Harmony Remotes - Software/Firmware

[rob4]

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hhatkin wrote:

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rob4 wrote:

You'd think the internals of the harmony could be setup to understand this.

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Certainly they could, and no doubt quite easily- I've said this before.

The point is that there's no need for them to do it, so they don't.

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For users who use both devices and activities it would be useful.  Its so simple to add so why not for those who do.

The unit should know the state of the components(if ON or OFF) between devices and activities.  The harmony gets out of sync and you have to use the help button or do some device/activity actions to recover.  I've seen no less than 3 recent posts about this powering on/off subject so maybe it is needed.

[zenonuk]

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hhatkin wrote:

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rob4 wrote:

You'd think the internals of the harmony could be setup to understand this.

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Certainly they could, and no doubt quite easily- I've said this before.

The point is that there's no need for them to do it, so they don't.

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I disagree.  My activities are set-up for the most often used combinations, but occassionally I'll also use the devices tab to control the amp as well.  Usually this is when I want to change from listening to the TV through the TV speakers, to using the amp... I could set-up another activity (watch tv no amp, and watch tv with amp)... but the point that's eriksmith200 and rob4 are making is that software should not force user behaviour... user behaviour should drive the software design.

Message Edited by zenonuk on 11-09-2008 06:34 AM

[hhatkin]

Like most other users who have amplifiers I have just that - one Activity with the amp, one without.

However - an admission - occasionally I do skip into device mode.

My point in answer to their point, is that "forcing" is not the right word.

Harmonys are specifically sold on their Activities feature - that's why they cost more - and if buyers chose not to use that main feature it is their responsibility, and there's no reason why Logi should change the feature for them.

There are plenty of competitors who offer perfectly good Device based remotes at lower prices.

If you buy a TV and choose to listen and not watch that's fine, but the makers aren't going to produce TVs without screens - others sell radios for that.

[Scooterjay]

"Such as if you turn your tv on using device, then activities that turn the tv on by power toggling would be flagged that the tv has already been turned on thus skip that command in the activity.  A variable could be setup something like:

Variable=TVSTATE  with values  a=TV ON  b=TV OFF" 

Sounds good in theory.  But to do this, the Harmony remotes would have to have a much bigger memory to handle the states of all the various devices that you "messed with" when you were using it.  This would add much more programming to the remote and probably more cost.  I don't exactly understand what you mean when you say "the power on/off states of appliances are unreliable."  What are we talking here, remote controlled washers and dryers or maybe lamps I suppose.  These states are no more unreliable" than TV's and receivers or amps.  If your "appliances" are not going on and off correctly with the Harmony remote of your choice, then something (such as delays or repeats) is not correct.  It's that simple.  There is no good reason why Activities will not work for just about anything--even if the Activity only has one or two steps.

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Harmony 659 (Loved it--not the first Harmony remote, but the first one with real consumer appeal)
Harmony 880 (It had a great, for the time, customizable display screen that still functions nicely)
Harmony ONE (Full Color Touch Screen Love--'nuff said!)
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Message Edited by Scooterjay on 11-20-2008 10:38 PM

[eriksmith200]

At night I pull out the main power plug for my devices. When I plug it back in my amplifier sometimes powers on, sometimes it doesn't power on. This is only partly related to whether it was on when I unplugged the power:

- It was off when I unplugged: it stays off when I plug it back in

- It was on when I unplugged: sometimes it powers on when I plug it back in, sometimes it doesn't. It's probably related to how long it has been powered off.

So that makes "guessing" power states unreliable. I'm not going to stop unplugging my devices at night because my remote does or does not support some features.

Message Edited by eriksmith200 on 11-18-2008 02:38 AM

[rhachey]

If you use Activities and do not set your Amp to remain on when changing activities you should not have any problems with the power state.  Any time you press the off button, all devices used in the last activity will turn off.  If the amp was not used in the last activity, it should already be off.  When you unplug all devices at the end of the day, the next day when you plug them back in it should have no effect on the state of your Harmony.  If you do have a problem, just press the help button before you state an Activity and you can turn off any devices that turned on when you plugged them back in.

[hhatkin]

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eriksmith200 wrote:

It was off when I unplugged: it stays off when I plug it back in

So that makes "guessing" power states unreliable.

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So, when you used the Off button at the end of all Activities for the session, and if the amplifier was on at that time, it was among the devices that were turned off, and therefore will be off ready to be turned on again for the next time it's needed in an Activity.

Where does guessing come into that scenario?

[eriksmith200]

i don't necessarily turn off the amplifier before i unplug it, so there's your guessing again... *insert random silly smilie*

[hhatkin]

I was in the highly unlikely scenario that you were using Activities fully in the normal way:

"when you used the Off button at the end of all Activities for the session, and if the amplifier was on at that time, it was among the devices that were turned off"Yes, I know they're silly.