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[WINDOWS] HOW-TO use a Logitech Harmony Remote with XBMC
I picked up a Harmony 650 and started using it a couple of weeks ago. I liked it so much I got a Harmony One on Saturday. I have it working perfectly as far as the button config and how it works with the XBMC.

But the issue is the LAAAAAGGGGGGG. Omg it's so freaking slow. I've gone through and set the latency to 100, 1000 and 500 as everyone has said to on here. It's still so slow compared to the other MCE remote I was using. The Harmony didn't work correctly with that remotes IR, so I picked up 2 HP IR from ebay that were recommended here. Now everything works, but it still is slow on multiple key presses. On my old remote I could fly through my movies/music/tv shows so fast. But with the Harmony it feels molasses. I'm using the MCE Keyboard and Windows MC SE profiles for the action. I tried it with the MCE Remote/Keyboard as well, but it was just as slow and I wanted the keys from the MC SE profile.

Love the remote though. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm spoiled on how fast my old remote was. I mean it was lightning fast compared to the Harmony.
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likelinus Wrote:I picked up a Harmony 650 and started using it a couple of weeks ago. I liked it so much I got a Harmony One on Saturday. I have it working perfectly as far as the button config and how it works with the XBMC.

But the issue is the LAAAAAGGGGGGG. Omg it's so freaking slow. I've gone through and set the latency to 100, 1000 and 500 as everyone has said to on here. It's still so slow compared to the other MCE remote I was using. The Harmony didn't work correctly with that remotes IR, so I picked up 2 HP IR from ebay that were recommended here. Now everything works, but it still is slow on multiple key presses. On my old remote I could fly through my movies/music/tv shows so fast. But with the Harmony it feels molasses. I'm using the MCE Keyboard and Windows MC SE profiles for the action. I tried it with the MCE Remote/Keyboard as well, but it was just as slow and I wanted the keys from the MC SE profile.

Love the remote though. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm spoiled on how fast my old remote was. I mean it was lightning fast compared to the Harmony.

Do you have the same lag problem with the 650? It seems the Harmony One is the only Harmony remote that has this problem. It's a tough problem to figure out (the only way to try is changing the delays, and even with that I think others were not successful either).

If the 650 does not exhibit the same lag, I think you'll need to contact Logitech and ask them to look at your Harmony One remote account, perhaps they can look at your remote while you're connecting to the account.
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Even though I don't use XBMC, I registered here to give a warm thanks to VanOert for writing this guide and thus resolve an issue I had been struggling with for hours and hours, viz. how to get my Harmony 900 working with an Origen M10 (equipped with what I have now learned to be a dreaded iMon remote). Thank you! Even Logitech's own FAQ (add a HTPC/Soundgraph Imon PAD) resulted in a non working Harmony paperweight.

For future reference: this method works perfectly with the iMon PAD that shipped with my Origen. The remote should of course also be defined in the iMon software as an MCE remote.
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bodhi Wrote:Do you have the same lag problem with the 650? It seems the Harmony One is the only Harmony remote that has this problem. It's a tough problem to figure out (the only way to try is changing the delays, and even with that I think others were not successful either).

If the 650 does not exhibit the same lag, I think you'll need to contact Logitech and ask them to look at your Harmony One remote account, perhaps they can look at your remote while you're connecting to the account.

Indeed, the 650 is having the same issue. The best way I can describe it is if I take my old CE Compass MCE Remote and hit down 5 times, when I'm done hitting the down button on the 5th time, the menu has already moved down to where I want it. The button press is immediate no matter how fast I push the keys

If I take the Harmony remotes and hit down 5 times fast, when I'm done the menu keeps moving for a few seconds and there's a delay inbetween each down. It will be on the second down after I finish hitting the button down on the 5th time and then it takes time to register the other hits. It's pretty annoying because it makes the system feel slow and like XBMC has a problem. But if I change the IR and use my old remote, it's way fast and perfect.

I've got the HP IR from Ebay (got two of them and tried them both). I'm not sure what the problem is at this point. Any other suggestions would be great.


I love the remote, but there are a couple of things that tick me off about buying a $150 remote that
1. Doesn't include an IR when my $15 generic MCE Remote from Amazon does
2. Doesn't work right with my HTPC when my $15 generic MCE Remote from Amazon does.

