Harmony remote & FLIRC

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pdean

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Harmony remote & FLIRC

#1

Post by pdean » Tue Nov 28, 2017 1:50 pm

For about ten years I have simply been using the classic microsoft media center remote with a separate remote to turn on the tv and manually turning on my audio receiver. For years I have looked for a smart remote and tried one and did not care for it. I have broken down and purchased a Logitech Harmony Smart Control and happen to have an older model FLIRC I had to take a look at but never used. My first question is do I use the FLIRC in place of the Logitech hub. If not what is the hub used for. Also does the latest FLIRC add anything other than it being smaller and looking different. Can someone give me the best tutorial website or You Tube video of the steps needed to do to get these working with media center 7. I have read and seen videos but wondered what the best steps would be.

MpTrumbore

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#2

Post by MpTrumbore » Wed Nov 29, 2017 3:00 pm

You need both FLIRC receiver and harmony hub. The remote communicates with the hub over RF (line of sight not necessary) and the hub outputs IR commands to the devices you are controlling (TV, audio receiver, FLIRC receiver, etc.) based on how you have the harmony activities programmed. I don't think the newer FLIRC versions function any differently than the older ones so what you have should work.

To setup just follow harmony instructions and use manufacturer = flirc and model number = windows media center to add WMC/flirc as a device. The hub will need to be placed in a position where it can reliably send signals to all devices or you will need to connect IR blasters to the hub.

I've had this setup on an HTPC and harmony smart controls on extenders and they work great. I did find that direct line of sight between hub and IR receivers is not necessary if there are walls or media cabinet walls to reflect the IR signals. Also, I've had a hub ~15ft or so from devices and it worked without issue.

dkm

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#3

Post by dkm » Wed Nov 29, 2017 7:45 pm

I just went through a change recently where my old MCE IR receiver died and I moved my Harmony One IR to FLIRC.

You need to setup both the remote and FLIRC. The Harmony setup will tell the remote what commands to emit, and the FLIRC will need to know how to translate those IR codes to MCE or key combos. There is supposed to be a way to tell Harmony to send MCE codes, and have FLIRC automatically interpret those codes, but it didn't work for me so I trained the FLIRC separately.

I ran into two problems: MCE IR codes actually alternate between two codes for things like volume up/down, channel up/down, etc. I'd be in the guide and have to hit a button twice to get it to register. In FLIRC, I couldn't train one "Media Center" button for two codes, but I could code the same keystroke to two codes. Additionally, when training FLIRC for MCE codes / commands directly, I'd frequently run into problems where the command would repeat on a single button press.

In the end, I followed the shortcut list Microsoft provided for MCE (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lib ... 04226.aspx). In FLIRC, I'd hit the appropriate button on the remote, set the keyboard shortcut in FLIRC, and repeat until it told me that code already existed.

Once setup, I find it to be a lot faster, smoother, and consistent than using my old native MCE IR receiver. Good Luck.

pdean

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#4

Post by pdean » Tue Jan 02, 2018 3:36 pm

Can anyone give me info where I can find the steps to setup a Harmony Smart Control for a Windows Media Center and an audio receiver and TV. And also with an apparent needed flirc which I also have. I am mainly confused by the purpose of both the harmony receiver and the flirc. Do these need setup separately. Can the setup be done with both of these connected at the same time or do I need to do one and then the other. I am simply use to about ten years of only using the microsoft media center remote and manually turning on the stereo receiver and TV. I have tried some remotes before and had problems. For one apparently my pc needed bluetooth which I am using an old Intel DG965WH that does not have bluetooth so I purchased the Plugable USB Bluetooth 4.0 device and wondered if I needed the full setup from its software. I have tried but have yet to get much working other than turning the pc and receiver on or off. The pc is running Win 7.

Must bluetooth be used on both my smartphone and pc. Must the setup be done using the App on my iPhone. Another reason I get confused is since the setup is no where near complete using my old remote seems to be strange I guess from using commands relating to the flirc. Would the setup be easier with another model of remote from logitech. I had read this model was good for this purpose.

PC with Intel DG965WH motherboard
Sony STR-DH540 receiver
TV is Samsung UN40H5003
Original Flirc
Logitech Harmony Smart Control

pdean

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#5

Post by pdean » Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:53 pm

Also do I need to continue to use the windows media center IR receiver or does having that cause problems

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