Configuring Harmony for Sage

[AWS]

Ahh, that's a nice improvement to the Harmony line - no Activities. I like that feature a lot. The Activites just really bugged me. It's like you had to give the remote too many button presses to get it in the right mode for what I wanted to do. Anywho. I'll check out the Harmony One in action and see if I like it or not. Thanks for the info.

AWS

[sandor]

Originally Posted by AWS

Ahh, that's a nice improvement to the Harmony line - no Activities. I like that feature a lot. The Activites just really bugged me. It's like you had to give the remote too many button presses to get it in the right mode for what I wanted to do. Anywho. I'll check out the Harmony One in action and see if I like it or not. Thanks for the info.

AWS

i like the activities - though i only ever used one, watch TV, but a single button press could turn on my tv, audio receiver, HD200, and dim the lights. not too bad.

[Skirge01]

If you have a really simple setup, then you're probably going to be annoyed by the "extra" button presses. But, if you have to turn on the TV, select the right input, turn on the receiver, select the right input, wake the computer, and finally bring SageTV into focus, then you're really going to appreciate the Activity buttons.

Also, if you have people who aren't computer savvy and this is your only way to watch TV, it really pays off big time!

[davephan]

An alternative to the Harmony remote is the AR Xslight multi-device remote. The keyboard buttons are not raised on the AR compared to the Harmony One or 900. The AR Xslight also does not try to keep re-synchronizing between devices. The programming takes quite awhile. You have to use both direct entry and the web site. Many people complain about their web site, but I think it is OK to use after you get used to the web site.

I was going to buy either the Harmony One, Harmony 900, or AR Xslight. I read hundreds of review and comments about all of them before checking out the remote in person at a Best Buy store. In the end, I just didn't care for the newer Harmony raised buttons. To get the Red-Green-Yellow-Blue buttons with the Harmony, you have to get the 900. If you use the 900, it uses RF, so there is extra delay when it communicates with the RF box, which in turn send IR signals to the devices. Some people complain about the extra delay. I use the Red-Green-Yellow-Blue buttons as a quick way to switch between TV-SageTV-DVD/VCR-Blueray.

Many photos of the AR Xslight on the web don't look very good. But in person it looks very good. The shiny black remotes, Harmony and AR all tend to be fingerprint collectors. I would rather have a black mat surface on the remotes. Fingerprints are less visible on the AR Xsight than the Harmony One and 900 remotes.

You can setup the AR Xslight remote profiles for different people. Each person then can have their keys customized for them. The favorite channels can also be customized for that person. Programming is done by entering in the manufacture and model. The HD-200 isn't listed. Some of the programming is done by 'learning' the commands from the original remotes.

The favorite channels can also be programming into categories, such as Movies, News, Sports. Then you can flip between channels within that category of channels. The on-screen channel buttons can also have the channel Logos displayed in color instead of just numbers or names. The limit of favorites is about 64 channels.

The AR slight remote is rechargeable. A charge lasts for a couple of weeks. One bug with the remote is the clock on the remote does not keep accurate time. Fortunately, the clock is small and I ignore it. I haven't found a way to turn the clock off.

The main reason to get the multifunction remote is to get rid of all the remote control clutter. The AR remote replaces the TV, SageTV, Amplifier, DVD/VCR, and Blueray remotes. I think the AR Xslight can replace up to 18 remotes.

There are some Youtube videos that demonstrate the AR Xslight.

Corporate promotional video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lhwb6cETh0

Trade show video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H18Zv...eature=related

A guy programming the remote control video (poorly focused):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXsPANC11Uk

Dave

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by davephan

If you use the 900, it uses RF, so there is extra delay when it communicates with the RF box, which in turn send IR signals to the devices. Some people complain about the extra delay. I use the Red-Green-Yellow-Blue buttons as a quick way to switch between TV-SageTV-DVD/VCR-Blueray.

I just wanted to chime in that I don't see this on my Harmony 890. In fact, the response delay has decreased since moving from my 880. The receiver is much better when changing the volume and SageTV responds noticeably faster.

[DocDJ]

Originally Posted by AWS

My gosh! I haven't used software as unfriendly as the Harmony configuration tool (v 7.7.0) in a very long time. I have a very simple setup: Toshiba 65HX83, SageTV HTPC, USB-UIRT and a Harmony 890. The software stops processing anything after about seven or eight different screen changes. Anyway, I'm not here for that...

Thanks

I just told the Harmony my device was "sagetv" and it has been working perfectly. I haven't yet set up the "back" button, but that should not be hard.

[aweber1nj]

@Doc or Skirge:

I'm trying to setup a Harmony Remote (in most cases the model doesn't matter, but I have 3 different ones...).

If I go into "Add Device", I can choose "Computer -> Media Center PC".
I can then choose "SageTV".

But it forces me to enter a "Model" after that. Do you know what would be the appropriate response if I'm trying to control Sage Client (via a standard IR Receiver that appears to work partially with the remote it came with when Sage is configured for MCE Remote)?

Thanks in advance!
-AJ

[korben_dallas]

Just pick HD PVR. The IR commands are the same.

