Harmony 880?

[Rex]

I recently bought the 880 and one thing I noticed was that when I want to switch from cable to DVD, sometimes it has to cycle through DVI-1, DVI-2 then HDMI which what my DVD is on. When I want to go back to watching cable(DVI-1) it wont automatically switch to it. The remote asks me if everything is working right, so I have press the help button to go through a miriad of questions until it fixes the problem. I did have trouble initially setting it up with my Westinghouse LVM-42Lv2 and MOXI box. The biggest problem I had was the remote for the Westinghouse is not that great because it only has one button to switch from DVI-1, DVI-2 and HDMI. This is why I think the 880 remote thinks it has to cycle until it finds the right channel. Not really sure though.

 

[Hi Ho]

My TV is the same way in that it must cycle through inputs. Unfortunately, many TV's are setup this way. Direct input selection with discrete buttons is a much better method.

Not all is lost, however. I have a Harmony 688 and, while I did not have any problems setting mine up, I may be able to provide some insight. You may have to fix it by going into your remote setup and editing the "Watch TV" function.

Go to the Watch TV setup and click through, keeping the options the same, until you get to the last page where it asks if everything is correct. Select, "Yes, but I want to add more control of options and devices for this Activity."

You will have to click through all the screens again. At the "Please review the actions for your Watch TV Activity:" screen you can manually add actions. According to my test setup, in which I added your TV, your TV may support direct input selection even though the original remote does not.

Under "Start Action", click "Add". Click the "Send this infrared Command:" dropdown box and select "InputTV", or whatever input you use for cable. I see there are other actions available for your TV such as "set input state to AV1", etc. You may need to fiddle with those settings but it should be rather straightforward.

If this doesn't work, I would contact Harmony support. Though I have not needed to contact them, I hear they are very helpful and they can actually log into your account and fix the problem.

 

[jake51s]

I think the problem is with the TV, if I remember correctly the Westinghouse's do not have a discreet code for each input, hence the cycle. I have the 37w1 and fixed the issue with my 880 by buying a switching receiver.

 

[Hi Ho]

The remote is (should be) smart enough to deal with cycling inputs. I use my receiver for most of the switching but I still have to switch between the TV tuner and Video 1 on the TV. My remote just set itself up.

 

[agarwalro]

The remote is (should be) smart enough to deal with cycling inputs. I use my receiver for most of the switching but I still have to switch between the TV tuner and Video 1 on the TV. My remote just set itself up.

Almost same for me. I have to switch between Vid 1 (for HDMI) and Vid 2 (for component) on my TV and the remote handles it flawlessly.

One option is to learn the "Change Input" button from the TV remote and place it on the default screen for all activities involving the TV. Its not the solution, but a work around to the "Help" option till you find the solution.

 

[Rex]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will spend some time with it and see if I can get it to work properly.

 

[astrodon]

Harmony 880 Question

All Harmony 880 owners:

I'm considering buying one of these universal remotes. However, when I look at the faceplate of this remote (indeed, most universal remotes), I see no buttons to eject CD/DVD disks from their respective players. Can this remote be programmed to eject such disks? If not, there's no point in buying one.

Thanks!

 

[bandit]

I haven't seen this button either - but I haven't looked for it either. Your stance on not buying a remote if it doesn't have this button makes me curious. Presumably - you'd have to walk over to your CD or DVD player to actually remove(or place)the disk from the tray holding it in the ejected position. I guess I don't understand why that button is so important to you.

Bandit

 

[astrodon]

I haven't seen this button either - but I haven't looked for it either. Your stance on not buying a remote if it doesn't have this button makes me curious. Presumably - you'd have to walk over to your CD or DVD player to actually remove(or place)the disk from the tray holding it in the ejected position. I guess I don't understand why that button is so important to you.

Bandit

It's the principle of the thing -- many universal remotes (including the Harmony 880) claim that they perform all functions of individual remotes. My DVD remotes have eject buttons. If a universal remote does not have an eject button, then it does not perform all of the functions. Also, eject buttons on players are not always easy to see when it is dark in your viewing room.

 

[Hi Ho]

Just about any button that is not physically on a Harmony can/will be covered by the LCD screen. There is no printed eject button but it will show up on the LCD screen. One can change the function of every button to suit his needs. The way I have mine programed, when I press "Watch DVD", the DVD player, receiver, and TV turn on, TV goes to Video 1, receiver to TV, DVD player eject - all with the push of one button.

To add to this, my Harmony 688 can acutally do quite a bit more functions than the original remotes did! The Logitech's remote code database is very impressive. I am not lying when I say I have not touched any of my OEM remotes even once since I got the Harmony. I couldn't tell you where they are.

 

[Rex]

Eject button

All Harmony 880 owners:

I'm considering buying one of these universal remotes. However, when I look at the faceplate of this remote (indeed, most universal remotes), I see no buttons to eject CD/DVD disks from their respective players. Can this remote be programmed to eject such disks? If not, there's no point in buying one.

Thanks!

Once you have programmed your particular DVD player into the remote, you can choose from the OSD to Load/Eject the disc.

 

[astrodon]

Once you have programmed your particular DVD player into the remote, you can choose from the OSD to Load/Eject the disc.

Thanks Rex and Hi Ho! That's all I need to know. I'll be purchasing the 880 within a few weeks.

Cheers!

 

[darien87]

My Mitsubishi TV is the same way. To change inputs on the TV you have to push a button to bring up an input menu, then you have to scroll right or left to the correct input, then you have to push ok. It took me a few tries to get it right, but once I did, the 880 worked great. It screws up and selects the wrong input every once in a while. But I'd say about 90% of the time it works fine. Though lately it's doing this weird thing where it kind of half selects the input. It scrolls over to it and highlights it, but it doesn't really select it. Like if I want to switch from watching cable TV to a DVD; it will scroll over to the DVD icon and highlight it. But I'll still be seeing the picture from the cable box with no sound. Weird.

But anyway; any time I've had a problem, the Harmony service line has been able to help me.