Harmony Remotes

[Glimmerman911]

I just bought the Harmony 680 and everything is working except that:

My xbox360 and media center pc (mce 2005) are in conflict.

The other device turns on/off when I turn the other device on/off

It does not seem to happen all the time, but most of the time.

For example, I just hit my "computer" activity which waked my PC up from sleep.

When finished, I hit the "off" button on the 680, and my pc went to sleep, and my xbox360 turned on.
Sometimes they both turn on with an activity too.

They must share the same command for on/off or something.

How do I fix this? I can't imagine I am the only one with this problem, as the xbox 360 acts as a media player/extender to media center computers, so they are probably getting more and more common.

Thanks!

[jdbower]

I wouldn't be surprised if this happened with the original remotes as well, it's common for the same brand to share codes. There are a few options assuming it is a shared code:

1. If you upgrade to an 890 or 1000 you can use the RF extender to uniquely identify the PC or the XBox - this is the cleanest solution but also pretty expensive.

2. You can try getting a different IR remote for the media center PC, these are fairly common and each will have their own set of IR codes which will likely be different than the Microsoft codes.

3. You can try just relocating the IR receiver for the PC such that it's away from the XBox. Since IR needs line of sight you can make it so you have to aim at the PC to get it to work (or aim at the XBox), but since IR will also bounce (especially off white walls) this may not be as easy as it sounds.

4. If you're OK with it you can just leave the devices on all the time. Cheapest, but it could be considered a cop out of a solution.

If the original remotes never do this you can try relearning the power codes in RAW format. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't do it as often, I think the Harmonies have multiple IR emitters to spray the area a bit better than original remotes do.

[Glimmerman911]

Thank you for the reply, but I dont think any of those options will work for me.

1. Just bought the 680, no chance for me to upgrade remotes unfortunately
2. I dont want a second remote, I need a single remote that turns everything off for my wife, hence buying a harmony.
3. My PC, x-box, receivers, etc. are in an audio tower together, the cables are all run to hear permanently so no devices can be moved
4. The PC and the xbox are very loud devices with their fans, I wouldn't want to leave them on if not using them


There must be another solution, people must have the harmony remote with a 360 and a PC close by.

[jdbower]

You misunderstood #2, it's buying another remote to control your PC but adding that device to the Harmony after you buy it - all you're really doing is changing the manufacturer of the IR receiver from Microsoft to another vendor. You'd still use the Harmony to control everything, but now it would use Microsoft commands for the XBox and someone else's commands for the PC (here's a random example remote, but there are plenty out there depending on what you want to control).

If the PC is mostly just a media center, I'd personally look into relocating it into the basement and using the 360 to play the files through the network. If it's used as an actual PC then that's not a good option, but I've always liked the concept of keeping servers in the basement just so I have an excuse to use remote management software on my client PCs

[WannabeActuary]

I'm putting together a spare parts computer build soon (enuogh parts to put together a fairly good PC) since I recently did massive upgrades.

I'll be putting ubuntu on it and connecting to it remotely.  this way I can share a mouse/keyboard as well as dual monitor display.  you have any idea how expensive a dual monitor KVM is?!  I'll probably put them side by side though in the second bedroom/computer room.  but I'll really be using it more to just play around with

[Glimmerman911]

OH, ok I understand what you are saying now.

Now that you mention it, I have a Windows MCE 2005 remote control, I will test tonight to see if the problem exists with that remote or not, if there is no problem then I will get the harmony to mimic that one!

Great idea, hopefully there is no conflict with the MCE remote and the xbox360!

I will post back the results.

[rmacaulay]

In your xbox's system slice, goto remote, and change it to xbox360 only or something like that. It defaults to an option that allows the MCE to turn it on.