jzurawski

I have been fumbling with 4 different remotes for a while now and figured that it was finally time to take the plunge into the world of harmony remotes. After some research I found that the Harmony 700 would work for me...
It will be arriving soon and wanted to check in here and see if I could get some tips on getting things set up so that everything goes smoothly...

Here are my devices:

- Pioneer PDP-5020FD Plasma TV

- Pioneer VSX-1020-K Receiver

- Comcast Motorola HD DVR

- Playstation 3

- Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3

- Wii

Recommendations? Tips? Tricks? Things to look out for? Good step by step directions? Will I need to set delays? How should I order my devices?

Let me know what other information you would need from me to help me out...

Any and all info would be greatly appreciated! I am excited!!

Groucho

I don't know if you'll need our help, or if anything we can tell you in advance will give you a leg up. You've already taken an inventory of what you have, and the set up is all over the web. Very easy and intuitive. You tell it what devices you have, and what settings they should be at, and it does the rest. It'll walk you through it all.

jzurawski

Ok... cool... I just wondered if there was anyone out there who had a similar set up could give any tips or had any advice...

Glad to hear that it is pretty easy though...

E Unit

It's very easy to setup. And as Groucho said, you already have your remote inventory written down, and the walkthrough during the setup is very straightforward. I've had the 700 and Harmony One for a few years, and both have constantly worked great. I had my Harmony One crap out on me once due to a defective battery. Their customer service quickly replaced it without any issue.

jzurawski

Great! Thanks for the advice... I had just read some things about having to set delays on the receiver to get the inputs to switch correctly... or having trouble ordering the devices the way they wanted...

But I guess if I end up having problems then I will check back...

TheBigDave

I wouldn't call it "very easy". I can be a bit of a puzzle, requiring some trial and error to get it just right. And it can take some time. I think I spent 3-4 hours before I had everything the way I wanted. But it's definitely worth the time and effort.

I can only think of two tips.

First, all of your settings are stored on Logitech's servers. And their servers suck. So if the software is running sluggish or it won't update your remote, it's probably Logitech's fault. Usually it works fine. But I wasted about 2 hours last week trying to make one simple change.

Second, if you're going to teach your remote, create a new value instead of overriding a current one. This is when you point your old remote at the Harmony remote so that it learns a new command. You'd only do this if it's not in the current database. Anyways, when you override a command that's in the database, you can't undo it. So it's better to just create a new command. If this doesn't make sense, don't worry. I doubt you'll run into this problem.

Here's a website with channel icons. You'll need these. Just click on the 700/650 section and download the channels you want.

http://www.iconharmony.com/icons/home

Deftones

this is my only recommendation. for me, i have a pioneer receiver, directv box and panasonic plasma. i got receiver, tv, directv box in regard to their powering on. the receiver is the key, since if something gets out of what, sometimes the hdmi handshake gets out of whack.

jzurawski

The Big Dave... thanks so much for the info! Especially for the icon website... that is very cool!

What were some of the tweaks that you had to make? Those are the types of things that I am nervous about... Just wondering what to look out for...

jzurawski

Deftones... since you also have a pioneer receiver... did you have to set any sort of delays to make sure that the inputs switch correctly when going between different activities? Could you maybe post a screenshot of your settings or list them here?

Thanks so much for your help!

TheBigDave

When you run the set-up program, it'll automatically assign button functions. Most are obvious like Channel Up/Down, and those will all be fine. Other unusual commands will require some tweaking to get them assigned to a button that's comfortable to you.

My receiver remote has twice as many buttons as my Harmony remote. To make up for that, Harmony uses the screen. But the screen only shows 4 commands at a time. So you might have to scroll through a dozen screen pages to find the command you're looking for. You don't want a frequently used button stuck on page 10.

Here's an example. One of the most frequently used buttons on my cable remote is the Last button. It switches back to the previous channel you were watching. There isn't a "Last" button on the Harmony remote. I don't remember where Harmony put the "Last" command on my remote, but it wasn't convenient. So I assigned it to a better button and now I know exactly where it is.

