Progammable remote problem

[pgh13]

I have a Harmony remote, but I think this is common to lots of even cheap universals. My old TV had a button to cycle between inputs but you'd need a different number of presses to get from say TV to Sky than you would to get from PVR to SKY, so, as the remote doesn't know where it is starting from you'd often end up in the wrong place. I gave up trying, but have recently changed TV to Hyundai Q320, so thought I'd have another go. This is even worse! With the original remote you press a button to bring up the source menu and then up/down followed by the select button. Has anyone succeeded in getting one of these to operate reliably?

 

[Norm]

I have a Harmony remote, but I think this is common to lots of even cheap universals. My old TV had a button to cycle between inputs but you'd need a different number of presses to get from say TV to Sky than you would to get from PVR to SKY, so, as the remote doesn't know where it is starting from you'd often end up in the wrong place. I gave up trying, but have recently changed TV to Hyundai Q320, so thought I'd have another go. This is even worse! With the original remote you press a button to bring up the source menu and then up/down followed by the select button. Has anyone succeeded in getting one of these to operate reliably?

Yes, I have a Harmony that works fine; even my wife can drive it OK. It runs a Panasonic TV, Technomate Satellite Receiver, Sky Digibox, Topfield PVR and combined Sharp VCR/DVD recorder.

I don't think you are correct in saying that the remote doesn't know where it's starting from. There is some memory in the remote and it always knows where it is and what it should be doing.

Mind you, I did have some frustrating moments setting the unit up initially but the Harmony support line is really excellent - and it's free! The Panasonic TV is quite difficult to deal with on AV switching but we got there in the end.

There is also a lot of information to be gleaned in the remote controls section at AV Forums. What model of Harmony do you have?

 

[pgh13]

It's a 555. And thanks for the tip on AVForums....I'd forgotten about that. It's quite encouraging and I hadn't (quite) realised that the remote remembers where it's up to. I'll have another go. It's also a bit frustrating how long it takes for newer sets to switch between inputs; much longer than my old analogue/CRT model

 

[Norm]

It's a 555. And thanks for the tip on AVForums....I'd forgotten about that. It's quite encouraging and I hadn't (quite) realised that the remote remembers where it's up to. I'll have another go. It's also a bit frustrating how long it takes for newer sets to switch between inputs; much longer than my old analogue/CRT model

You really need to stick at it, I'm afraid. Once you get the mindset, it gets easier (it really helps if you're a logical thinker and refuse to let it beat you). There are time delay adjustments to deal with the switching times. I have a 525 which I think is pretty similar to your 555 and you can see I've got it working quite a number of devices. I just bought a cheap one because I was really sceptical that it would work - but we really only use this one remote.

The biggest problem I had was teaching my wife to choose the activity and then leave the remote on the arm of the setee pointing in the general direction of the TV until it had completed its full routine.

 

[PaulR]

The biggest problem I had was teaching my wife...

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