Harmony One and USB-UIRT?

[Brent94Z]

Hey Guys,

I was tired of a ton of remotes so just picked up a Harmony One

I've got it programmed with everything except... SageTV. Figures, eh?

I was using a Hauppauge 45 button remote (HD-PVR remote) to control SageTV via a USB-UIRT.

What is the best way to get my Harmony One remote to "work" with SageTV? Since I'm using the HD-PVR remote I tried setting up a device called a Media Center PC with SageTV and the model number being hd-pvr. It recognized this but when I select the "up" button for example, it goes two up instead of one up... I seem to recall there being something with the Hauppauge remotes doing this and since I'm using a Harmony and have two commands programmed for the USB-UIRT, I thinking this is what the problem is?

Anyway, just curious if there is an easy way for me to do this or am I going to have to redo all my buttons and in doing so, what would be the best device setup to start with in the Harmony remote software?

Thanks!

[Brent94Z]

Well, I tried a couple different things and nothing is really working. I must be missing something easy because I know a lot of people are using Harmony remotes to control Sage

What I have tried now is that in the Harmony remote software setup area for my Media Center PC, I tried just learning all the commands from my Hauppauge 45 button remote. This technically worked but for some reason my Harmony remote is still doing TWO button presses each time I press the button once. For example, if I hit the "down" button while on the menu, it goes down two menu items instead of just one.

I think I'm missing how I'm supposed to be setting up my HTPC as far as a "device" goes. I have the device selected as "Media Center PC" and the manufacturer selected as "Sage" and the model number selected as "media center".

For any of you guys who have this working with a USB-UIRT, it would be greatly appreciated if you wouldn't mind sharing how best to do this Thanks!!!

[stanger89]

There should be a SageTV option in there. I know URC had SageTV's (HD100 remote) codes, I thought I'd heard that Harmonys do too.

[gplasky]

Yes. Harmony has both the HD100 and the HD200. It may be listed as STPHD100 and STPHD200. Don't use the Media Center PC selection. Find the actual Sage device in the database.

Gerry

[Brent94Z]

Yes, they do have the HD200 (I think that is even the example they have off to the right) but I don't have an HD200. I have an actual HTPC so I'm actually trying to "control" the USB-UIRT you could say... I think

I'll try to type in USB-UIRT and see what happens but I think I already tried that. Tried so many different things that I'm losing track. LOL

I'm not opposed to re-inputting all my commands for the USB-UIRT but I'm not sure what to select here so all the buttons on the Harmony One transmit "something". For example, with "media center" selected, a number of the buttons on the Harmony One don't even transmit a signal.

[stanger89]

Right, id doesn't matter what you select, you just need to pick something with the right buttons. The HD200 has all the right buttons, so you'd pick that as your device (even though it's a PC) and Sage should either respond to that natively through the UIRT or you can learn those buttons in Sage as you see fit.

[Brent94Z]

Gotcha stanger. I'll give that a shot. Thanks!

I did try selecting USB-UIRT as the model. I then unmapped the "down" button and mapped it to the Harmony One's down button. I noticed that the Harmony One was outputting two different codes at every other button press (just like a Hauppauge remote) so I mapped both of those codes... still acting like TWO button presses though. Mapped back to the Hauppauge remote down since it didn't work. Will try the HD200 like you mentioned and see if that works... fingers crossed

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Right, id doesn't matter what you select, you just need to pick something with the right buttons. The HD200 has all the right buttons, so you'd pick that as your device (even though it's a PC) and Sage should either respond to that natively through the UIRT or you can learn those buttons in Sage as you see fit.

Tried this with the same results. I was able to select "SageTV" as the manufacturer and I put in "HD200" as the model which then automatically went to the full name of the HD200 so I know that worked.

I tried the remote without doing anything and, as expected, nothing happened. So, I went through the same thing and unmapped both codes for the "down" button from my Hauppauge 45 button remote. The down button now had no codes. I then mapped the Harmony One down button just once. This didn't work and I got no movement using the down button. So, since it had different codes for every other button press like the Hauppauge remotes, I then mapped the other code of the Harmony. I now have both Harmony One "down" codes mapped. I go back to the menu option and press the down button on the Harmony and it goes down TWO spaces again. ARGH! LOL! So, same thing as before.

I'm headed off to work now but if you guys have any other ideas, I'm all ears

Thanks!

[mp328]

i had my harmony 880 working for a few years without issues with my old hauppauge 150 ir reciever. last week i decided to add a hauppauge 950q usb tuner and this ruined everything for me. turns out the small usb tuner has a built in ir reciever and this over rides the old 150 reciever.

now my remote does the same thing, 2 buttons in all directions. so annoying. even the original hauppauge jumps sometimes 2 places depending how hard the button is pushed.

back in the day i was able to fix this using the registry change, see attachment. changing the poll rate to a higher number would make it go away. but now it doesnt and im out of options too.

i've been looking at switching to usb-uirt + any remote for input, but not sure how to make that work. currently the usb-uirt works fine changing channels on by STB box.

all ides are welcome

[Brent94Z]

Yeah, but I don't *think* my issue has to do with how long the Harmony One is transmitting. It seems to be too consistent (always does double) for this to be the problem but who knows.

