Harmony Remotes - Programming

[YahooSeriously]

So here's my issue.  Whenever I use my One to turn on my Kuro, it takes forever for it to turn the plasma on, and then it fails to select the correct input.  If it was on the same input when I turned it off last, I'm fine.  If I select a different activity tho, I have to hit the help button.  Every. Single. Time.  I think I know what the problem is, and that would be that it's taking forever for my Pioneer to turn on.  By the time it turns on, the commands to select the input have already been sent.  But I don't think it's my tv, because I've played with the time to send the power on sequence with the Harmony software, and when I set it to 15 seconds, that's how long it takes for my tv to turn on.  My remote will not let me press any buttons, because it's still in the middle of an activities sequence, and my tv won't respond either.  It's annoying to me to have to hit the help button all the time, but it's worse that I have to hear my wife complain about it.  And worse, the whole reason I got the One was so that everything would be simple for my family/guests, and they still can't figure it out.  Please help!

[hhatkin]

Welcome to the forum.

You need to find out the time that the TV does require to "warm up" before it can accept the input command.

Power it on with the original remote, keep sending the input command, and note the time when it is accepted.

That is the value for Power-On Delay at Adjust Delays.

Then you need to ensure you're using the correct one of the four Harmony Input Methods, so read up WannabeActuary's FAQ Section 26b on that subject.

[nmreuben]

I have a kuro elite. I'm not sure how to confirm it but I suspect the database entries for this have some issues and increasing the time did not work for me. There are some other posts on this. The process for finding the input delay you mention will also require you to cancel the message the TV sends when you try too soon by the way - you can't just keep the button down.

Alternative solution is to add a sendinput X command at the end of the start up sequence.

[hhatkin]

What was the default Power-On Delay for your TV, and what is its present value?

It doesn't have to be the input command that you send when testing for the correct value - it just needs to be some command that the TV can recognise and act upon.

The additional Input command you suggest would be sent immediately after the automatic one, so it would be unlikely to have any further effect.

The Harmony Input Method that you use IS important so do check out the FAQ.

Message Edited by hhatkin on 09-21-2009 09:45 AM

[nmreuben]

I'm not at home at the moment , so I can't recall the default.

All I recall was that increasing it did not make it any more successful. The additional command is added to the end of the startup sequence so its sent after the startup delay and the avr and disk player startup delays, so there is time for the TV to settle down.

AFAIK any command sent to the TV too soon results in a message that you must clear to continue - its not that you can't figure out the delay - just annoying to keep punching the buttons back and forth rahter than just holding down the input button.

[YahooSeriously]

First of all, thanks for the help guys.  The default time delay is fifteen seconds.  If it was something simple as just waiting for the tv to turn on, I could handle that.  But I've tried changing the delay to different values and the thing that has me thinking is that no matter what the value, it does the same thing: whatever the time delay is the remote and the tv get done at the exact same moment.  And it doesn't complete the Activities run, so it usually is on the wrong input.  Also, now that I'm thinking about it, it usually doesn't turn my Xbox360 on the first time either.  As I said in my first post, if the tv is already on it's not an issue.  But we usually turn it off if there's nobody in the room....

[hhatkin]

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nmreuben wrote:

The additional command is added to the end of the startup sequence so its sent after the startup delay and the avr and disk player startup delays, so there is time for the TV to settle down.

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If that is set as Additional When Activity Starts it is sent immediately after the end of the Power-On delay and the sending of the TV's automatic Input command, without reference to the Delays of any other devices - the automatic and additional Input commands would be almost simultaneous.

If you could determine the Power-On Delay that the TV actually requires that would go a long way to resolving the problem, as would a change to Input Method 2 if that is an option.

Message Edited by hhatkin on 09-21-2009 11:16 AM

[hhatkin]

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YahooSeriously wrote:
if the tv is already on it's not an issue.  But we usually turn it off if there's nobody in the room....

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Two points here - if the problem is only when starting from all-off then the Power-On Delay is very much involved, and how do you turn off only the TV - is that other than by the Harmony Off button?

Message Edited by hhatkin on 09-21-2009 11:15 AM

[nmreuben]

Did you try adding a 2nd command to change the input to the end of the startup seqence? Sorry I'm not sitting at my home system to tell you exactly where it is.

[YahooSeriously · Accepted solution]

So I called tech support, and the really great guy that answered said to try adjusting the inter-device delay.  Apparently that only affects the signals sent upon powerup.  I did, and it seems to have done the trick.  The default is 100 milliseconds, and he said to make it at least 1500, or a second and a half.  I've been playing with it since, trying to get the timings down just right, but I think my problem should be solved as it seems to have worked!