It's pretty easy to make these changes with the Harmony software. But it's just time consuming.

jzurawski

The Big Dave... I gottcha... that makes total sense and helps me understand the process. My receiver remote is also chock full off buttons so I will make sure to program in the ones I use the most.

Did you have to set any delays for your input switching? Or did everything work well for you with each set activity from the get go?

Are the delays set in the software? I remember reading somewhere that you have to do that on the remote...

TheBigDave

I don't remember anything about delays. There might be some way to set delays. But if there is, I didn't use it.

Deftones

i tried but i still had issues. like if i were to start with everything off, i can't get it to go to movie mode (only one difference between that an tv mode). it'll turn everything on, but the right HDMI input won't get input. i've tried for a while to mess with it, but never could get it to work right. so now i have to turn push tv button first (get everything on), then hit movie button. an extra step, but not all that bad.

for me, it all worked fine when all the components were on. it's when they were off is when i ran into issues.

jzurawski

I gottcha Deftones... That is exactly what I had read some other places... But having to just turn everything on first is not that big a deal... Thanks!

So how has battery life been for you? Do you have to charge it a lot?

I got the ps3 adapter too... Anybody have that too? Is it working well for you? I cant wait to be able to turn off the ps3 without getting up...

Deftones

i actually have the 650, so i don't have the ability to recharge. but, i think i change the batteries about once every month to two months. one helpful hint is to turn the backlight to a lower setting. i think the default is like 20 seconds (possibly more). it turns on when you pick it up but will turn off when you set it down. that's a waste. 5-10 seconds is more than enough time, imho.

i don't have the logitech adapter, but i have the nyko mwave thing. it's nearly identical, except it can't turn on the ps3. i figured i was going to have to get up and put a movie anyway, so turning it on myself is no big deal.

E Unit

I have a Pioneer receiver as well. No need to program any kind of delay. In fact, I dont think there's an option for it. Battery life of course depends on how often you're using it. For me, I use it daily for a few hours or so, and I charge it once a week. Unfortunately theres no display to show battery life on the Harmony One.

jzurawski

Setting the backlight to a lower setting is a good idea... I guess it is a similar idead to lowering the backlight setting on my phone to save battery life...

I have that same nyko remote now and i agree that it works great for watchin movies since you have to put in a disc anyway but since we also do netflix instant being able to just turn it on, navigate, get out of netflix and turn it off all with one remote was a huge draw...

jzurawski

So with your pioneer receiver switching between activities work well without having to tweak anything special? It picks up the correct inputs when switching? I guess maybe it depends on what devices you have... What do you have?

E Unit

That is correct, no need to tweak anything of the sort. Once you do the walkthrough on your computer when setting it up, you'll see how it always picks up the correct input. I could list my devices, but my 700 is hooked up to my Denon, so my list may not really help. I'm using my Harmony One for the Pioneer.

jzurawski

Well... I am back

Got my remote and finally got time to set it up

Brand new Harmony 700... Put in batteries... Selected language... Prompted to plug it in to charge batteries

Did that but then got and "Insert Batteries" message...

Thought maybe I put the batteries in wrong or did not have the cable seated correctly... Checked all that and everything seemed fine...

Called logitech support and they told me to just leave it plugged in for an hour with the message showing and then set it up and see if it works...


Does that seem right? Don't want to spend the time setting it up and then have it not work and loose everything... i am so bummed!!



What should I do?

E Unit

You need to fully charge it before you start plugging it in and setting it up. Do that first, then see if you're still experiencing the problem.

jzurawski

Yeah... that is what I tried to do. Plugged it in to charge the batteries right out of the box.

But when I plugged it in that is when I got the "insert batteries" message... and it gave me no sign that it was charging...

I am in the process of sending the first one back to get a new one so hopefully then next one will work!!

(I did go ahead and set this one up to play with though and it worked awesome!!... just doesn't charge...)

jzurawski

Received a new power cord from the seller as it was the problem and everything is working perfectly!! Woo hoo!!

Thanks for everyone's help... I really appreciate it!