jjd-uk, bodhi
Thank you very much for the help. I set up a Generic activity (Utility section) and added keyboard, WMC SE and remote devices. Got the custom key settings working nicely. XBMC starts nicely, everything seems to be behaving properly.
SteveMA
jjd-uk Wrote:By vanOert
Hey there,
I wanted to contribute something here, since you guys really helped us with our XBMC-Setup.
So, here’s a guide to setting up Logitech Harmony for XBMC.
Notes:
- I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here, though being German, I probably could.
- I’m sure everything in this guide has been done and explained before; I just wanted to make it more beginner friendly.
- All suggestions are quite welcome, just drop me a pm, or better: post here, I’m happy to include good ideas.
- Our living room isn't that nice yet. We just moved in. Suck it. 
So, let’s get started:
(1) Requirements
You’ll probably need:
- A fully set up XBMC installation (probably got that already
- Some sort of Harmony Remote (probably got that, too)
- An infrared Receiver (RC6-capable)
Maybe a picture will help:
(2) The receiver
Any RC6 capable receiver will do, we’ll use an HP Media Center receiver, since it’s cheap and easy to get on eBay.
The RC6 point is especially important, as non-RC6 ones won't work with your Harmony.
On a side note: My receiver is from an eBay-Guy in Hong Kong, delivery to Germany took 3 days, so that's fine.
(3) The remote
You probably already have one, if not, you should go for one with a display, the smaller models mostly differ in how
many devices you can control. You’ll need 2 devices for XBMC. We’ll be using our 555 model.
(4) The setup process
Plug the RC6-IR-Receiver into your XBMC. You’ll want a line of sight connection to your couch.
Start the setup for your Harmony Remote as usual and configure all of your devices except for the media center.
(5) Now let’s get to the configuration of the MC profile
Start the Logitech Harmony Remote Software. In the devices tab, click ‘Add Device’
Select: Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “Windows Media Center”
You’ll have to enter the last bit by hand.
Add this as a device and name it MCE Remote.
Now, repeat the ‘Add Device’ process, this time select:
Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “MCE Keyboard”
Add this device and name it MCE Keyboard
Additional Note by jjd-uk
In Step 5 I create the additional device
Windows Media Center SE for keyboard key combinations not available via the standard "MCE Keyboard" device e.g. Alt+F4
Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “Windows Media Center SE”
Step 5 in this post is not clear.
1. The MCE Remote is NOT needed. Don't create this device, unless the Harmony remote is also used with other media player or in Windows Media Center
2. the MCE Keyboard set up should be:
Select Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft and then type in
MCE Keyboard
(Note that
MCE Keyboard must be entered manually)
Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “
MCE Keyboard”
SteveMA Wrote:Yes, I believe you're correct. My goal is exactly as you describe in youe Generic Activity description (which on my Harmony One must be the Utility activity). I selected Listen to Digital Music from their list and this may be why I was forced to pick an input for both the MCE Keyboard and the WMC PC devices.
I will set up a Utility Activity and see what happens. BTW, I am able to launch XBMC with my current set up (WMC is not launched by the Activity button but by the Music soft button). I also used the Win+5 command in the Listen to Digital Music setup which seems to work nicely.
One more question. The soft button "Music" was launching WMC as I alluded to in a previous post. Can/should the soft buttons be mapped to XBMC fucntions or is there nothing for them to do in XBMC?
I really appreciate your help not to mention the time you've spent helping me. Thanks,
SteveMA
There is no need for this Music soft button. It does not do anything in XBMC, because you're using XBMC for both Videos and Music. I would remove it from the screen even, because it will cause confusion later.
And you're right about the name "Utility" activity. Harmony SW calls that Utility during set up. But later when you bring it up to tweak it then it's called Generic Activity. I wrote all the posts with details from memory so I did not recall the exact name :-)
I'm glad to be able to help!
bodhi Wrote:Step 5 in this post is not clear.
1. The MCE Remote is NOT needed. Don't create this device, unless the Harmony remote is also used with other media player or in Windows Media Center
All I did was recreate the 1st few posts from the thread starter vanOert but added back the photo's
I didn't want to change his work flow for setting up the Harmony.
I personally agree with him that although you can use just the 2
MCE Keyboard and
SE devices to achieve everything, thinking back to when I was a newbie the ability to map MCE Remote keys to Harmony keys was a lot easier in the beginning. Mapping MCE Remote Play button to Harmony Play button is obvious, mapping keystroke P is less so.
bodhi Wrote:2. the MCE Keyboard set up should be:
Select Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft and then type in MCE Keyboard
(Note that MCE Keyboard must be entered manually)
Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “MCE Keyboard”
I don't see how that is really any different to what vanOert wrote, and it is plain to see from the pictures where MCE Keyboard must go
I have a Harmony One (not at my computer right now) but I am having problems making it put windows to SLEEP/STANDBY.
Should I program MCE Keyboard as a Device? That way I can set-up a Shortcut on my Desktop with a shortcut key (say ctrl+alt+s) for putting the computer to sleep.
If I do that, how do I map ctrl+alt+s to my Harmony Remote as say the Power Off? I realise I need to change that in the Activity, but is it possible? I can’t think of any other way of putting my computer to sleep using my Harmony Remote.
