[Radio Enginerd]

Has anyone tried using this Harmony model to control an HR-20?

The reason I ask... The Harmony Universal Remote for Xbox 360 (P/N: 966200-0403) has 4 color buttons that match the same color buttons that are on the original remote that comes with the HR-20.

I was curious if you're able to program (or learn) the color button functions from the original remote or are those color buttons on the Harmony hard coded for JUST the XBOX 360.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/detailsharmony/US/EN,CRID=2084,CONTENTID=11250

Thanks in advance!

Any feedback on Harmony remotes is appreciate.

 

[ShapeGSX]

Generally, the only button on a Harmony that is hard-coded is the Media button. I'd guess that that remote is a perfect match for the HR20.

 

[Radio Enginerd]

Generally, the only button on a Harmony that is hard-coded is the Media button. I'd guess that that remote is a perfect match for the HR20.

I figured that much. I can't imagine them hard-coding those buttons. They'd be a waste for other functions. Do you currently own a Harmony? If so, how do you like it?

 

[burnside]

I'm interested in this too. I was thinking about getting a Harmony remote when my HR20 comes in. Are there any cool macros you can set up other than the standard "Play a DVD" or "Watch PVR" macros?

 

[Jeremy W]

Are there any cool macros you can set up other than the standard "Play a DVD" or "Watch PVR" macros?

No, this is the only place where the Harmony falls short. It has no macro capability. The configuration system is dumbed down so that "common" people can use it, and there is no way to access advanced facilities. If they would just add that, they'd have a perfect remote. Until then, it's only almost perfect.

I really don't understand why they refuse to add macros. The remote is obviously powerful enough, and techies are constantly clamoring for it. There are cheaper, less-featured remotes that can do macros with ease. There is no excuse for not having it on the Harmony.

 

[Slump Buster]

No, this is the only place where the Harmony falls short. It has no macro capability. The configuration system is dumbed down so that "common" people can use it, and there is no way to access advanced facilities. If they would just add that, they'd have a perfect remote. Until then, it's only almost perfect.

I really don't understand why they refuse to add macros. The remote is obviously powerful enough, and techies are constantly clamoring for it. There are cheaper, less-featured remotes that can do macros with ease. There is no excuse for not having it on the Harmony.

I disagree. I've owned two harmony remotes (I currently have the 880) and I've yet to come across something that I couldn't do. I owned the HR20 before Harmony entered it into its database (I had to enter it as a different model) but I was able to program the color buttons into my remote without problem. Now the colored buttons show up in the lcd and I have the exact same functionality as the original remote.

I suggest you search a little more in this forum - there have already been threads discussing the harmony remotes.

 

[Radio Enginerd]

Isn't the Watch TV or Watch DVD a macro in itself? Since I don't own one I have no idea but here's what I'd be interested in doing...

Press Watch DVD, DVD Player Turns on, TV changes to the proper input, Receiver changes to the proper input.

I'm guessing it does this?

 

[Radio Enginerd]

I disagree. I've owned two harmony remotes (I currently have the 880) and I've yet to come across something that I couldn't do. I owned the HR20 before Harmony entered it into its database (I had to enter it as a different model) but I was able to program the color buttons into my remote without problem. Now the colored buttons show up in the lcd and I have the exact same functionality as the original remote.

I suggest you search a little more in this forum - there have already been threads discussing the harmony remotes.

Appreciate the feeback.

I was more interested about whether I could get the color buttons on the XBOX version of the remote to do the functions of the color buttons for the HR-20. I don't have enough bank roll to purchase the 880.

 

[PoitNarf]

Check out these 2 threads for some similar subject matter:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=65659

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=64832

 

[ShapeGSX]

I have two Harmonies. I have a 680 and an 880. Both were purchased with extreme rebates/sales. I got the 680 for $80, and then the 880 later for around $100. Logitech generally has some crazy rebates on these remotes around the January to March timeframe (or at least they have for the past 2 years).

They are very good remote controls.

