Logitech Harmony Remotes Owners

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

It should. I've found that all of the common commands from my Motorola HD DVR cable box are replicated in my 880 (though I still find it easier to use the box remote for some obscure commands).

What about those 'A, B, C, D' buttons? I use them constantly when dealing with recorded programs on my DVR. Those are actually my main concern, well, that and the 'Page Up/Down' buttons.

[Johk]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

Do these Harmony Remotes also control cable boxes other than powering them on? I have a Time Warner cable box and the remote has a lot of funky buttons on it specifically for it. Would any of these remotes be compatible with it?

Yes, all Harmony remotes should be compatible with your TWC cable box. Just look at the compatibility database with the model number of the cable box (not the remote). As for the funky buttons, you can customize the hard buttons on the harmony remote and you can also set-up "virtual buttons" on the remote screen.

[Johk]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

I've tried to program manual keystrokes into my 880 without any luck, but I think it's because there are so my menu pages to get through in order to get to the HDMI audio out setting. If the commands are simpler on the sat box, you may have better luck than me.

Have you tried getting the remote to learn 2 or 3 commands then setting a sequence of those learned commands. That way you will end up with a sequence of up to 15 commands. Anyway just a thought (I know for a fact that it was hard to get my Harmony 550 to learn just one command for my Denon receiver).

[Johk]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

What about those 'A, B, C, D' buttons? I use them constantly when dealing with recorded programs on my DVR. Those are actually my main concern, well, that and the 'Page Up/Down' buttons.

It depends on the model. Some model like the 550 have "A" and "B" hard buttons. With that remote I would set up the "A", "B", "C" and "D" on the screen for easy access (you can have 4 commands per page on the 550 screen). And set other lesser use commands to another page of the screen. Also on the 550 there are hard buttons that you can assign the 'Page Up/Down' buttons (by defaults they were already set when for my SA 8300. On the 1000 remote, the A, B, C (and perhaps D, I'm not sure since I don't have a D for my DVR), are illustrated on the touchscreen with the same color has the DVR remote.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

What about those 'A, B, C, D' buttons? I use them constantly when dealing with recorded programs on my DVR. Those are actually my main concern, well, that and the 'Page Up/Down' buttons.

As Johk said, you can hard-program them to any buttons you want, if they aren't set-up already. I would imagine they would be keyed to 4 slots on the LCD screen. That way, they'll always be there for you to use.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Johk

It depends on the model. Some model like the 550 have "A" and "B" hard buttons. With that remote I would set up the "A", "B", "C" and "D" on the screen for easy access (you can have 4 commands per page on the 550 screen). And set other lesser use commands to another page of the screen. Also on the 550 there are hard buttons that you can assign the 'Page Up/Down' buttons (by defaults they were already set when for my SA 8300. On the 1000 remote, the A, B, C (and perhaps D, I'm not sure since I don't have a D for my DVR), are illustrated on the touchscreen with the same color has the DVR remote.

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

As Johk said, you can hard-program them to any buttons you want, if they aren't set-up already. I would imagine they would be keyed to 4 slots on the LCD screen. That way, they'll always be there for you to use.

Thanks guys! That has definately impacted my decision on buying one of these remotes. I'm currently in the process of slowly building back up my cash flow from upgrading my PS3 with updating internal and external hard drives for it.

However, my next major purchase will be one of these babys! Heck, it may even be a birthday present for my wife as she is the one that really just wants 1 remote.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by Johk

Have you tried getting the remote to learn 2 or 3 commands then setting a sequence of those learned commands. That way you will end up with a sequence of up to 15 commands. Anyway just a thought (I know for a fact that it was hard to get my Harmony 550 to learn just one command for my Denon receiver).

It was a nightmare! To get to the HDMI audio out screen you have to hit the menu command, then scroll down 4-5 times, highlight the HDMI menu, scroll some more to the HDMI audio out command, highlight that then scroll to either yes or no. I gave up. Since I really don't watch much TV on my main setup (and don't really care about 5.1 for OTA broadcasts), I just left things as they were.

[Johk]

To add to the previous posts, with the Harmony remotes you are free to map the buttons as you want within the layout of the remote.

Logitech already maps a default configuration of the buttons for the device and after that you can customize the configuration to your needs.

So in other words you're the boss!

[Johk]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

It was a nightmare! To get to the HDMI audio out screen you have to hit the menu command, then scroll down 4-5 times, highlight the HDMI menu, scroll some more to the HDMI audio out command, highlight that then scroll to either yes or no. I gave up. Since I really don't watch much TV on my main setup (and don't really care about 5.1 for OTA broadcasts), I just left things as they were.

