New Sky Box (NZ3151) and Logitech Harmony Remote Setup

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4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3069501 30-Apr-2023 13:45

Thank you so much. I will try it tonight! However, I did try and get the remote to pair with the sky box last night and it showed up as Harmony Keyboard, but it couldn't pair. I read somewhere that you have to create an activity and then use the Harmony app on the phone for it to work. So will try doing that.

MePLUR

32 posts

Geek

Trusted

#3069675 30-Apr-2023 18:41

arrowarrior:

Thank you so much. I will try it tonight! However, I did try and get the remote to pair with the sky box last night and it showed up as Harmony Keyboard, but it couldn't pair. I read somewhere that you have to create an activity and then use the Harmony app on the phone for it to work. So will try doing that.

I experienced the same thing as the OP from the first post. Backing out showed that it was paired.

There is a slight bug with the Sky box Bluetooth pairing. It gets stuck on 'pairing' once you choose pair. But if you back out, you'll see the 'Harmony Keyboard' listed as a device.

arrowarrior

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3069764 30-Apr-2023 22:37

Thanks for pointing that out. I now have Harmony Keyboard showing as connected under Remotes & Accessories.

However, nothing seems to happen when I click on any button in the Harmony App on my phone. I have also synced the remote and Windows Computer is now a device. But when I try and click anything on the remote it says "You have to use the Harmony App to pair this device".

What am I doing wrong?

Another question - since it is configured as a Windows Computer - can you get the Harmony to turn it on? As part of my activity I turn on the amp, tv and the box.

Thanks again for all your help and sorry for all the questions :).

MePLUR

32 posts

Geek

Trusted

#3070212 2-May-2023 00:43

arrowarrior:

But when I try and click anything on the remote it says "You have to use the Harmony App to pair this device".

What am I doing wrong?

When I initially launched the activity from the Harmony app on my phone, it prompts you to go through the pairing process. Not sure if you can do this from the remote itself.

On the Android app, Harmony Setup > Add/Edit Devices & Activities > Activities > (Your watch Sky activity) > Connectivity also puts the Hub in pairing mode.

arrowarrior:

Another question - since it is configured as a Windows Computer - can you get the Harmony to turn it on? As part of my activity I turn on the amp, tv and the box.

My Sky box is always on, so I'm unsure if it can be powered on/off using the Harmony.

HarmonyLover

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3072574 5-May-2023 08:23

This thread has been a great help thank you to all!

After lots of experimentation I ended up adding TWO devices to control the Sky Box.

The Windows PC, and a TiVo Stream 4K.

Then I mixed devices in the Activity to get the control I wanted.

The TiVo didn't have fast forward and rewind or record for example but had a lot of other short cuts. And it had some buttons which matched the sky remote better.

From the Windows PC commands I use

Rewind/FastForward
Record
Ch up/down
Mute
Back
Guide

Windows buttons which didn't match what the sky remote sends

OK - it's NUMPAD_ENTER which only works in some contexts, in others you need to use a space.

The TiVo provides these buttons which work as you expect

Home (Exit also takes you home)
TiVo - this takes you to the planner
Live Channels - for Live TV
Search
OK - I use this because it's DPAD_CENTER which is the same key the sky remote sends
Play/Pause which is a toggle even though it's two keys
Power Off - to put it to sleep
Power On will power it on - but it's actually DPAD_LEFT which wakes it up anyway.

What still doesn't work/I haven't found a button for

Apps (The TiVo sends APP_SWITCH but the sky remote sends ALL_APPS)
Netflix
The A/V button on the remote which I don't use anyway
My Hub

I should hopefully be able to map those using Button Mapper which I used to get the codes the sky remote was sending.

But I haven't had a chance to try that yet so don't know how well it will work so can recommended Button Mapper for that at this point.

mminehan

25 posts

Geek

#3072692 5-May-2023 14:05

@HarmonyLover

Brilliant work. It makes the new Sky box almost completely operable with the Harmony Elite.

Is the TiVo side of things using Bluetooth or IR?

And do you know if it is possible to have two Windows PC devices working on the Harmony? The reason I ask is that I run a Kodi box (Windows based...which is brilliant by the way) that is setup as a Windows PC in Harmony. I would hate to lose control of Kodi just for the Skybox.