It sounds like everyone with a Harmony remote who is reading this is controlling an HD100/200/300 so can't provide input. Nobody out there with a Harmony remote controlling a HTPC with USB-UIRT??? pretty please??? LOL!!! thanks

[korben_dallas]

SageClient.properties

infrared_receive_repeat_delay=350
infrared_receive_repeat_delay_rc5=350
infrared_receive_repeat_period=250

[sflamm]

Is there a difference between the HD100 & HD200 remotes in terms of buttons available?

I am trying to figure out the equivalent mappings to replace my Windows Media Center Remote (replacing a SageTV Software Client with the Harmony acting as a MCE remote with the HD300 and the Harmony acting as a HD300 remote....)

What are the keystrokes for the following:

RecordedTV
LiveTV
Power

Also, I have customized menus. I set those keystrokes up in the mapping...
For example I set "custom1" to "F1"
I cannot seem to get the HD300 to do that as it does not seem to listen to my infrared keyboard
Any way to do this?

There seems to be a line in the HD Client properties file:
ui/rc_mappings/custom1

Can this be used?

Looking in the custom setup, it says:

"LiveTV" is command 63 (MCE remote "LiveTV")
"SageTV Recordings" is command 86 (MCE remote "RecordedTV")
"Power" is "Ctrl-Z" (MCE remote "Power Button")

How do I get the Harmony remote to issue the # commands?

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

SageClient.properties

infrared_receive_repeat_delay=350
infrared_receive_repeat_delay_rc5=350
infrared_receive_repeat_period=250

You're a genius Thanks! This fixed the problem with it "doubling" the commands. Now just working on trying to figure out how to "activate" a few of the buttons on the remote and speed it up so its as fast as the Hauppage remote. Playing with a few settings now but at least it is functional. Thanks!!!

[MalibuDave42]

Something else to consider is to choose a device NOT in your system. Since all you really need is for the remote to send a unique code, it does not matter what the code is. Choosing a device with lots of buttons (a.k.a. lots of unique IR codes), you can map them to any button on the remote. The wonder of a Harmony. Then, have Sage learn the code which is easy to do in the Command area of the Setup menu.

[sflamm]

Exactly. That has been my strategy using the Harmony.

To do that I have been using an Microsoft MCE IR Keyboard:

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Remo...6389584&sr=8-1

The problem is that the HD300 is not seeing all the IR keys.

I went to HD SageTV Extender key mapping, and tried to have it learn the F1 function key... will not see it. Or any of the other F1...F12 keys.

It does see the special "RecordedTV", "MyTV" keys... so I have used those as a workaround to generate a unique code.

However, I'm not sure why it doesnt see all the keys. Shouldnt it?

I prefer to use keys that do not have other meanings - i.e. I shouldnt have to map "MyTV" to some other function that does not mean "MyTV" -- which is what I am having to do right now.

Isnt this a bug?

[Brent94Z]

Well, I have my Harmony One remote setup pretty darn close to how I want it. Thanks much!

I also just realized (DOH!) that I can assign many codes for each function in Sage with my USB-URIT and any remote option so now I can still control my SageTV HTPC with my Hauppauge HDPVR remote as well as my Harmony One remote. However, what I have noticed is that the Harmony One remote is "slow". Meaning, when on the main menu I can use my "down" button on the Hauppauge remote and it'll scroll down damn near as fast as I can press the buttons. But, with my Harmony One remote, there is a decent delay between each menu selection. Now, I did see in the Harmony One setup an area for what appeared would have fixed this but I see no changes at all... there is a delay setting and I changed the one that had a default delay valve of 300ms to 0ms and there was another that was at 500ms (I think that was it) and I changed it to 100ms. I saw no difference after these changes? Is anybody familiar with what I'm talking about and do you know of a way to make the Harmony One not be as "delayed"?

It could be that the settings just didn't "take" and I need to update the remote again. This happened once on me already... the "+" and "E" keys did nothing so I mapped the "+" to toggle full screen. It didn't work (USB-UIRT didn't light up at all when the button was pressed) so I checked the settings and it was correct. For the heck of it I updated the remote again and then it worked. I'll try updating the remote again with my delay settings changed and hopefully I just had another instance of it not "taking" my changes.

Thanks!

[sflamm]

That is correct. Change the IR delay settings and the Harmony remote will improve.

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by sflamm

That is correct. Change the IR delay settings and the Harmony remote will improve.

Thanks! Even though the settings are shown to be changed in the Harmony software, maybe it didn't work. I'll try again.

Do you recall what you changed your settings to? Thanks!

[korben_dallas]

[Brent94Z]

Hey Korben, as unlikely as this may sound, that is exactly what I have for my settings. Did those settings speed up your Harmony remote for you? If so, I'm even more convinced my upload didn't "take" Thanks for your help!