Harmony 550 and lirc troubles

[xanadu1979]

I'm wondering if anybody has a Harmony 550 successfully working with lirc and XBMC?

I've got the Harmony 550 setup as a MCE remote and it generally works, but the button presses don't quite work like I want them to. I've tried messing with the gap setting in the conf file, but I can't find one that works really well. I've tried really low numbers and really high numbers. I have also tried messing with the <remoterepeat> setting in Advancedsettings but that isn't making much difference either.

I think I need to change a repeat setting somewhere or something. In irw, my remote commands seem to either register two or three times for each press, or they don't register at all. XBMC reflects this. When moving through lists, it either goes two or three items at a time, or it doesn't go at all. Hitting the select button either does a double click or it doesn't do anything at all.

I'm going to keep tweaking the gap and mess with the repeat settings, but if anybody has a Harmony 550 working well, I'd love to see your conf file. I'd also like to see what you set the delay settings at in the Harmony software.

[dbldown768]

i believe I have an H550 and I do not experience any problems. I do however see buttons repeat when running "irw", however this has never caused any problems from within XBMC. The remote works great.

[xanadu1979]

Do you have it setup as an MCE remote? If so, did you have to change any of the config settings in lirc?

[dbldown768]

yes, it is setup as mce remote i believe. that or the newer one. I did not use any special changes to lirc or in the harmony software. If i remember correctly, i believe i see like 3 button presses for each on in "irw".

[xanadu1979]

Weird. I'll try setting the delay settings on the Harmony back to their defaults. I messed with them a while back when I was using the remote with Vista.

It might be something with my IR Receiver. It came built into the computer and is probably not the best quality. I'm thinking about just purchasing one off NewEgg.

[Haggy]

I have a harmony 515 and experienced the same issues as you, but i found a way to fix it:

1) Don't set it up as MCE remote, but as 'PVR' -> 'KLS' -> 'VDR'
2) Configure keys as shown here: http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/images/9/9a/Fernbedienung-Harmony-Setup.jpg. If you speak german there's also a complete howto here: http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.php/Fernbedienung_-_Logitech_Harmony
3) Use this /etc/lircd.conf:

begin remote
name harmony_kls_vdr
bits 13
flags RC5|CONST_LENGTH
eps 30
aeps 100

one 922 858
zero 922 858
plead 937
gap 116048
min_repeat 2
toggle_bit 2


begin codes
mute 0x1780
vol+ 0x1001
vol- 0x1002
ch- 0x1003
ch+ 0x1004
prev 0x1005
up 0x1006
down 0x1007
left 0x1008
right 0x1009
ok 0x100A
menu 0x100B
exit 0x100C
guide 0x100D
info 0x100E
stop 0x100F
replay 0x1010
skip 0x1011
play 0x1012
rec 0x1013
rew 0x1014
fwd 0x1015
pause 0x1016
1 0x1017
2 0x1018
3 0x1019
4 0x101A
5 0x101B
6 0x101C
7 0x101D
8 0x101E
9 0x101F
clear 0x1020
0 0x1021
enter 0x1022
red 0x1023
green 0x1024
yellow 0x1025
blue 0x1026
channels 0x1027
commands 0x1028
slowrew 0x1029
slowfwd 0x102A
recordings 0x102B
timers 0x102C
setup 0x102D
user1 0x102E
user2 0x102F
user3 0x1030
user4 0x1031
user5 0x1032
user6 0x1033
user7 0x1034
user8 0x1035
user9 0x1036
user10 0x1037
user11 0x1038
user12 0x1039
user13 0x103A
user14 0x103B
user15 0x103C
user16 0x103D
poweroff 0x103E
poweron 0x103F
end codes
end remote

4) If keys repeat too often/too much, go to your logitech harmony setup tool, and set repeat settings to 1 or even 0.
5) Model your Lircmap.xml after your new config.

My harmony is working perfectly using this setup. I have 64 codes available - more than i ever would want to use ;)

[xanadu1979]

Thanks, Haggy. I'll give that a shot.

[xanadu1979]

Oh.........my..........god............

It works!!! Haggy, you are the man! Using the vdr method you outlined works fantastic. The remote doesn't lag or stutter or anything. It's absolutely perfect in every way. It even seems more smooth than the MCE setup was in Vista.