It's rediculous to spend that amount on a remote that appears to have a flaw. Tons of other users are reporting the same issue and I've seen nothing from Logitech to address the issue.
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likelinus Wrote:Indeed, the 650 is having the same issue. The best way I can describe it is if I take my old CE Compass MCE Remote and hit down 5 times, when I'm done hitting the down button on the 5th time, the menu has already moved down to where I want it. The button press is immediate no matter how fast I push the keys

If I take the Harmony remotes and hit down 5 times fast, when I'm done the menu keeps moving for a few seconds and there's a delay inbetween each down. It will be on the second down after I finish hitting the button down on the 5th time and then it takes time to register the other hits. It's pretty annoying because it makes the system feel slow and like XBMC has a problem. But if I change the IR and use my old remote, it's way fast and perfect.

I've got the HP IR from Ebay (got two of them and tried them both). I'm not sure what the problem is at this point. Any other suggestions would be great.


I love the remote, but there are a couple of things that tick me off about buying a $150 remote that
1. Doesn't include an IR when my $15 generic MCE Remote from Amazon does
2. Doesn't work right with my HTPC when my $15 generic MCE Remote from Amazon does.

It's rediculous to spend that amount on a remote that appears to have a flaw. Tons of other users are reporting the same issue and I've seen nothing from Logitech to address the issue.

That's certainly strange. I'm using an old Harmony 360 with the Philips OEM RC6 receiver on Windows 7. No lag whatsoever. And also nobody with a Harmony 700 has reported the lag problem either. How does the Harmony One behave when you use it for other equipments? do they also lag too? if not, then the problem seems to be with these Harmony profiles when used with Harmony One (or I should say only the newer models of Harmony remotes have problem with these profiles).
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bodhi Wrote:That's certainly strange. I'm using an old Harmony 360 with the Philips OEM RC6 receiver on Windows 7. No lag whatsoever. And also nobody with a Harmony 700 has reported the lag problem either. How does the Harmony One behave when you use it for other equipments? do they also lag too? if not, then the problem seems to be with these Harmony profiles when used with Harmony One (or I should say only the newer models of Harmony remotes have problem with these profiles).

It appears to be something with the 550, 650, 700 and Harmony One remotes.

http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Harmony-Re...d-p/184093

It's a known issue that Harmony has basically refused to address. I think anyone who has late model Harmony and doesn't have the delay is just unaware of it. I notice it big time because I still use my $15 MCE remote in my Master Bedroom and it flies through the XBMC menu. When I get downstairs, it's painfully slow. I know it's nothing to do with the computer or the IR because I've used two different ones and I've run it on both computers. The problem sounds like the remote is unable to send anything under 300ms because of the limitations of the chip inside. Another forum member mentioned this on Logitech site from a discussion with a logitech tech.

It would make sense that your remote might not have the issue because it's a different chipset and model. I've only seen the issue mentioned with the newer remotes.

My DirecTV also has this issue. It takes about .3-.4 seconds for a button to register. I can hit down 10 times and when I get go it sits there and cycles through and you watch it going down for a few seconds.
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I have a couple of questions:

I'd like to have a button for screencap which is currently mapped to "printscreen". Any way to do this without having to install other software?

Also, I jump back and forth between Windows Media Center (for recorded tv) and xbmc. However, the volume for Media Center is system volume but for xbmc is application volume. Any way to control system volume from xbmc? I have to turn it down in windows media center to not blow my speakers but if I turn it down then xbmc is way too quiet.

Any help on either front is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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primetime34 Wrote:I have a couple of questions:

I'd like to have a button for screencap which is currently mapped to "printscreen". Any way to do this without having to install other software?

Also, I jump back and forth between Windows Media Center (for recorded tv) and xbmc. However, the volume for Media Center is system volume but for xbmc is application volume. Any way to control system volume from xbmc? I have to turn it down in windows media center to not blow my speakers but if I turn it down then xbmc is way too quiet.

Any help on either front is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The action that you need to bind to a button is action screenshot The 1st time this is executed, XBMC will ask for the folder where to put the screen shot. I think you can also bind a key to the printscreen to do that, and it would work outside XBMC, too. Try the screenshot. I got it working for a while and removed it by accident so can't verify it now.

