Confusion with remotes

[jimbruskalski]

Hi, I already have a remote picked out that I want to use, but I am not sure if it is supported. I went to the remote setup and did not quite follow everything. I would like to use the Logitech Harmony 880. How do I know if a remote I pick up is supported by SageTV? Thanks.

Andrew

[Polypro]

The Harmony 880 can emulate any remote...it's more the receiver that Sage has to support. My 880 works with a UIRT sending *any* IR command, and it works with a Microsoft receiver sending MCE remote or keyboard commands.

P

[jimbruskalski]

I am not sure I understand what you are saying. Is the receiver hardware? Doesnt the Harmony 880 come with a receiver? Isnt that what connects to the PC? Can you elaborate a bit more please? I am not following you. Thanks.

Andrew

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by jimbruskalski

I am not sure I understand what you are saying. Is the receiver hardware? Doesnt the Harmony 880 come with a receiver? Isnt that what connects to the PC? Can you elaborate a bit more please? I am not following you. Thanks.

Andrew

I'm pretty sure the 880 does not come with any kind of receiver. You'd probably want to get a USBUIRT which Sage supports.

[johnnyspo]

The 880 does not come with a IR receiver. If you don't already have one, you'll have to purchase a receiver to accept 880's (or any remote controls') commads. I use the receiver that came with my Hauppauge PVR 150 MCE Kit, and I gather that Polypro is using a receiver called USB-UIRT. There are other out there.

Once you have the receiver, you'll need software to convert the IR commands into keystrokes that Sage can understand. The 150 comes with software; I believe you'll have to buy software for the USB-UIRT. Girder is a popular software package.

Once you have this, you can use Sage's remote control setup screen to determine what keystroke combination Sage uses for its functions. or you can remap a functions' combination to whatever you like.

--John

[johnnyspo]

Originally Posted by Polypro

The Harmony 880 can emulate any remote...it's more the receiver that Sage has to support. My 880 works with a UIRT sending *any* IR command, and it works with a Microsoft receiver sending MCE remote or keyboard commands.

P

Polypro:

I just bought the 880 last Friday, so I am still learning my way around it. Can you have create a custom button and have it send a keyboard command?

Also, one you are in an activity, say watch TV with Sage, can you configure macros within the activity? For example, I have an activity that changes from my TV input from STB to HTPC. Once this is done and I am in the activity, can I create a macro to do something within Sage? Or are only single commands allowed within an activity.

--John

[blade]

Originally Posted by johnnyspo

Once you have the receiver, you'll need software to convert the IR commands into keystrokes that Sage can understand. The 150 comes with software; I believe you'll have to buy software for the USB-UIRT. Girder is a popular software package.

You don't need any special software for the USB-UIRT. All you have to do is go to the command setup page in Sage. Select the command you want to link to a button then point the remote at the receiver and press the button you want to assign to the command.

[johnnyspo]

Originally Posted by blade

You don't need any special software for the USB-UIRT. All you have to do is go to the command setup page in Sage. Select the command you want to link to a button then point the remote at the receiver and press the button you want to assign to the command.

Blade:

Thanks for correction . Never used USB-UIRT, so I should have kept my mouth shut. Next time I'll stick to what I know - nothing!

--John

[AndyS]

I'm also researching remotes right now and for my needs I think one of the URC remotes will probably be the way I go. I'm leaning towards the MX-850 (Aeros) remote right now. I have a requirement for RF because I want to hide my equipment, and it turns out that URC have been building RF-enabled remotes for many years and their RF implementation is rock-solid (and most reports say much better than the Harmony RF solution). So I'll be adding an MRF-300 RF receiver to the package.

I'm not sure if this is of any value to you as you have already pretty much decided on the Harmony 880 (another great remote from what I've read) but I thought I'd share the results of my research so far.

Andy.

[Polypro]

Originally Posted by johnnyspo

Polypro:

I just bought the 880 last Friday, so I am still learning my way around it. Can you have create a custom button and have it send a keyboard command?

Also, one you are in an activity, say watch TV with Sage, can you configure macros within the activity? For example, I have an activity that changes from my TV input from STB to HTPC. Once this is done and I am in the activity, can I create a macro to do something within Sage? Or are only single commands allowed within an activity.

--John

My set up is pretty simple: DVI input on My Sceptre, Digital Coax on my Logitech, and Sage on my HTPC...so I havn't had the need to configure a lot of "switching". From what I can deduce (although remotecentral.com should be your final word), the Activities are where you can do "Macro Like" operations...once in an activity, it is single command only. For instance, I have one activity called "Watch SageTV" that turns on my LCD and then sends a bunch of commands for the backlight level (bug in my LCD firmware).

As far as the commands go, The 880 will learn any IR command. For use with my USB-UIRT, I just grabbed a bunch of remotes and taught it codes...then told Sage to use that code for X command. When I switched to the Microsoft Keyboard and Receiver, I taught it the keyboard commands for any action that Sage didn't support natively.

As far as the Harmony website goes, depending on your device, you may get lucky and find the perfect command set. Sometimes however, the person that sent it in, made a mess out of it. What I normally do is tell the website that I have a device not listed...it will then ask you to press some buttons on the remote...I grab 3 totally different remotes and hit the requested button on each different remote. What usually happens then is the website will say they have no clue what it is and give you a clean sheet to work with. I then grab the correct remote and teach it all the commands. Or you could just add your commands to what they give you...naming it something like CPlay, to denote your custom settings.

Once you set up Device mode, you'll have to set it up again (just some naming and dropdown box selection) in Activity mode. It seems difficult at first, but just play around on the site for a couple hours and you'll get the hang of it.

P

[johnnyspo]

Originally Posted by Polypro

When I switched to the Microsoft Keyboard and Receiver, I taught it the keyboard commands for any action that Sage didn't support natively.
P

P-

Did you teach the 880 single strokes, like "f", or combination such as <ctrl><shift>f? If combos, how did you teach the 880? Please explain, as this is VERY interesting to me....

--John

[Polypro]

With the MCE remote/keyboard/receiver, Sage has all the MCE commands supported natively...Play is play, Back is back, etc...you don't need to do anything. Obviously, Sage offers a ton more commands to do a ton more stuff...Mark favorites, switch to 16x9, etc... For those commands that mattered to me (what I put in the 880's window, or the remaining hard buttons that aren't taken), I looked at the Sage manual and found the keyboard command that did what I wanted. Then I just hit that combo on the keyboard when the 880 was in learning mode...you can use any number or combo of keys. With the MCE receiver, the keyboard is like the old LiteOn Airboard...you can use it to teach any learning remote that supports RC6 IR codes.

P

Edit: If there is no Sage keyboard command for what you want to do (not everything is mapped), just make something up and tell Sage to use it...just like always Sage understands the MCE receiver, the receiver understands the entire keyboard...piece of cake.