HarmonyLover

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3072745 5-May-2023 16:51

Hi @mminehan

Is the TiVo side of things using Bluetooth or IR?

I think Bluetooth. I have a vague recollection my phone flashed 'Bluetooth paired' when I added it after trying about 5 different devices including the Kodi.

To check I turned off the Hub IR outputs for the TiVo and Sky Box and set it to IR from the remote only.

I run Cat 5E into my office from my main room so the IR from the remote shouldn't reach the sky box.

It still worked exactly the same even when I covered up the harmony IR outputs as an extra check.

Also the sky help article says the IR is only used to make it easy to pair the remote to the box then it switches to Bluetooth (although maybe it can still receive IR commands)

In Remotes and accessories I see two things connected

Harmony. (I renamed the default name)
And the Sky RC A1.

mminehan:

And do you know if it is possible to have two Windows PC devices working on the Harmony? The reason I ask is that I run a Kodi box (Windows based...which is brilliant by the way) that is setup as a Windows PC in Harmony. I would hate to lose control of Kodi just for the Skybox.

I think it would be a pretty bad bug if you couldn't do that.

They are different devices and activities, and have different Bluetooth addresses.

But I can't tell you for sure.

---

Bill

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

arrowarrior

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3072997 6-May-2023 11:22

Adding the Sky Box to Google Home has now meant that at a very basic level control the via the Google Home app. I now get a small remote icon which allows me rudimentary controls. It wasn't available before - perhaps a Google update fixed that (I am on the Google Home Preview version).

HarmonyLover

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3073067 6-May-2023 13:14

With Button Mapper I have all of the buttons working (apart from that AV button which I don't need) with the harmony.

Things you don't need Button Mapper for.

I used these from the windows media PC to map to buttons

Rewind/FF
Record
Channel Up/Down
Mute
Back
Guide

And these from the Tivo

Play/Pause
Exit (which is actually the same as the Home key)
OK
Planner - which the TiVo harmony calls TiVo
Live TV - TiVo harmonay calls it Live Channels
Search
PowerOff - it's actually a sleep mode.

Making short cuts to apps like Netflix etc - you need Button Mapper.

I mapped the Windows PC F1-Fx keys with Button Mapper to start whatever app you want.

I have F2 for Netflix, F3 for Youtube, F4 for F1TV, F8 for Settings, etc etc.

Then I mapped them to physical buttons on the Harmony (and in the touch screen incase I forget which button is what).

Making Apps and My Hub work with technical work.

You have to be happy installing the Android SDK, connecting the debugger to your sky box via TCP/IP and running command line commands to do this. If you can't figure out the IP address of the Sky Box this is probably not for you.

You also have to pay a small amount of money for Button Mapper so you can send the key codes.

This documents the effort you have to go to.

https://setup.buttonmapper.app/ (I wonder why the link function isn't working? It kept removing it).

You only need the keycode.sh script and set the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS but at the start you have to do the

I ran the manual commands. The windows app provided didn't work (because it expects you to connect via USB - not TCP/IP). Also I prefer to see what is going on.

If you are happy doing all the technical things above these are the keycodes you need in the advanced mapping in Button Mapper.

APPS: 284 (ALL_APPS)

My Hub: 226 (MEDIA_TOP_MENU)

I fear for Logitech turning off the cloud services

It's such a shame Logitech don't make the Elite any more. I did buy two as spares when they announced they were discontinuing it. There is no remote like it.

I have a lot of AV sources and switchers, Receiver, a device to split 1k off a 4k stream to transmit to my office, and split the audio to my receiver since it can't do 4k HDR.

The harmony manages all of the switching. And it talks WiFi, Bluetooth and IR.

I would pay money to them every year if they move to a pay for cloud model. Especially if I could send them the keycodes for the Sky Box so I didn't have to do so much work.

----

Bill

mminehan

25 posts

Geek

#3073175 6-May-2023 17:46

@HarmonyLover

Brilliant work Bill. I'll get on to this over the next few days. Thank you so much for all your input.

I'll probably just go with the PC and TiVo buttons as I am happy using the navigation controls to get to Netflix etc.