You can follow the instruction in this post to bind a key to that action screenshot. There is no need for other software.
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bodhi Wrote:The action that you need to bind to a button is action screenshot The 1st time this is executed, XBMC will ask for the folder where to put the screen shot. I think you can also bind a key to the printscreen to do that, and it would work outside XBMC, too. Try the screenshot. I got it working for a while and removed it by accident so can't verify it now.

You can follow the instruction in this post to bind a key to that action screenshot. There is no need for other software.

Worked great...I bound it to 'a' so I can get some fanart for movies that don't have them.


Any help on the volume issue? It really is a pain. Is there some way to bind a key for master system volume, or a windows key that will do it?
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likelinus Wrote:It appears to be something with the 550, 650, 700 and Harmony One remotes.

I also have an Harmony One and I have not lag problem at all.
With this mind, maybe the problem comes from somewhere else.
IR receiver?

I have a HTPC, a Denon Amp, a Panasonic TV and the Satbox. None of them show any issue. It's always snappy.
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hatbrox Wrote:I also have an Harmony One and I have not lag problem at all.
With this mind, maybe the problem comes from somewhere else.
IR receiver?

And yet you don't say which IR Receiver you have Huh

I hate to state the obvious but if your experiencing a delay with button presses then don't use button presses to scroll through menus hold the button down instead and let the remote do the button presses it will use the fastest rate possible for the remote you cannot press any faster than that rate anyway not without the remote playing catchup

I have a 300i which doesn't allow you to adjust delay time so instead I hold the button down when scrolling
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hatbrox Wrote:I also have an Harmony One and I have not lag problem at all.
With this mind, maybe the problem comes from somewhere else.
IR receiver?

I have a HTPC, a Denon Amp, a Panasonic TV and the Satbox. None of them show any issue. It's always snappy.

What IR do you have then?? I'll be GLAD to buy it and try it out.

That's exactly the setup I have. I have a Denon 791, a 50" Panny and a DTV box. As noted my DTV box and Denon exhibit the same issues. They both have built in IR. So you're either telling me that the IR in all 3 units are bad, or the remote itself is the problem.

I also have the IR receiver from my other remote and it has the same issue with the Harmony remote. I got the HP IR because I thought the issue resided with the IR itself.

All of that said, there is a post on the logitech forum that says the remote's chipset can only do 300ms and that is why Logitech has not responded to the problem. It's gone on since 2008. It's a flawed design. That means that ALL Harmony One remotes exhibit this problem with XBMC. That's why I believe people who do not see the problem have probably never used a remote that works correctly. I could be wrong, but it seems the majority of people see it and it's obviously a problem. Look at all the threads about the delay and latency issues!
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primetime34 Wrote:Worked great...I bound it to 'a' so I can get some fanart for movies that don't have them.


Any help on the volume issue? It really is a pain. Is there some way to bind a key for master system volume, or a windows key that will do it?

I'm guessing the volume problem has to do with analog audio? is that how you're connecting the audio output to receiver (or using the speakers on the HTPC itself)? if the audio output is through HDMI, or optical out to receiver then there should be no problem with audio level like that.

I don't have any suggestion for this problem, other than confirming that on my laptop, using analog audio out to the laptop speakers, I'm seeing the same problem. After adjusting Windows volume to be adequate for Window Media Player, exit it, bring up XBMC, and set maximum volume on XBMC OSD, and can't hear a thing Confused
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bodhi Wrote:I'm guessing the volume problem has to do with analog audio? is that how you're connecting the audio output to receiver (or using the speakers on the HTPC itself)? if the audio output is through HDMI, or optical out to receiver then there should be no problem with audio level like that.

I don't have any suggestion for this problem, other than confirming that on my laptop, using analog audio out to the laptop speakers, I'm seeing the same problem. After adjusting Windows volume to be adequate for Window Media Player, exit it, bring up XBMC, and set maximum volume on XBMC OSD, and can't hear a thing Confused

I have a set of Bose speakers hooked up to my HTPC, so I assume that is the problem. Anyway to change that, that anybody knows, I would be extremely grateful.
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[WINDOWS] HOW-TO use a Logitech Harmony Remote with XBMC13