Best Harmony Remote for MVP?

[wrocky]

I was hoping to pick up a Logitech Harmony remote to combine all the devices I have: 2 DVD players, VHS, TV, Receiver, CD Player and MVP.

Looking into the Logitech site, it seems like a confusing choice between the models. Does anyone have experiances with one of these remotes and an MVP, and wants to share their story?

Wrocky

[pd0b]

I have the Logitech Harmony 885. It replaced all my (4) remotes, fantastic! I have a tv, dvd, mvp, av receiver. When i'm watching TV and want to switch to MVP, it requires one touch on a button!

old style:
switch tv to EXT3, turn AV Receiver on, set to MVP input. Turn MVP on.

harmony style:
press "watch mvp",..... ready

[groover km]

Before you spend the money on a Harmony remote, I have just accomplished the same thing - replacing 6 remotes, incl. a 45-button MVP - with an All-For-One URC-8910 learning remote ($20 from amazon), a JP1 cable (made with $6 worth of bits from Radio Shack), and the postings in the hardware section (search for "8910" and / or 'remotes").

It was fun to do, is almost infinitely upgradeable, and (most important) didn't cost me $100+. Might be worth a look before you commit.

Just a thought.

[Jeff]

Woud you mind posting your jp1 files? I have been trying to do the same and mostly have it working. As an aside, the biggest problem I have is getting my TV to work, which is a Panasonic TH42PD50U. I can get the simple funcitons to work (on/off, channel numbers, and volume up/down), but I can't find codes for anything else.

Jeff

[groover km]

Not a problem - I'm at work at the moment, but I'll post them tonight/ this weekend. I took the file posted by A_Brass in the hardware section and tweaked it a little for my needs. Kudos to him for doing the work.

Regardiing your panasonic tv - if you have a learning remote, you can 'learn' the commands you are missing, download them into IR.exe, create a profile, open it in RM and map the buttons to what you want.... apologies if you have already tried this.

[wrocky]

..., I have just accomplished the same thing - replacing 6 remotes, incl. a 45-button MVP - with an All-For-One URC-8910 learning remote ($20 from amazon), a JP1 cable.

Thanks for the quick reply. One of the things that I would like to have is Macro capability. I want something that other members of the family can pick up and hit a button. Watch VHS, Watch DVD, etc. Do you know if the 8910 is macro capable?

The 8910 is not readily available in Canada at our local mail order places, so I would need to know a few things before I buy one from ebay and get it shipped to Canada. There are other models available, just not that one.

I have another RCA remote with a JP1 header in the project drawer, but it seems to have too many discrete buttons and key combinations for, shall we say, those less technically inclined in my house. They need simple buttons.

Wrocky

[groover km]

Out-the-box, the 8910 supports has three discrete macro keys (M1, M2, M3), but I'm pretty sure that you can map macro's to any configurable key; macros are limited to 15 key presses, but that should be more than enough for me. I have mapped a 'master' power key that turns everything on / off, and I am planning on mapping an aspect ratio button for the tv (currently, this takes me 9 key presses).

To switch devices, you press the (labelled) device button; there is also a 'home theater' mode that combines devices, ie, volume handled by the receiver, channels handled by the cable box, transport handled by the dvd player. I have mapped gbpvr to the 'VCR' button, and the old VCR (in another room) to the 'AUX' button. Seems to work well, and the wife was using it intuitively within 5 minutes.

Attached are the .rdmu files that I have for the 45-button hauppauge remote; A_Brass' original, a MVP.rdmu from the JP1 group, along with my hack.

Hope some of this helps.

[Lindsay]

FWIW, I have bought a second-hand Sony Commander AV3000 and it has learned the MVP controller no problem. Much dearer than the $20 quoted above, though! I am still discovering its intricacies but we owe it to ourselves to get some sanity back into AV management.

[wrocky]

Well, I bit the bullet and when a Logitech Harmony 880 came on sale, my credit card couldn't resist temptation.

So, I'm trying to set this up to justify to my SO that it's worth the money. 2 days of playing around with it and I just can't seem to get it to work correctly with GB-PVR. The Harmony site software is just not intuitive for anything but the basic setup.

The remote seems to function somewhat when I setup both an MVP and GBPVR as devices, but it doesn't map the buttons unless I go through a customization. Mapping a PVR function doesn't seem to work.

Has this been a source of frustration for anyone else? Do you have any hints or tips that may help. I'd be happy to put it up in the wiki for the benefit of others, once I use the tips myself of course.

frustrated in Canada

Wrocky

[harveystir]

I am using the Harmony 688 with great results. I think your frustration may be stemming from setting up the MVP and GBPVR both as devices. Set the MVP up as a device, make sure you get all the buttons from the MVP remote working... then set up GBPVR as an activity that uses the MVP as one of the devices. I'm at work, but I'm pretty sure all the buttons from the MVP remote (at least the ones I used for GBPVR), mapped logically to buttons on the 688 with the exception of the 4 colored buttons. Those are mapped on the buttons adjacent to the lcd screen. Now when I select the GBPVR activity, the remote powers up everything that needs to be on, puts everything on the right input, and then essentially mimics the MVP remote (except for volume, which controls the receiver). It works great.

Hope that helps.