Must be a pain... well I'm glad my configuration was fairly easy!

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

However, my next major purchase will be one of these babys! Heck, it may even be a birthday present for my wife as she is the one that really just wants 1 remote.

You can get the 880 for $102 here. I got this for $80 when Amazon had them on sale before Christmas. It's a great remote. I highly recommend the color screen over any of the B&W LCD screens. Much easier to read, and the button backlights make them much easier to use in the dark.

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

It was a nightmare! To get to the HDMI audio out screen you have to hit the menu command, then scroll down 4-5 times, highlight the HDMI menu, scroll some more to the HDMI audio out command, highlight that then scroll to either yes or no. I gave up. Since I really don't watch much TV on my main setup (and don't really care about 5.1 for OTA broadcasts), I just left things as they were.

I think I may have the same issue. What components do you have? I also have a family that wants sound coming mostly out of the TV only most of the time. Thats easy enough with a HDMI straight to the TV. I haven't done it yet, but I will run an optical cable from the DVR to the receiver to get 5.1. Will this work or will it be the same situation as yours?

[devistic]

Harmony One remote 100% recommended. My next purchase will be a cheap IR remote for my ps3 so that I can use my Harmony for ALL my devices. I have no trouble setting it up and it is easy to update/add activities. If the $$ isn't an issue, I don't know what you are waiting for.

[Johk]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

but what is confusing me, is how could I set the "Watch TV + Amp" to use the optical cable? in other words, how do you get the remote to go into the cable box settings and toggle it to optical audio instead of the hdmi audio setting? !

Another thought, if you run analog RCA L/R cable to the TV for the audio and optical to the receiver (HDMI still going to the TV). Perhaps the analog output is still active when the audio output is set to optical...

[crackinhedz]

well, my father lives in florida and im in VA,so trouble shooting is difficult. But I already ahd them try just about every scenario I can think of.

hdmi and optical do not output simultaneously.
neither does hdmi and analog.

if he goes the hdmi to tv, then optical from tv to receiver route...everything is in pcm, and only two channel.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by schultz

I think I may have the same issue. What components do you have? I also have a family that wants sound coming mostly out of the TV only most of the time. Thats easy enough with a HDMI straight to the TV. I haven't done it yet, but I will run an optical cable from the DVR to the receiver to get 5.1. Will this work or will it be the same situation as yours?

Your situation sounds like Crack's above. If you enable HDMI audio in your cable/sat box, it 'may' disable audio output from the optical. In my case, I was trying to keep just the HDMI connection, and change the output settings in my Onkyo 705. Since I don't really want/need 5.1 from cable, I haven't tried the optical connection to my 705 to see if it will pass 5.1 audio. Something to do this weekend, maybe.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

You can get the 880 for $102 here. I got this for $80 when Amazon had them on sale before Christmas. It's a great remote. I highly recommend the color screen over any of the B&W LCD screens. Much easier to read, and the button backlights make them much easier to use in the dark.

Thats some good stuff, thanks! I'll probably get the 880 off Amazon as its only a few dollars more, but I get free 2 day shipping from them and it usually means it comes the very next day if I order early enough.

Seriously, everyone's input on this thread has been very helpful as not having 1 remote has been a serious issue in my household.

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

well, my father lives in florida and im in VA,so trouble shooting is difficult. But I already ahd them try just about every scenario I can think of.

hdmi and optical do not output simultaneously.
neither does hdmi and analog.

if he goes the hdmi to tv, then optical from tv to receiver route...everything is in pcm, and only two channel.

As Ricshoe said, I think your father and I have similar situations. I haven't had time to try all the connections yet, but I will be going to town on it this weekend. Does his cable box have an optical out?

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by schultz

Does his cable box have an optical out?

yes, has an optical out.

but the cable box only has settings of:

HDMI
Optical (pcm or Dolby)
Analog


...but neither work simultaneously. At least so he says.

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

yes, has an optical out.

but the cable box only has settings of:

HDMI
Optical (pcm or Dolby)
Analog


...but neither work simultaneously. At least so he says.

I am hoping to run the optical to my receiver from the Directv DVR and the HDMI straight to the TV. I am not aware of any settings on my DVR for the audio other than Dolby or PCM. I will try this weekend and hope it works. Let me know if you come up with a solution for him.

[olds403]

That is why I like my dishnet 722 dvr, all the outputs are "hot" at the same time. HDMI, optical and analog all work all the time. I have my audio going to my audio receiver all the time. With the Harmony it is totally transparent, not any more effort than using the tv audio. You might try using the audio receiver all the time, it really isn't any more hassle with the harmony.