Harmony Remotes - Programming

[carrguy1]

Hey all.  I've been browsing through these forums and there is a lot of good information out there but I haven't seen anything that exactly addresses the question I have.

I recently had my basement finished and there are three different viewing areas.  I have a Samsung UN55B8000, a Toshiba 32" and a Vizio 26".  I have a closet with a Samsung Blu-ray, a Motorola PVR, an Onkyo receiver, and Xbox 360, a Wii, and a Monoprice 4x4 matrix.  The three TV's are hooked up to the stuff in the closet.  I have a Harmony 890 with an RF extender.  I haven't actually tested the remote and extender out yet because I just got done programming it at work and obviously I can't try it until I get home.  I have 12 activities set up for what I want to be able to do.  Let's call them TV1, TV2, TV3, Bluray1, Bluray2, etc.

My question is this: If I'm running one activity, let's say TV1, and someone else wants to run Bluray2 will that send a signal to shut off the cable box and TV for TV1?  I know I can get around the cable box issue by telling it to always leave it on (I already have the matrix always left on) but really what I want is to not turn off the other devices (TV's, bluray, receiver) when I leave one activity to go to another.  Is my assumption that it will try to turn off one activity's devices when I go to another activity correct and if so are there any suggestions to get it to leave the devices on when switching activities?

I'd like the activities to just leave everything on when leaving them and then the "all off" button turns everything off when I'm done.  I'd also like it if I started one activity, went to another viewing area to start another and then went back to the first and hit the first activity to have the control of the first activity be what the remote would then be set on.  That way I could walk around to the different areas, hit whatever activity is being used and instead of turning anything on (because, theoretically it would already be on if I had previously started it) it would already know that everything was on and instead just give me the control that I want for that activity in that viewing area.  I don't mind having to use device control afterwards to turn things off if the TV's don't all get hit with IR (I haven't decided to use the IR extenders yet but I might).

I hope I explained everything right and that it wasn't too confusing.  Any help, ideas, or suggestions are appreciated in advance.

[towboy123 Logi Legend · Accepted solution]

At Activities>Each Activity>Settings>Options>there is an option to "Leave On Unused Devices"

Select that for each Activity and you will achieve what you desire.

[carrguy1]

Thanks for the tip! I'll give it a try and let you know how it turns out.

[carrguy1]

It worked, but I'm sure you already knew it would.  Thanks again!

[towboy123 Logi Legend]

No problem and let us know if we can be of any further assistance.