gdgt

When I've experienced similar issues the problem turned out to not be the remote but rather the speed with which the remote was blasting out the commands.

If the commands are being sent too swiftly sometimes the devices it's controlling won't consistently respond.

For example, when I first programmed my 880 to have a "play movie" function it would turn the tv on, switch to the appropriate HDMI input, turn on the reciever which would also switch to the appropriate HDMI input, and turn on the bluray player. However somtimes the receiver would take just a fraction of a second longer to turn on, in which case it wouldn't switch to the correct input because by the time it was ready to receive the input command the remote would have already sent it. Pressing "help" would typically then switch the receiver to the correct input as the remote would simply resend the input selection command.

To permanently solve the issue so it would 100% of the time switch the receiver to the right input I went into the harmony remote programming options and artificially inserted a time delay that was slightly longer than the receiver ever took to turn on. It took some trial and error to figure out the minimum delay that would always work, but once it was set correctly I never had the problem again.

I've had similar issues every time I've programmed a remote for home theater systems that have more than just a single input device on every remote I've ever programmed (which is about a dozen as my extended family loves these sophisticated universal remotes but doesn't like setting them up). Cnet even mentions having to do this and other similar tweaks in one of their older Harmony reviews if I remember correctly.

If you'd like detailed instructions on how to do this let me know. On older remotes like the Philips Pronto's this was a real pain to do, but on new ones like the Harmony it's actually quite easy.

It's worth trying out even though it might not be the true source of the issue you are experiencing.

Did that help?

Thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately, I've been out of town and won't return until Tuesday, but I will look into it and keep you updated.

I'm having a similar problem... I need to delay the turning on of my HTPC until my Receiver is on. Can you please give me the detailed instructions on how to add the delay that you mentioned?

Thanks!

My brother has a Logitech Harmony 900 (tinyurl.com­/yj8mdoh) and he's been having similar issues with receiver lag time.

I'm not sure if it is a delay issue. The issue I am having is switching the input on the TV. I tried re-ordering what powers on first, so the TV goes first, then receiver, then set top box. But unless I'm turning on the same devices I was turning off previously, the TV input still is often wrong. I use TV, Component, and HDMI inputs, but the remote hates switching to and from the TV input. For example, I might be on the component input and hit "Watch TV" and the Harmony will turn to HDMI instead, though it is clearly correct in the software. I found the delay, but couldn't figure out how to re-order the operations. Thanks for your help.

similar issue, with a Vizio TV, the remote macros send out "Go to HDMI #3" for roku as an example, problem is that Vizio doesn't recognize the direct access macro, I had to go into the software and manually step it thru all the inputs to get the one I wanted....took awhile , but it once done, it's worked since.

Mine has this exact problem, and I agree that I think the remote sends commands way quicker than the TV can accept them.

My work-around for this, and has pretty much become the way I always use it now, is to always select "Watch TV" first. This for me is turning the TV and the cable box on. Then, once all that is on, if my original plan was to watch Blu-Ray or the Roku, I select it through the Activities button.

When I'm done and am going to shut down the whole entertainment center, I select "Watch TV" again, wait for everything to settle out, and hit the off button.

This is all driven by the fact that I watch cable more than anything else, so I prefer for that to work when I want it to and am willing to put up with Logitech's shortcomings when I want to watch Blu-ray or Roku. Because, let's face it. Once everything is on and in the correct configuration, it's so nice to have everything available on one remote.