One remote to rule them all...

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#755209 3-Feb-2013 20:47

trig42:
skewt: I have the Harmony 785 and it's great except for the charging cradle...

It sucks. the contacts never seem to connect correctly,
sometimes I have to place an item on top of the remote just to get it to charge.. this is my second one after i returned the first one with the same issue

On the plus side, my partner can use it without issues

Same with my 785. I scrape the contacts every so often and that seems to fix it.

I had a similar problem with the 880 cradle. I just dropped bits of solder on each contact on the cradle which raised the contact profile and facilitated an improved connection.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

martyyn

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#755240 3-Feb-2013 22:01

kiwijunglist: Thanks for that, will have to borrow a harmony from someone / somewhere and see if I can capture this IR signal so I can use it with my blaster.

Are you able to see the raw wave form (Run Length Coding) data values for these IR codes?

Are you in Wellington ? Not sure why I think you are.

I have an 880 your welcome to borrow (same as 885 but without discrete YGBR teletext buttons).

Also have a 525 sitting in a draw ;)

[edit]
Oh and same with the charging issue for me with both an 880 and 885. A quick couple of minutes with a file on the bottom of the remote has sorted that out.

kiwijunglist

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#755269 3-Feb-2013 22:49

Thanks for the offer thats very nice, unfortunately I live in Christchurch :D I have an IR blaster that my HTPC uses to control my audio receiver + tv, but unfortunately it only knows how to power toggle as I can't teach it the discrete IR codes as I have no device to play the codes.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

martyyn

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#755272 3-Feb-2013 22:52

I can post my 525 down. Won't cost much. You've helped me plenty with mediaportal over the years.

kiwijunglist

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#755282 3-Feb-2013 23:29

Thanks, at this stage I think it's not worth the effort to post it down then back again, but will let you know if I change my mind. Cheers.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

skewt

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#755315 4-Feb-2013 07:40

lchiu7:

I had a similar problem with the 880 cradle. I just dropped bits of solder on each contact on the cradle which raised the contact profile and facilitated an improved connection.

Thanks, will try that later today

JimmyH

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#755742 4-Feb-2013 19:04

skewt:
lchiu7:

I had a similar problem with the 880 cradle. I just dropped bits of solder on each contact on the cradle which raised the contact profile and facilitated an improved connection.

Thanks, will try that later today

As will I. I stopped using my 885 because I couldn't get it to charge. Thanks for sharing the advice.

Edit: My bad, I have a 785, not an 885, but it still has the same problem.

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Monza

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#773649 2-Mar-2013 15:57

Finally got around to buying a Logitech Harmony 650, very impressed with it so far. I was skeptical about the software, thinking it would be either fiddly to set up or too basic for what I wanted it to do. Logitech have done a great job in making very powerful software quick and easy to set up.

The Logitech database did not have my satellite box, thinking I would have to programme all the buttons. Instead you use your existing remote and 'teach' the Harmony about 4 button presses and it sets up the rest.

Only annoying thing so far is that I thought it came with a cradle so can keep it charged (maybe the more expensive ones do).

zANavAShi

119 posts

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#774109 4-Mar-2013 09:28

Awesome intel in this thread. Thanks to all contributers, you have saved me many hours of googling for resolution to my unmanagable bucket full of media remotes.

Hope it's not too far off topic to ask, but I dabble about with a bit of homebrew firmware (mainly xbmc stuff) and wondering if any readers have comments to add about their experience with universal remote on those kinds of devices?

[edit] mumble grumble midget android keypad

skewt

750 posts

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#774120 4-Mar-2013 09:49

zANavAShi: Awesome intel in this thread. Thanks to all contributers, you have saved me many hours of googling for resolution to my unmanagable bucket full of media remotes.

Hope it's not too far off topic to ask, but I dabble about with a bit of homebrew firmware (mainly xbmc stuff) and wondering if any readers have comments to add about their experience with universal remote on those kinds of devices?

[edit] mumble grumble midget android keypad

I use my universal remote with MediaPortal and it works perfectly but I have used it on XMBC in the past as well
With the Harmony remotes, you can load in the settings for remotes for devices like "Media Centre PC's' and they seem to work out of the box with minimal tweaking

jonathan18

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#774216 4-Mar-2013 11:57

skewt:
zANavAShi: Awesome intel in this thread. Thanks to all contributers, you have saved me many hours of googling for resolution to my unmanagable bucket full of media remotes.

Hope it's not too far off topic to ask, but I dabble about with a bit of homebrew firmware (mainly xbmc stuff) and wondering if any readers have comments to add about their experience with universal remote on those kinds of devices?

[edit] mumble grumble midget android keypad

I use my universal remote with MediaPortal and it works perfectly but I have used it on XMBC in the past as well
With the Harmony remotes, you can load in the settings for remotes for devices like "Media Centre PC's' and they seem to work out of the box with minimal tweaking

True... I use my Harmony One with a Mac Mini running XBMC; it required very little fiddling other than sticking a keymap file in the appropriate location and selecting Hamony from the remote options in the XBMC settings.

biggest hassle with the setup is a lack of 'normal' rw and ff commands, but generally it's fantastic, and requires little use of the mouse (other than when XBMC freezes!).

timmmay

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#774220 4-Mar-2013 12:05

Can anyone point to a good guide to get the Harmony remotes working with XBMC? Also tips on how they communicate would be good - do you add a remote receiver? I got a media remote which works, but I don't use because I don't like having all those remotes around.

zANavAShi

119 posts

Master Geek

#774667 4-Mar-2013 23:23

jonathan18: I use my Harmony One with a Mac Mini running XBMC; it required very little fiddling other than sticking a keymap file in the appropriate location and selecting Hamony from the remote options in the XBMC settings.

Cool bananas, I was wondering if there may be a keymap file solution. So likely do-able... although I may be back to pick your brains on that later hehe

timmmay: Can anyone point to a good guide to get the Harmony remotes working with XBMC? Also tips on how they communicate would be good - do you add a remote receiver? I got a media remote which works, but I don't use because I don't like having all those remotes around.

Ditto that request, and can anybody point me to a list of supported hardware for the harmony, cos my search of the logitech site seems to loop back to a page that requires registration of the remote which I do not actually own yet.

Cheers for the responses!

jonathan18

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#774721 5-Mar-2013 07:12

timmmay: Can anyone point to a good guide to get the Harmony remotes working with XBMC? Also tips on how they communicate would be good - do you add a remote receiver? I got a media remote which works, but I don't use because I don't like having all those remotes around.

There will be different guides depending on what OS you're using - considering the different flavours XBMC comes in.

As mentioned, I use Mac Minis for HTPCs in our place (and have purchased a second Harmony One to work with the newly built HT - see my earlier comments re the latest Harmony Touch).

So... the guide I used (having found it in my bookmarks!) was http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=55660 - that's on the XBMC forums, and I'd imagine this would be the most likely site to find equivalents for other OSs.

Re receivers - again, the Mac Mini works brilliantly as it has an IR receiver built-in; I'd imagine most other solutions will require the purchase of a IR receiver.

Cheers
Jonathan

kiwijunglist

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#774727 5-Mar-2013 07:16

timmmay: Can anyone point to a good guide to get the Harmony remotes working with XBMC? Also tips on how they communicate would be good - do you add a remote receiver? I got a media remote which works, but I don't use because I don't like having all those remotes around.

use the harmony to either clone your existing media remote or set it to MCE emulation, continue to use the same IR receiver.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

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