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Post by oidarnam on Aug 30, 2022 13:27:49 GMT -5
Hi, I'm new to this forum and to Emotiva.
I have a question about setting up IR universal remote macro activities with the TA1. I thought I would ask for input from those more knowledgeable than I and have gone through this exercise before, in hopes of avoiding some frustration.
A little background first. A friend of mine, who was recently widowed and is getting back into listening to music, asked me to put together a sound system for her—a system that I would want to have myself. I set a reasonable budget (she's on a fixed income) and settled on the TA1 and T-Zero+ (plus 3rd party sub and turntable—she already had a nice Sony CD player).
She wants this system placed where her smart TV and CEC soundbar are located. She will stream and cast music from her smart TV. Although the system isn't in place yet, I'm hoping the new audio system will be an improvement in sound over the soundbar...and to her liking. She doesn't care about having the soundbar "surround sound" effect per se (which sounds pretty mediocre to me). She also wants things to be very simple to use, including an integrated remote. In fact, knowing her, if this setup isn't fairly simple, she won't use it.
Now to the meat of my post where I'm hoping to get some advice and information. She already has a Harmony 665 universal remote that controls (most) of the smart TV and satellite functions. I also noted that the remote volume has the master volume set to the soundbar by switching out the HDMI connection to optical input—the volume control still worked.
My thought was to plug the TV optical out into the TA1 and have all TV audio go to the TA1—hopefully replacing the soundbar and using the TV for watching shows and streaming music with the Emotiva system. I would like to setup a macro activity on the Harmony to turn on TV, satellite, and TA1 but also set the source directly to OPT (along with TA1 master volume, of course). Is this possible with this universal remote, i.e. directly select OPT and not scroll through DIGI which could get out of sync with desired source? The remote codes for the TA1 include direct source selection, not provided by the TA1 remote and panel, so I'm hoping the Harmony can do this.
I guess this is really more of a Harmony 665 question. I don't have much experience with it. If the Emotiva remote had direct source buttons, I assume I could teach it R2R. Perhaps all the TA1 remote codes are available already in the Harmony database for use in macros and device buttons? If not, can they be entered into the remote manually and which codes do I use? Or is there a better universal remote to use for this configuration? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
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Post by oidarnam on Sept 1, 2022 14:57:14 GMT -5
Likewise, for an "activity" like Listen to Music, I would want to turn on TA1, CD player, and set TA1 input source directly to CD (or maybe COAX). Is this easy to do with a universal remote like the 665?
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Post by AudioHTIT on Sept 2, 2022 9:29:34 GMT -5
Hi, I'm new to this forum and to Emotiva.
I have a question about setting up IR universal remote macro activities with the TA1. I thought I would ask for input from those more knowledgeable than I and have gone through this exercise before, in hopes of avoiding some frustration.
A little background first. A friend of mine, who was recently widowed and is getting back into listening to music, asked me to put together a sound system for her—a system that I would want to have myself. I set a reasonable budget (she's on a fixed income) and settled on the TA1 and T-Zero+ (plus 3rd party sub and turntable—she already had a nice Sony CD player). She wants this system placed where her smart TV and CEC soundbar are located. She will stream and cast music from her smart TV. Although the system isn't in place yet, I'm hoping the new audio system will be an improvement in sound over the soundbar...and to her liking. She doesn't care about having the soundbar "surround sound" effect per se (which sounds pretty mediocre to me). She also wants things to be very simple to use, including an integrated remote. In fact, knowing her, if this setup isn't fairly simple, she won't use it.
Now to the meat of my post where I'm hoping to get some advice and information. She already has a Harmony 665 universal remote that controls (most) of the smart TV and satellite functions. I also noted that the remote volume has the master volume set to the soundbar by switching out the HDMI connection to optical input—the volume control still worked.
My thought was to plug the TV optical out into the TA1 and have all TV audio go to the TA1—hopefully replacing the soundbar and using the TV for watching shows and streaming music with the Emotiva system. I would like to setup a macro activity on the Harmony to turn on TV, satellite, and TA1 but also set the source directly to OPT (along with TA1 master volume, of course). Is this possible with this universal remote, i.e. directly select OPT and not scroll through DIGI which could get out of sync with desired source? The remote codes for the TA1 include direct source selection, not provided by the TA1 remote and panel, so I'm hoping the Harmony can do this. I guess this is really more of a Harmony 665 question. I don't have much experience with it. If the Emotiva remote had direct source buttons, I assume I could teach it R2R. Perhaps all the TA1 remote codes are available already in the Harmony database for use in macros and device buttons? If not, can they be entered into the remote manually and which codes do I use? Or is there a better universal remote to use for this configuration? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Mike
Welcome to the Lounge Mike. The Harmonys are fairly powerful and flexible, however the answer to your question depends on the device, not the remote. Specifically, some devices (like our old Visio Soundbar) can only select inputs by ‘scrolling’, they do not have a discrete command for say, selecting the OPT input. If this is the case with your friends system, it will be difficult to make a reliable Activity, but not impossible. You need to learn the Harmony setup interface and see what commands are available for the Soundbar. If there are no discrete input commands (just scroll up/down), what we did was to not send an input command, just turn it on. What this depends on is that the input just stays on Opt, and then you just turn the volume up/down. If the input does get changed you have learn how to use the original remote, or the Harmony ‘device’ remote to fix it. Hope this helps get you started, here’s the Harmony Remote Thread. Edit: The answer to your second post is the same, the discrete codes available for the TA-1 will determine the answer. |
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Post by AudioHTIT on Sept 2, 2022 10:31:18 GMT -5
Likewise, for an "activity" like Listen to Music, I would want to turn on TA1, CD player, and set TA1 input source directly to CD (or maybe COAX). Is this easy to do with a universal remote like the 665? So I dug a little deeper, if you look at KeithL ’s post with the Codes for TA-2 , you can see that there are discrete input codes. I also tried to load the Harmony codes for the TA-1, but could only find TA-100, they too have Discrete codes (see photo). So at least as far as the TA-1 goes, it looks promising you’ll be able to do what you want. You can load device codes even for devices you don’t have, here’s what the TA-100 offers for control (as seen from the iPad interface).  |
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Post by oidarnam on Sept 2, 2022 13:00:26 GMT -5
Likewise, for an "activity" like Listen to Music, I would want to turn on TA1, CD player, and set TA1 input source directly to CD (or maybe COAX). Is this easy to do with a universal remote like the 665? So I dug a little deeper, if you look at KeithL ’s post with the Codes for TA-2 , you can see that there are discrete input codes. I also tried to load the Harmony codes for the TA-1, but could only find TA-100, they too have Discrete codes (see photo). So at least as far as the TA-1 goes, it looks promising you’ll be able to do what you want. You can load device codes even for devices you don’t have, here’s what the TA-100 offers for control (as seen from the iPad interface). View Attachment
As one would expect, the TA2 uses the same codes plus a few additional ones (more inputs), although a few codes appear to be missing on the TA2 remote code documentation too (??). I imagine the TA-100 codes align as well, but I didn't look.