Their strength and their weakness is their configuration interface. It is their strength because you don't have to press a million keys on the remote to configure it. Just hook up the USB cable and run the software.

It is their weakness because getting the configuration to be "just right" can be a bit of a pain. It is basically just an issue with setting up the soft buttons. You can't re-order them easily. Instead, if you want to re-order them, you have to do it all manually. And the upload to the remote can take a while if you have a lot of devices.

Harmonies are not macro remotes. They are task-based remotes. So when you select that you want to "watch HR20", it will automatically turn on the HR20, turn on your TV (if it isn't already on), and turn on your stereo, switch the TV and stereo to the correct inputs and then set up all the buttons on the remote to work. So volume and mute will control the stereo, but all the other buttons will control the HR20. And you can set up soft buttons to control things like CC or video modes on your TV.

But all the buttons are configurable. The Harmony software does give you a very good default starting point for configuration.

You can hack in rudimentary macros for buttons if you go to great lengths. But I've never found a reason to do so.

 

[Jeremy W]

Isn't the Watch TV or Watch DVD a macro in itself? Since I don't own one I have no idea but here's what I'd be interested in doing...

Press Watch DVD, DVD Player Turns on, TV changes to the proper input, Receiver changes to the proper input.

I'm guessing it does this?

Yes, that is exactly how it works.

 

[Jeremy W]

You can hack in rudimentary macros for buttons if you go to great lengths. But I've never found a reason to do so.

The first time I ever had to do it was when I got the HR20. I "hacked" the Guide button so that it would send the signal twice, to skip the stupid category screen.

 

[ShapeGSX]

I should note that I haven't quite gotten the HR20 to work perfectly with the Harmony yet. But I believe it is all in the button timing. The "skip to tick" feature doesn't work for me. But I've only had the HR20 running since Monday. I haven't had time to fix the Harmony yet.

I used "HR20-700" as the name I typed in on the Harmony web site. The 30 second skip button was mistakenly set up as FFWD. A quick program of that button from my HR20 remote fixed that.

I should also note that the Harmony call center has been fantastic every time I have called them. And they can do things with your remote configuration that you cannot. The remote config is actually stored in Logitech's servers, believe it or not!

 

[PoitNarf]

The first time I ever had to do it was when I got the HR20. I "hacked" the Guide button so that it would send the signal twice, to skip the stupid category screen.

I just want to thank you again Jeremy for this tip.

 

[Jeremy W]

The "skip to tick" feature doesn't work for me.

You have to hold the button down for a few seconds, release, and then press it again.

 

[soccergrunt]

Radio,
The harmony remotes work great. Especially if you have kids!. Your assumption on the Activities (as harmony calls them) are correct. You can program multiple activities and have any device turn on and set to the correct input. You can switch from one activity to another and the remote will turn off the devices already on that are not needed and turn on the ones that are. You can also program additional commands to execute during the ctivity button or on pwer off. I added sound field commands to mine depending on the activity. For Watch a Movie (DVD) I send the movie sound field command to my Sony receiver, for listening to CDs, i send the music sound field command. the Harmony will not program macros for use once you are in an activity.

 

[Jeremy W]

I just want to thank you again Jeremy for this tip.

I'm just glad I could make the world a little better for people with HR20s and Harmony remotes.

 

[ShapeGSX]

Hey, I just found this mod for the Harmony web site and Firefox that lets you re-order the soft buttons!

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-harmony/thread.cgi?4182
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2952/

Note that you can access your Harmony config either from the Harmony web site or their own application. This mod requires you to use the web site.

 

[Jeremy W]

It would be nice if they could come out with a way to do this that didn't require using a crappy browser.

 

[PoitNarf]

It would be nice if they could come out with a way to do this that didn't require using a crappy browser.

Well you can configure the remote without a web browser with the latest software version (v7.0), but you still have all the limitations as before in terms of ordering of the buttons and such.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/downloads/software/US/EN,CRID=2109,contentid=10174