Harmony Remotes

[CoolDil]

I have a H880 which I am using to control a Vizio Sound bar.  The soundbar remote does NOT have discrete power on/off buttons and neither does the Harmony database (or at least that I have been able to find).  Only way to power on/off the SB is via the Power Toggle command

Instead of using the Power Toggle, I would prefer to use discrete Power On/Off codes if they are available.  With the toggle code, sometimes an activity ends up turning off the SB when I need it on or vice-a-versa...

[rhachey]

The power toggle command should work correctly, as long as you are not using any other method of powering on or off of the device.  Harmony remotes use Smart State Technology, and tracks what it has done via Activities.  If you power the device on or off by any other means, the Harmony remote is unable to track it.  Also if any of your devices are able to use HDMI-CEC control, be sure that it is turned off.  Here is part of a  list of various devices HDMI-CEC control

Bravia link (Sony)
HDAVI Control, EZ-Sync and VIERA Link (Panasonic)
Kuro Link (Pioneer)
EasyLink (Philips)
NetCommand (Mitsubishi)
CE-Link and Regza Link (Toshiba)
Simplink (LG)
Anynet (Samsung),
RIHD (Remote Interactive over HDMI) (Onkyo)

[CoolDil]

The toggle mode does work for the most part.  However, sometimes the Soundbar does NOT receive the signal (various reasons; remote being pointed away too soon, someone (kids!) walking in front of the remote and interrupting the line of sight etc etc) and as a result the SB is not turned off when you exit the activity.  Subsequently when you go into an activity that requires the SB, the remote actually turns if OFF since it is using the toggle.

Discrete codes are great since they bring up the device in question to a specific state REGARDLESS of their previous/current state.  So a discrete ON wouldn't turn off the device if it was already on. 

The toggle is irritating since the SB is not capable of handling non-PCM audio sources and I cannot control the audio type from my TV.  So if the SB is ON when I tune to a HD channel (5.1 DD audio), the darn SB starts buzzing....

[rhachey]

If a command is missed, are you using the Help button to get back in sync?

[CoolDil]

I do know how to recover from a missed command.

I can recover relatively easily but trying to explain the steps to young kids/older parents/guests takes away from the main purpose (at least in MY book) of making a complicated setup EASIER to use.

Having discrete power codes for the SB (the only component in my setup that doesn't have one so far) would go a long way in NOT having to explain to other non-techies how to "fix" an issue that could be avoided. 

[rhachey]

Try  RemoteCentral.com to see if discrete power commands exit.  If they don't have them then they don't exist.