Harmony Remotes - Programming

[#1]

My Nintendo Wii is connected to the AV input on my Olevia Syntax LT27HV TV.  My cable box and DVD player are connected to the component inputs on my Sanyo Receiver which, in turn, is connected to the component inputs on the TV.  Therefore, when I want to play the Nintendo, I need the TV to switch to the AV input.  When I want to watch the cable TV or DVD, I need the TV to switch to the YPbPr inputs.

The remote is controlling the TV and DVD correctly.

However when I choose to play a game, the TV source selection chooses the "TV" option and not the "AV" option.  I have double checked in the programming configuration and it matches my TV source menu which looks like:

TV

AV

S-Video

YCbCr

YPbPr

VGA

DVI

Each time I choose to play a game, I can see the source menu appear and it scrolls up to the TV option.  How can I get it to please stop at the AV option?

The TV remote has a Source button which pops up the onscreen source menu. It has up and down arrow keys which are used to select the source and it has an Enter button which is used to select the source that is highlighted.  The remote does not have assigned buttons for the different inputs. The only way to change the source is to pop up the menu and scroll.

Obviously I managed to get the remote programmed to open the souce menu and scroll. I just can't get it to stop at the right point.

Can anyone help?

[#2]

Welcome to the forum.

How about inserting an extra input name, that doesn't actually exist, before the one you want?

That should stop the cycling in time, though it might also affect other input settings.

H H

[#3]

Thanks. I tried that option but it didn't work

I also contacted Logitech support who responded saying they "fixed" something in my account.

And now it works worse then before.  Now it doesn't select the right source for anything at all.

I'm frustrated. I had so many people insist that these remotes were the best but I can't even solve this very simple problem.

Are there any harmony remote experts out there? There has to be a solution to this - it's such a simple problem.

Thanks

[#4]

Your TV defaults at Devices> TV> Adjust Inputs to Method 3 which is correct, but the three commands are set wrongly. Also the commands Source and Enter that you specified in your first post are not included in the command list. First you need to "learn" those two commands to MyNewCommand after renaming it each time. Then you can correct the settings for Method 3: "Displays source input menu" - Source; "Cycles through"- Direction Down; "Confirms source input" - Enter. You also need to get the setting correct at Devices> Adjust Delays> Inter-Key.

The problem is due to the TV's unusual method of setting inputs, but it's a known feature and Method 3 is there to provide for it.

[#5]

I have already been using Method 3.

I verified that the list of inputs is correct (TV, AV, S-Video, YCbCr, YPbPr, VGA, DVI)

I used the "learn" feature to program the remote to use the Source button for Input Start, the up arrow button for InputNext and the Enter button for Input Finish.

I did all that and tested it.  That's when I got the problem I posted.  Obviously the remote did learn the Source, Input Next and Enter buttons correctly because it was able to select the correct source when watching the TV or DVD.  So, why would it choose the wrong source for the Nintento?

At your suggestion, I went ahead and created two new custom commands - Source and Enter and "learned" them based on the remote.  That didn't help.

I changed the Input Delay from 1000 to 3000ms and the inter-key delay from 0 to 300ms.

That didn't help either.

Using the help wizard on the remote itself, I have tried switching between the "watch tv" activity and the "play game" activity. It turns all the devices on/off properly. However it never gets the right source input. When I tell the wizard the input is wrong, it goes through them one at a time until I click the "yes" button telling it that it's got the right input. 

But the next time I switch activities, it goes to the wrong input again.

At the moment, when I click "play game", it opens the source window but does not scroll at all (I can see the remote flashing as if it's sending commands but it's not changing sources).  When I click "watch TV", it opens the source window and scrolls to the YCbCr input.  But that's not the right one. It's supposed to choose YPbPr.

So I'm stuck  I don't understand why it can scroll through inputs when I tell it to watch TV but can't scroll through them when I tell it to Play Game.

And I don't understand why it can't figure out which input to use when I've told it over and over.

I'm baffled.

[#6]

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deb27 wrote:

I have already been using Method 3.