So what you are saying is the remote codes given by Emotiva can be entered directly into the Harmony somehow? I will research this more. The problem is my friend has just the one Harmony 665. I really don't want to muck up her existing settings if this experiment goes awry! I'm also afraid the Harmony database, which I believe is still up and running, will only give me power and volume for the TA1. But if I can enter the other codes manually from the Emotiva remote codes, that would be great!
My other thought was to get something like a One For All or SofaBaton to work with, especially since Harmony is discontinued. I already found someone who mentioned a way to manually enter codes into the One For All 8 Device that isn't mentioned in the manual.
But aren't these EFCs different than the hex codes? I started looking into this, and it gets way complicated.
Cheers, Mike
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Post by oidarnam on Sept 2, 2022 13:36:04 GMT -5
Likewise, for an "activity" like Listen to Music, I would want to turn on TA1, CD player, and set TA1 input source directly to CD (or maybe COAX). Is this easy to do with a universal remote like the 665? So I dug a little deeper, if you look at KeithL ’s post with the Codes for TA-2 , you can see that there are discrete input codes. I also tried to load the Harmony codes for the TA-1, but could only find TA-100, they too have Discrete codes (see photo). So at least as far as the TA-1 goes, it looks promising you’ll be able to do what you want. You can load device codes even for devices you don’t have, here’s what the TA-100 offers for control (as seen from the iPad interface). View Attachment
AudioHTIT - So the iPad screenshot you provided is from the Harmony programming software? So all the functions seem to be there... .excellent! I'll double check, but they are likely identical to the TA1. So this may be a moot point. I'm very hopeful now. Sorry, just don't have much experience with universal remotes. I have my dumb TV remote, stereo remote, and since ours is all hooked to a HTPC, I generally use the wireless keyboard and mouse for everything—much easier than fussing with a remote control, especially finding shows and stuff using the browser. No "smart speakers" is this house 
Thanks again!
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Post by AudioHTIT on Sept 2, 2022 13:45:20 GMT -5
So I dug a little deeper, if you look at KeithL ’s post with the Codes for TA-2 , you can see that there are discrete input codes. I also tried to load the Harmony codes for the TA-1, but could only find TA-100, they too have Discrete codes (see photo). So at least as far as the TA-1 goes, it looks promising you’ll be able to do what you want. You can load device codes even for devices you don’t have, here’s what the TA-100 offers for control (as seen from the iPad interface). View AttachmentAudioHTIT - So the iPad screenshot you provided is from the Harmony programming software? So all the functions seem to be there... .excellent! I'll double check, but they are likely identical to the TA1. So this may be a moot point. I'm very hopeful now. Sorry, just don't have much experience with universal remotes. I have my dumb TV remote, stereo remote, and since ours is all hooked to a HTPC, I generally use the wireless keyboard and mouse for everything—much easier than fussing with a remote control, especially finding shows and stuff using the browser. No "smart speakers" is this house Thanks again!
Yes, it’s actually the ‘Device Remote’ — Harmony setups can control by ‘Activity’, where volume might control one device and channel another, or by ‘Device’, where the Harmony remote somewhat mimics the OEM remote. To answer your other question, you can teach a Harmony a command from the OEM remote, but you can also open a ticket with Logitech and submit the codes for a device to be need in the database. I’d start by just loading the T-100 and see if it works. |
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Post by oidarnam on Sept 11, 2022 1:04:38 GMT -5
Well, I went over and programmed my friend's Harmony 665 today with her new TA1, Samsung Smart TV (which we mounted to an adjustable wall mount), and old Sony CD/DVD/SACD 5-disc player (used just for std CDs for now). It went really well, and I was happy to see that most of the functions worked from the TA100. I think the only problem I noticed was the MUTE button was mapped to STEREO/MONO (tuner), so it needed to be reassigned. I don't think I've gone through every single keystroke on the universal for the TA1, but the important ones are working fine, including direct input source selection for activities and master volume. The only thing left to do on the TA1 is set some good local FM presets. I tried for a minute but got too frustrated...another day.
A little off topic far as Emotiva, but I'd also like to find out if there are remote codes to select the smart tv apps directly on the Samsung. It would be nice to go right into the app (e.g. Amazon Music, Spotify, etc).
I am very happy with the results! This was my first experience programming a Harmony.
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