometimes have to revert to old remote but not much[/font]

clintondaly

Irish Gunner wrote: »

[font=Times New Roman","serif]Have you got the right device which controls your sound as part of the activity set up ?[/font][font=Times New Roman","serif]

Yes I have a yamaha rx-v359 Av receiver and Amp and have synch up the remote for these so I can turn up the sound using these. Synch the remote for this on initial set up. Its just when I open the activity its source is TV sound and I have to select External sound on source[/font]


[font=Times New Roman","serif]how does it work with the normal remotes? what do you need to do to get it working with those?[/font][font=Times New Roman","serif]

Yeah works ok for the Horizon Box and Samsung TV so in the initial set up synch the remotes up had to wire it up to laptop first to update it and then used combination of app and desktop login. Ok for the changing of channels, volume and info on program. Have to check re recording and pause of live TV but don’t think it’s too difficult just have not looked at it thoroughly yet.

Can also synch the Neo A2 lite remote for the Minix android box but sometimes have to revert to old remote but not much[/font]

What I discovered last night and which may be of help is that you can assign specific functions of some remotes into the activity you are currently on

For instance I have a denon x2300 AV receiver and when watching a film as part of my "Movie" set up I found myself having to leave the activity on the remote in order to go into devices and activate my sky box or change input modes in order to go back to Sky again,what I have now done is include the ability to switch input modes within the movie activity,I have now done this with all activities(Music/Media Player etc.) which means from within any activity I can switch input modes,I did this through the PC APP.

mossym

Irish Gunner wrote: »

[font=Times New Roman","serif]how does it work with the normal remotes? what do you need to do to get it working with those?[/font][font=Times New Roman","serif]

Yeah works ok for the Horizon Box and Samsung TV so in the initial set up synch the remotes up had to wire it up to laptop first to update it and then used combination of app and desktop login. Ok for the changing of channels, volume and info on program. Have to check re recording and pause of live TV but don’t think it’s too difficult just have not looked at it thoroughly yet.

Can also synch the Neo A2 lite remote for the Minix android box but sometimes have to revert to old remote but not much[/font]

sorry, i meant how do you get the optical out on the tv working with the original remotes.

mossym

clintondaly wrote: »

What I discovered last night and which may be of help is that you can assign specific functions of some remotes into the activity you are currently on

For instance I have a denon x2300 AV receiver and when watching a film as part of my "Movie" set up I found myself having to leave the activity on the remote in order to go into devices and activate my sky box or change input modes in order to go back to Sky again,what I have now done is include the ability to switch input modes within the movie activity,I have now done this with all activities(Music/Media Player etc.) which means from within any activity I can switch input modes,I did this through the PC APP.

how come you have to leave the activity? if a device is used in the activity it should be added to it, if you have different ways of watching mvoies i'd set up an activity for each. i have a bluray player and a htpc i use for watching movies so i set up different activities for each.

the harmony doesn't, or at least didn't unless they have changed it recently, remember any commands you use while in device mode outside activities, so it can screw up the sequence.

clintondaly

mossym wrote: »

how come you have to leave the activity? if a device is used in the activity it should be added to it, if you have different ways of watching mvoies i'd set up an activity for each. i have a bluray player and a htpc i use for watching movies so i set up different activities for each.

the harmony doesn't, or at least didn't unless they have changed it recently, remember any commands you use while in device mode outside activities, so it can screw up the sequence.

When I say leave the activity I mean,If I have finished "watching a movie"(Roku 3 set up with Plex) and want to return to "Watching TV" I have a denon receiver set up for Music/Movie/Games sound modes etc. which also changes the sound as part of the activity so when I need to go back to TV I now have the Sat input button as a custom option in the "Watching Movie" set up and rather than come out of the activity and go back in through the "watch Tv" I use the sat input button which in turn switches the tv over to Sat and the sound mode then changes automatically and the remote knows I am now in this mode and acknowledges the correct activity as "watching TV"

Does that make sense,its probably more to do with my set up,I see it as a shortcut back to watching TV

Irish Gunner

sorry, i meant how do you get the optical out on the tv working with the original remotes.

When I was setting up the activity I added TV, Receiver, Android Box and source HDMI2 to come on. So I call this Movie and these all come on. The Receiver was controlled by a separate remote so had to synch that up. However when Movie activity comes on both the TV sound and Receiver sound are on when all I want is the one, for the Yamaha Receiver. I can use the Harmony remote to increase the volume when movie activity is on
I also have TV activity set up so that turns on TV to HDMI and opens up with RTE1. Sound is TV sound. Then I use the Harmony remote to increase volume and change channel.
I also have ability for Alexa to turn these 2 different activities on. I have never tried to switch other than saying Alexa turn TV off and then saying Alexa turn Movie on