Harmony 880 and MCE

[seemac]

Having got heaps of useful information from these forums, I'm now feeling more confident to build my HTPC. Have just started putting it together but am puzzling over the best solution for remote. Since I have sold the wife on the idea that everything will be easier on Media Center, I want to minimise the number of remotes hopefully down to 1.

I could purchase a Media Center remote but then I will still need to use the TV and Receiver remotes so that isn't going to solve the problem. From what I can see, the Harmony 880 is the best way to go but am having trouble getting my head around how this thing works with MCE:

I think I understand how the activities work and have run through the trial on the logitech website. All looks good, but there is no mention of how I would program the Harmony to navigate MCE. It seems the Harmony is only good at turning devices on, but I need the full MCE remote functionality too. E.g. Go to the MCE start menu, navigate music collection, channel change etc. I would also like the program the channel buttons so I can just press 9 to go to Channel 9 HD - something I can't do with my current TV remote!

Also, do I need to buy the MCE remote to use the Harmony. I guess I need some kind or IR receiver on the PC.

I'm also looking for a decent wireless keyboard solution. Not sold on the MCE keyboard due to its dodgy mouse pointer which many people seem to have problems with - I need it to navigate from Windows for Web Browsing etc. Ideally a small keyboard with small integrated trackball would be perfect.

[DDH]

Originally Posted by seemac

Having got heaps of useful information from these forums, I'm now feeling more confident to build my HTPC. Have just started putting it together but am puzzling over the best solution for remote. Since I have sold the wife on the idea that everything will be easier on Media Center, I want to minimise the number of remotes hopefully down to 1.

Excellent plan, improved WAF. Not sure about everything easier on MCE, but nice sell.

Originally Posted by seemac

I could purchase a Media Center remote but then I will still need to use the TV and Receiver remotes so that isn't going to solve the problem. From what I can see, the Harmony 880 is the best way to go but am having trouble getting my head around how this thing works with MCE:

I think I understand how the activities work and have run through the trial on the logitech website. All looks good, but there is no mention of how I would program the Harmony to navigate MCE. It seems the Harmony is only good at turning devices on, but I need the full MCE remote functionality too. E.g. Go to the MCE start menu, navigate music collection, channel change etc. I would also like the program the channel buttons so I can just press 9 to go to Channel 9 HD - something I can't do with my current TV remote!

Also, do I need to buy the MCE remote to use the Harmony. I guess I need some kind or IR receiver on the PC.

You will need the MCE receiver or equiv. The IR signal needs to get into MCE somehow. In reality you also need (or need access to) an MCE remote for the odd button that you need to "teach" the 880 about.

When you set up the 880 you tell it you have an MCE. This is then a device. All buttons will work, ie 0-9, arrows, etc. You can add new "soft" buttons to do any existing MCE remote functions, or reprogram fixed buttons to do specific things. For example my "Menu" button goes directly to "Recorded TV". So yes, if you set "9" in MCE to be 9HD then 9 on the 880 (or the MCE remote for that matter) would take you there.

So the MCE functionality can be set when you select a device, and it can also be combined with functions of other devices, ie volume via the amp, blank a projector, etc when you set up and activity. I have both soft and fixed buttons controlling upto 3 devices seamlessly via an activity. In other words press the "Watch Recorded TV" activity I have setup, the navigation and numbers drive MCE, the volume, mute, speaker selection the Aamp, the blank, aspect ratio drive the projector.

Hope this helps, ask more if required.

The 880 is very flexible (and IMO great), but as I wrote earlier today on another post, the Logitech site software is a bit of a dog so be prepared to invest some time in the set up.

[seemac]

I figured you would be able to program the buttons somehow, but Logitech website doesn't mention it specifically. Also looks like I need to buy a MCE remote anyway.

Thanks for the info.

[AdrianW]

My Dvico Dual Digital tuner card, came with it's own remote, which basically emulates the MS MCE remote by sending keyboard shortcuts.

I have a Harmony 880 which I have customised to use with MCE via the Dvico IR receiver (which plugs into the tuner card).

I've had the 880 for around 18 months now, and it's fantastic. For my "Media Centre" activity, I have the following functions on the LCD: "Videos", "Recorded TV", "Live TV", "Media Center" (which starts & stops the MC application), "Pictures", "Play DVD", "DVD Menu" & "DVD Subtitle".

The hard buttons on the remote do the following:
Menu: goes to the main MCE menu
Exit: same as "back", goes back on menu step
Guide: brings up the TV guide
Info: brings up info about the currently plaing media
The up & down arrows are page up & page down.
All the other hard buttons do the obvious things.

And of course, selecting the "Media Centre" activity in the first place turns on my monitor and switches it to DVI input & turns on my receiver and switches it to the correct input. It doesn't switch on the PC (at the moment) as I'm having trouble getting the PC to stay in standby/hibernate with the BIOS setting set to allow the PCI card to wake it up. So I'm currently manually switching the PC on, and letting "Hibernator" make it go into hibernation.

[seemac]

Do you have to program the Harmony to understand MCE commands, or does it automatically have the MCE functions downloaded into it during setup e.g. "Live TV", "My Music", "Guide" etc?

I think I'll buy an MCE remote first if I can get one cheap enough. I'm hoping that with new remotes for Vista MCE, the 2005 ones will get cheaper and then I can look at a Harmony next. It sounds like the way to go but by the time I buy an MCE remote and also need a wireless keyboard / mouse setup my budget might be blown for the next month or so. I've also got a remote that came with the Digital Now dual tuner which I haven't setup. I need to have a closer look at that and see if it could act as a receiver.

Any ideas on a Wireless keyboard / Mouse. I need one because I also will use the Media Centre to browse the web, emails etc. I like the Microsoft Media Center keyboard, but from most reviews the navigation isn't good enough as a mouse replacement outside Windows. I don't want to buy a seperate mouse and keyboard because I will use it slouched in front of the TV - I really need a keyboard and mouse (or probably a track ball) all built in. Tried looking at Logitech products but nothing seems to come close.

[AdrianW]

The Harmony will automatically be set up with most (if not all) commands. But it depends what you're starting with - because I had the Dvico remote, I had to select a Dvico device when setting up my Media Centre using the Harmony software. If you get an MS remote, then you'll select that when you add your media centre using the Harmony software - this will set up the appropriate functions - you can then customize the functions if you want to.

There's a couple of new Microsoft keyboard/mouse combos being released soon - see these posts: New MS keyboards (7000 & 8000) & Wireless keyboard & mouse