Have you heard about this remote from Unfolded Circle: https://www.unfoldedcircle.com/

It looks pretty good and very customizable. It has been in development for a while now but should be released sometime this year. There are some beta versions people are playing with. You can check out the forums and GitHub to get an idea of what it can do. And best of all not cloud based....all local!

mminehan

25 posts

Geek

#3073283 7-May-2023 09:44

@HarmonyLover

Your instructions worked like a charm. I didn't do the "Button Mapper" stuff as we use AppleTV for Netflix, Plex, Amazon etc. I find the AppleTV interface to be the best of all the devices we use.

I did find that the TiVo discreet On and Off commands worked. So that was useful for start up sequences.

Did you map the 'Info' hard button on the remote to anything? I couldn't think what it would be used for with the Sky box.

Also, because using the word 'TiVo' for the planner would confuse people in my house I just set up a sequence called 'Planner' that calls the TiVo command and used that on the screen section of the remote. By using sequences you can effectively name the commands on the LCD to whatever you want.

I think I can safely put the new Sky remote in the drawer now.

Thanks again.

HarmonyLover

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3073413 7-May-2023 16:34

@mminehan

I'm glad to help.

Sharing is caring!

And your hint about using it as a Windows PC got me kickstarted.

mminehan:

Did you map the 'Info' hard button on the remote to anything? I couldn't think what it would be used for with the Sky box.

I've started with

Short press: Search
Long press: TV Info

However since the OK button pretty much pops up info about what you're watching when you are playing something I may move the Short press to that, and put the search button somewhere else.

I have a standard way of programming activities where short presses will control the main device for the activity, and long presses control the TV or my Receiver - and the long presses are the same for all of my activities.

I'm pleased with the new Sky box. It's good enough I'm not using my Nvidia Shield TV Pro anymore. I was very pleased it supports 4k HDR + the good audio formats (at least what netflix supports).

And now the remote works perfectly it's easy to use.

Harmony 'Alternatives'

I had a look at https://www.unfoldedcircle.com/

I like their open APIs, and their architecture (after a quick look anyway), and the fact they use rust for some implementations.

I don't like the button layout and I'm a bit worried they won't deliver.

The Harmony Elite button layout is close to perfect for me. I preferred the Harmony One+ (but it didn't have the colour buttons).

I like a remote layout I never have to look at. Separating the keys naturally makes that easy.

I not someone who is happy poking at my phone screen and then looking up at what is going on.

---

Bill

three6zerocool

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3074350 9-May-2023 20:51

Hello, I am a bit late to this discussion thread.

I have Harmony Elite, and just received the new Sky Box.

However, had an issue with my Harmony Elite.

Believe it or not, Logitech have the ability to disable both the hub, and the Elite remote itself.

I kid you not. I was attempting to configure my remote, and when I went to sync, a message popped up stating that my remote has been 'disabled' and to contact Logitech Support.

If I then tried the mobile app, it said my hub had been disabled.

It has taken an entire week to sort it out with Logitech, and get my remote and hub enabled again.

The Hub that comes with the Elite is uniquely paired to each other, and Logitech can break your remote from working 'like that'.

I tried factory reseting both the hub and remote, all to no avail.

I have two Harmony Elite's, so tried using second hub with my remote, and still would not work.

Don't know about others here, but I find that ability to render my remote disabled to be quite frightening, and would not have believed it, if it had not just happened to me!.

Anyway, going to try the excellent suggestions in this thread.

three6zerocool

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3074379 9-May-2023 23:41

Ok, got the Harmony Elite up and running with the new Sky Box, thanks to all the suggestions and guidance in this thread.

(Grin). What a great device find the TiVo is. However did you come across that? (Well done)

I have the button mapper, so will have to try the ADB commands with button mappers custom key codes.

I can’t believe how much better the harmony elite is than the supplied Sky box remote.
(It’s awful)

MikeMcI

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#3094884 26-Jun-2023 07:44

Some great advice there and I'm working with the Windows PC/ TiVo suggestion.

I'm failing to get my Harmony to pair with the Sk"y Box though. I'm using the Harmony app on my iPhone, and "Add Remote" on the Sky Box. "Harmony Keyboard comes up. When I click on that the Sky Box starts pairing, then gets stuck on "connecting".

Any suggestions to get this to connect? I've an Nvidia Shield, which I connected OK last year, with no dramas. This runs on Android TV too, so I'm bemused as to why the Sky Box won't play ball.

Any suggestions on how to get the pairing completed would be appreciated.

Cheers

Mike.

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