Remote Control Software

[Smoochies Boss]

Sony KDL-55HX800 TV, Pioneer VSX-919AH amp, Windows 7 x64 MC on Intel DH55TC motherboard using onboard HDMI.

Often, the TV doesn't recognize the HDMI signal.  I've turned off the control over HDMI on the TV and receiver (Bravia Link, Kuro), I've tried reordering the startup, I've tried playing with the delays.  It seems very hit-or-miss.  I can't consistently replicate a correct turn on.  Often Media Center crashes.  I've set things to always leave the PC on but to send a stop command the the green button command at power off of the activity.

Also, sometimes the desktop shows up centered on the screen framed in black (i.e., wrong resolution).  Pressing the Windows key and then clicking back into MC solves this.

Obviously this is some HDMI issue.  I've spent days fiddling, trying to get this to work.  No luck.  I've searched and searched through the forums.  No luck.  Anyone have any bright ideas? I'm at my wits' end.  Help!

[hhatkin]

Welcome to the forum and I'm sure there'll be a lot of ideas when you explain the problem.

What Harmony do you have? What does the Troubleshoot do about the problem? - Is it actually about setting the TV's inputs? If so does it apply to more than one of them? - Does it happen both when starting the first activity of a session and when switching from one activity to another? Is the default Method 2 still selected at Adjust Inputs? - If so have you correctly edited the input names list and assigned the correct commands to the remaining names? - Have you gone to Adjust Delays and tried various values for the Power-On?

[Smoochies Boss]

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I have a One blasting the TV directly and the AVR and PC through a Buffalo flasher.  The PC uses one of the HP eHome receivers.

By troubleshoot, I assume you mean the "Help" on the remote?  It just tries turning things on again and setting the inputs again.  Everything is always set correctly, though.  There's just no signal recognized by the TV sometimes.  Sometimesthe wrong resolution is displayed by the TV (my MC is surrounded by a black box). 

Right now, this is my only Activity and I don't use any other inputs or outputs on any of these devices, so there's no switching away from the correct inputs.  All devices directly select inputs (method 2) in any case.  I tried adding a switch to an unused TV input and then back to the correct HDMI input on the TV (once setting the wrong input at power off, once at power on) but still had consistency problems which were then compounded by other chokes down the HDMI line.

I've tried various delays for the various delay fields, but in my setup I'm not changing inputs ever, so I'm not sure the power-on delay will have an effect, right?

[hhatkin]

The Troubleshoot is a basic part of the Harmony setup system; the idea is that when the Help button gives a temporary fix you run the Troubleshoot to get a permanent fix and update that to the remote.

As you use only the one input on the TV you do not need the Harmony to send it any Input command, so at Method 2 you should reduce the list of input names to one entry, and assign to that the command "none", and the Power-On Delay will not be relevant.

[Smoochies Boss]

The troubleshooting is meant to pinpoint a problem with the remote codes and such.  I have a problem with the equipment here.  I was hoping someone would be able to give me a magic formula for success, but apparently not.  I'll have to do some bigger trial and error testing with things on my own to figure out where my HDMI signal is sometimes failing out.  Oh well.

[hhatkin]

Ah, right, you mean the problem is in the devices, not in the Harmony?

It's about the HDMI "handshaking", or HDMI-CEC or similar control system?

[Smoochies Boss]

I'm pretty sure that's the case, yes. But is it the PC, the amp, or the TV?  Is it one or both of the cables?  Is it interference? I've got a bunch of work ahead of me.

[hhatkin]

The principle is that Harmonys can do what the original remotes, or maybe just a little more.

The thing to do is to find out how to resolve the problem with the original remotes, then apply it to the Harmony.