Harmony Remotes - Software/Firmware

[eriksmith200]

I would like to be able to sort the devices to my liking. Whenever I make a change to any device the sorting changes, which I find rather annoying.

I don't use activities since I find the power states of my devices to be unpredictable. I am quite happy with only using the devices settings.

[rhachey]

All Harmony remotes are designed to be used in Activities so you can only sort Activities.  Have you tried setting up Activites? If so what type of problems are you having?  I am sure someone on the forum here can help you with any problems you might be having.  I have 4 Harmony remotes and have not had any proplems getting any of them to work within Activities.

[hhatkin]

The devices that appear on the screen are always those that are included in the current Activity.

As you are not using Activities it is strange that the devices change at all.

[WannabeActuary]

you likely will never see this, as it would encourage device mode use....device mode use is really not intended for anything more than testing...activities are where it's at

[eriksmith200]

As I said I don't use activities since the power on/off states of appliances are unreliable. Activities is a nice idea but for me it just doesn't work, and forcing users to use technology in a specific way by disabling obvious features is not very consumer friendly

[rhachey]

If you bought the remote to only be used in Device mode then you paid way to much money and could have bought a lot cheaper remote at Radio Shack which will do the same thing.  If you only use the Harmony remote in Activities and don't use any other method to change the power state or input state of your devices then the Harmony will know exactly what the Power state and which input your device is on all of the time.  All you have to do is push one button to start an Activity.  If will power on all devices used in that activity, and chane the input for your TV and Amp/Receiver if used and when you want to change an activity, selecting the new activity will power on any new devices need for the new activity and power off any devices not need in the new activity unless they are set to be always on, and change the inputs for your Tv and or Amp/receiver if needed.  When you are done for the day push the Off button and anything turned on in the last activity will turn off.

[hhatkin]

It is often difficult at first to adjust to the concept of Activities, which IS new to most people, but rehaz explains how easy they are to apply and how effective to use, so it IS worth at least a try at what is, after all, what Harmonys are specifically made and sold for.

Again though, don't let this put you off commenting or questioning - you're always welcome here.

Message Edited by hhatkin on 11-08-2008 03:24 PM

[eriksmith200]

You guys sound like a broken record.

I tried activities, didn't like em, I explained why.

Now this remote of mine just happens to have this thing called devices and I'm being told here not to use them. I like how the devices thing works, just suggested some improvements... 

[rob4]

I use devices mostly too.  This smart harmony one however doesn't know if you turn your tv on using device then run an activity to watch a dvd, it will turn the tv off and turn the dvd on because it cannot tell the tv is already on from a device.

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

Then if the tv is turned on by device then set TV STATE=a.   Then when an activity that turns the tv on, switchs to input 3, then turns a DVD on is ran a line in the code:

if tvstate=a, don't turn tv on

if tvstate=b, turn tv on

switch tv to input 3

turn DVD on

This is just my own opinion though.  I know most everybody are activities users.

[hhatkin]

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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.