Very, very frustrating. I think my Remote at the moment is using alt+f4 because it keeps bringing up the Windows shutdown dialog box. Not helpful!
jjd-uk Wrote:All I did was recreate the 1st few posts from the thread starter vanOert but added back the photo's I didn't want to change his work flow for setting up the Harmony.
I personally agree with him that although you can use just the 2 MCE Keyboard and SE devices to achieve everything, thinking back to when I was a newbie the ability to map MCE Remote keys to Harmony keys was a lot easier in the beginning. Mapping MCE Remote Play button to Harmony Play button is obvious, mapping keystroke P is less so.
I don't see how that is really any different to what vanOert wrote, and it is plain to see from the pictures where MCE Keyboard must go
jjd-uk,
Kudos for bringing back the pictures! it surely will help a lot of users.
Regarding the MCE Remote, I was just trying to point out that this device is not needed, and will reduce the number of devices that users can add to the Harmony remotes such as 600, 650, 700,... where the number of devices is limited :-) It's OK to add it anyway for remotes that have higher number of devices such as the Harmony One and other older models. And again, I did not mean to say the post has anything wrong in this regard.
Regarding the MCE Keyboard, it is a little unclear from vanOert's post that the MCE Keyboard device
should not be selected automatically by the Harmony SW. Because it will select a wrong device. So users must enter it by typing manually the words "MCE Keyboard". Until Logitech does something about it, we just need to be aware.
bodhi
ytrebil Wrote:I have a Harmony One (not at my computer right now) but I am having problems making it put windows to SLEEP/STANDBY.
Should I program MCE Keyboard as a Device? That way I can set-up a Shortcut on my Desktop with a shortcut key (say ctrl+alt+s) for putting the computer to sleep.
If I do that, how do I map ctrl+alt+s to my Harmony Remote as say the Power Off? I realise I need to change that in the Activity, but is it possible? I can’t think of any other way of putting my computer to sleep using my Harmony Remote.
Very, very frustrating. I think my Remote at the moment is using alt+f4 because it keeps bringing up the Windows shutdown dialog box. Not helpful!
Take a look at previous posts starting
here.
bodhi Wrote: Kudos for bringing back the pictures! it surely will help a lot of users.
Thanks
bodhi Wrote:Regarding the MCE Remote, I was just trying to point out that this device is not needed, and will reduce the number of devices that users can add to the Harmony remotes such as 600, 650, 700,... where the number of devices is limited :-) It's OK to add it anyway for remotes that have higher number of devices such as the Harmony One and other older models. And again, I did not mean to say the post has anything wrong in this regard.
Ok I see where you're coming from, I have a Harmony 900 so didn't consider that.
bodhi Wrote:Regarding the MCE Keyboard, it is a little unclear from vanOert's post that the MCE Keyboard device should not be selected automatically by the Harmony SW. Because it will select a wrong device. So users must enter it by typing manually the words "MCE Keyboard". Until Logitech does something about it, we just need to be aware.
I thought the bit where he states
Quote:You’ll have to enter the last bit by hand.
made that obvious, well it did to me anyway, but again I take your point it may not be so obvious to others.
I was trying not to modify what vanOert wrote in case he resurfaced, so didn't want to be seen as being critical of what he did when it helped me out a lot. Anyway I've amended things so let me know what you you think.
I don't know if this is said somewhere, but i just want to give a warning : Harmony with MCE Keybord send Qwerty keys !! If you have an Azerty keyboard, you may spend a long time wondering why some keys work, and others don't or are not doing what expected (M key for exemple wich is absolutely not opening menu...). So, if in the Harmony you've programmed a button to send Z, in your program, you must select W.
I think this warning should be added on the tutorial.
Now, if i've made somewhere a step wrong, enlight me !
jpsdr Wrote:I don't know if this is said somewhere, but i just want to give a warning : Harmony with MCE Keybord send Qwerty keys !! If you have an Azerty keyboard, you may spend a long time wondering why some keys work, and others don't or are not doing what expected (M key for exemple wich is absolutely not opening menu...). So, if in the Harmony you've programmed a button to send Z, in your program, you must select W.
I think this warning should be added on the tutorial.
Now, if i've made somewhere a step wrong, enlight me !
If you assign a button on your Harmony to 'backslash', which command does it send? Mine sends a # but bodhi's seems fine.
I don't know, i have not programmed this one. But if you have an azerty keyboard, and bodhi a qwerty keyboard, maybe, unfortunately, it's "normal".
bodhi Wrote:To start XBMC automatically when the HTPC is powered up and booted into Windows: add the XBMC shortcut to Windows Startup (bring up the Start Menu and navigate to the Startup folder, open it in explorer, and drag the shortcut into it). Remember to add a delay of 10 seconds so that XBMC will not loose focus (add the option -d 10 to the end of the command).
I am occasionally having an issue(error message from XBMC) which I think may be due to the PC not being ready for the Win+5 command to launch XBMC. I don't have a delay added to the command. When adding the Win+5 command (three radial buttons to check: one for command, one for delay, don't remember third). It isn't clear how to add command and delay. If I checked command and added Win+5 and then attempt to add delay the command button is unchecked. How to do both? Do I add the -d 10, eg, to the command itself?
Thanks again,
SteveMA