I verified that the list of inputs is correct (TV, AV, S-Video, YCbCr, YPbPr, VGA, DVI)

I used the "learn" feature to program the remote to use the Source button for Input Start, the up arrow button for InputNext and the Enter button for Input Finish.

I did all that and tested it.  That's when I got the problem I posted.  Obviously the remote did learn the Source, Input Next and Enter buttons correctly because it was able to select the correct source when watching the TV or DVD.  So, why would it choose the wrong source for the Nintento?

At your suggestion, I went ahead and created two new custom commands - Source and Enter and "learned" them based on the remote.  That didn't help.

I changed the Input Delay from 1000 to 3000ms and the inter-key delay from 0 to 300ms.

That didn't help either.

Using the help wizard on the remote itself, I have tried switching between the "watch tv" activity and the "play game" activity. It turns all the devices on/off properly. However it never gets the right source input. When I tell the wizard the input is wrong, it goes through them one at a time until I click the "yes" button telling it that it's got the right input. 

But the next time I switch activities, it goes to the wrong input again.

At the moment, when I click "play game", it opens the source window but does not scroll at all (I can see the remote flashing as if it's sending commands but it's not changing sources).  When I click "watch TV", it opens the source window and scrolls to the YCbCr input.  But that's not the right one. It's supposed to choose YPbPr.

So I'm stuck  I don't understand why it can scroll through inputs when I tell it to watch TV but can't scroll through them when I tell it to Play Game.

And I don't understand why it can't figure out which input to use when I've told it over and over.

I'm baffled.

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Try using the direction down that should match your list order to the order the inputs are are selected

[#7]

Good thought. But it didn't work either.  Here's where I am:

When I press Watch TV: 

1.  if I was previously watching TV before powering everything off with the Harmony remote, the remote remembers that and does not change the source.  GOOD!

2.  If I was previously playing a game before powering everything off the with Harmony remote, the remote remembers that, opens the source window, and scrolls down 3 choices to the YPbPr choice.  GOOD!

When I press Play Game

1. if I was previously watching TV before powering everything off with the Harmony remote,the remote opens the source window BUT DOES NOT CHOOSE ANOTHER SOURCE!!!!  I.e. it leaves it at YPbPr!

Now.....if the very next thing I do is press "Watch TV" on the remote, it pops up the source window and scrolls down 3 choices!  In other words, the remote THINKS that it was on the AV setting which is where it should be for the Wii and therefore attempts to scroll to the YPbPr setting - which is where it should be for the TV.

So the only remaining problem is that when I press Play Game, the remote is not scrolling to the AV option.

Why not??????

Why in the world would it scroll properly when Watch tV is pressed and not scroll properly when play game is pressed????  It's the same buttons!  And yes, I went back to the configuration app on the PC and re-did the setup for the Wii and ensured that it does indeed specify the AV source.

[#8]

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deb27 wrote:

1. if I was previously watching TV before powering everything off with the Harmony remote,the remote opens the source window BUT DOES NOT CHOOSE ANOTHER SOURCE!

---

That's because the Power-On Delay is incorrect - the input commands are sent before the TV can accept and act upon them.

[#9]

The same thing happens even if the TV is already powered on (and the source set to YPbPr) and I press Play Game.

It doesn't change the input source.

It pops up the source menu.

I can see the remote flashing like it's sending commands.

I stay real still, aiming the remote at the TV until the remote thinks it's finished.

But it doesn't change the source.

I'm experimenting with the "Raw" learning now to see if that makes a difference.

[#10]

Success!

The Raw learning mode worked.

It took me several tries to get the timing right but by using Raw mode for learning the up and down arrows (which are the ones that are used to scroll through the input sources), it finally scrolls to the correct choice for both TV and Wii.

So if anyone reading this is having problems getting the source selected properly, try the Raw mode and see what happens.  Just be careful if you have a button that sends multiple instances of the command if the button is held down (i.e. mine will scroll continuously as long as the button is pressed and the first time I tried this I held the button too long while learning and it zoomed around the list).