[aweber1nj]

I'm not finding that. (Unfortunately the Harmony setup sw is really clunky.)

Where would I "pick HD PVR"? I don't see that under "PVR" or under "Media Center PC".

I found Sage under PVR, but they have up to v5 or so listed, and that didn't help at all. Also tried just using the MSFT Media Center settings (thought the sage translations would work, but they didn't).

Should I be changing the remote settings WITHIN Sage when choosing something?

[korben_dallas]

Add Device > PVR > Hauppauge > HD PVR 1212

[aweber1nj]

Thanks. Found that. Now I'm guessing it's my IR Receiver, because I tried just about everything and the only remote that's (partially) working is the one that came OOTB.

I know the remote works, just can't get the settings right. Damn.

Thanks for your time.

[korben_dallas]

What remote are you trying to emulate and what IR receiver are you using?

I assumed Hauppauge but apparently that's not it.

[aweber1nj]

I bought a cheapo PC Remote from a reseller on Amazon, because I assumed, probably incorrectly, that the IR Receiver was irrelevant as long as it could receive IR from (theoretically) any remote/transmitter.

Seems like a mistake now. When I plugged in the USB cable it appeared and worked partially OOTB with the bundled remote (and Sage set to "MCE Remote"), but I didn't want that remote in the first-place, I wanted the receiver and my Harmony to work.

Guess the IR Receivers aren't nearly "universal".

[korben_dallas]

Plug in your IR. In SageTV go to Setup > Detailed Setup > Commands > and see if your remote is listed under Remotes. Select it or MCE Remote, and then go to Link infrared > and see if SageTV can detect the new IR codes.

[gplasky]

Set the Harmony up as a MCE remote. Everything should work fine.

Gerry

[ptzink]

So I FINALLY broke down and bought a Harmony (650). Loving it so far! I have it configured as an MCE remote to control SageTV via EventGhost. Everything works great. The only thing I am having trouble with is setting up Channel Favorites in the Harmony software (7.7). I am tuning Clear QAM channels in Sage that have channels that look like 4-1, 6-1, 8-1, etc. In the Harmony software, I type the channel as "20-1". The problem is, there is no "-" command for MCE Remote so the Harmony software gives me and error. There is a "." command, but Sage doesn't like dots. Then I discovered that "20#1" will work in SageTV and there is an MCE Remote command for "#". Great! The only problem is that when I enter "20#1" for the channel in the Harmony software, it gives me an error telling me that "20#1" is not a valid channel number. So, how do you Harmony/MCE Remote/EventGhost guys setup your channel favorites? I am aware that I could change the logical channel numbers to be "whole" numbers, but I prefer not to do that as I don't want to further confuse my wife/in-laws (which is the main reason I got the Harmony anyway). Is there any other way that I am missing?

[gplasky]

No help here. I don't use the channel favorites built into the Harmony software. Just got a Harmony 900 for the living room. There used to be a sage plugin that let you define channel favorites but I don't know if it made it to Sage 7.

Gerry

[Skirge01]

Does the 650 support learning codes from other remotes? If so, just use the remote which has the dash to teach it to the 650 and map it to a key. If not, set up EG to send a keyboard command when you press whatever key you want the dash to be mapped to. If you need help with that 2nd one, let me know.

[ptzink]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

If so, just use the remote which has the dash to teach it to the 650 and map it to a key.

Thanks. So what you are saying is open the Harmony software and go to Devices>Media Center PC>Settings>Learn Infrared Commands. Then can I use any old remote with a "-" (TV, Receiver, etc.) to teach the Harmony? Will it add this as a command under the MCE Remote even though I used a different remote to do the programming? Then I will just have to tell EventGhost that button action = "-" keyboard press. I will have to try this later on tonight. Really, I could just configure a macro that: goes to the guide, presses "2", presses "0", presses "#", presses "1", and then presses play. It would achieve the same thing but I don't get the cool icons for the networks.

[Skirge01]

Well, first, you'd want to use the remote that you would normally change channels with (the STB remote). That ensures the correct code is going to be sent (not sure if that's necessary with your particular setup, but it won't hurt). Other than that, yes, you're correct. Basically, you're telling the Harmony software that the MCE command for the button you choose to use for the dash is now this new code. Alternatively, you could add the STB as a device and that would add all of its remote codes. But, I don't think that's necessary for what you're currently trying to do.

Second, in EG, make sure you do not have "log only assigned and activated events" checked off (under the log window) because you'll have to teach it that code and pull it out of the log. Since EG doesn't have a matching marco for the new code yet, it wouldn't show up if that box is checked. So, add a Macro in EG (cancel out of the subsequent window that pops up), under your SageTV section where the rest of your remote commands are and name it something like "Dash". Then, press the key on the Harmony that you mapped to the dash in the Logitech software TWICE. You should see at least one code show up in the log of EG. If you see a different one for each press, then drag them both over to the "Dash" macro you created. That should do it.

The beauty of the Harmony line is its versatility. You can have an activity for "Watch TV" where channel buttons on the Harmony are mapped with MCE codes and sent to your STB, while the volume buttons are mapped with your receiver's codes and sent to the receiver.