I can't thank you enough. I spent literally hours trying to get the harmony to work as an MCE remote. I looked all over Google and nobody seemed to have the same problem. I'm really glad you saw this thread and decided to respond.

Now if only I could get the PC to wake up from suspend without hanging, my setup would be perfect.

[Haggy]

You're welcome :)

What suspend problems do you have (in more detail).

[xanadu1979]

My PC goes to sleep just fine. But when I try to wake it up, it just hangs. The only thing it does is start spinning the fan and then it just sits there. I think I hear the hard drives spin back up too. The screen doesn't come back so I don't get any error messages or anything. The network doesn't seem to come up because I can't SSH into it.

The only log I know about to look at is pm-suspend.log. It shows the events to suspend and says it was successful, but it doesn't log anything about waking up.

I've pretty much just given up on that part. I followed the minimal install guide to set it up, and it boots pretty quickly from a cold boot. I'm going to try Ubuntu 9.04 when it comes out and see if works then. Unless you have any ideas for me. Any logs that I could possibly look at?

[Haggy]

sounds like a serious acpi/bios issue. unfortunately, if you're not on a notebook which tend to have better acpi implementations, there's little you can do about it. have a look at kern.log, messages, syslog and dmesg. you can post them to pastebin and i'll have a look at it.

meanwhile, try pci=nomsi as a kernel boot parameter and see if that helps. it may solve issues with pci cards not waking up properly.

[xanadu1979]

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that kernel parameter and cross my fingers. If not, I'll just see what the next version of Ubuntu brings. I've been googling it a lot and it appears that 9.04 has some fixes for stuff like this.

I remember looking at some of those logs you mentioned but I didn't see anything relating to suspend. I'll try to post them for you when I get home anyway, maybe you can find something in them that's helpful.

[xanadu1979]

Here are my logs. I really appreciate your time.

http://ubuntu.pastebin.com/f5e7bac76
http://ubuntu.pastebin.com/f3d0d6c7d
http://ubuntu.pastebin.com/faee6f8e
http://ubuntu.pastebin.com/f1fffc469

[Haggy]

Sorry, don't have much time atm, but after a first look i also don't see something suspicous - it just looks like normal reboots?! Did you try that kernel parameter?

[xanadu1979]

Sorry, don't have much time atm, but after a first look i also don't see something suspicous - it just looks like normal reboots?! Did you try that kernel parameter?

Yeah, sorry, forgot to mention that. The kernel parameter didn't make any difference.

Don't worry about it. I'll just save energy and cold boot for now. Maybe Jaunty will work.

[djon]

I just set all this up and everything works except for being able to turn my Asrock ION back on again. I use Ubuntu minimal and the newest XBMC SVN and I can turn it on and off without any problems when it was set as a Windows MCE remote in LIRC.
I had to change the "power off" from com3e to com3f in order for the Activity to turn it off, but neither com3e or com3f will turn it back on again. Is it, unlike the MCE USB, two different keys that does the power on and off when using this setup?
Also I can see that when the pc goes to suspend the MCE IR receiver no longer blinks when I press the remote as it usually does, so I assume it is not active. It is some LIRC that has been shut down when it goes to suspend or something?

[djon]

Fixed it by learning the MCE remote's PC button. It's all good now!

[brownstein]

Haggy, I am using an Asrock ION 330 with an xbox dvd dongle, usb modded and a logitech harmony 520. Would your solution work for me? If it will, would you mind uploading your lircmap.xml, lircd.conf, and remote.xml?

I am trying to set mine up using your method but wouldn't mind having something to go by to make sure I am doing it right.

I am pretty new to linux and a little confused about where the files go now. I used to have an xbox with xbmc and then tried a pc out with the windows version before moving to a popcorn hour for a while. I missed xbmc too much and picked up the asrock. back when I used to have xbmc it was just a keymap.xml, now there is about 5 or 6 different files you can mod and in linux it seems there are a few spots to put them.



I have a harmony 515 and experienced the same issues as you, but i found a way to fix it:

1) Don't set it up as MCE remote, but as 'PVR' -> 'KLS' -> 'VDR'
2) Configure keys as shown here: http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/images/9/9a/Fernbedienung-Harmony-Setup.jpg. If you speak german there's also a complete howto here: http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.php/Fernbedienung_-_Logitech_Harmony
3) Use this /etc/lircd.conf:

begin remote
name harmony_kls_vdr
bits 13
flags RC5|CONST_LENGTH
eps 30
aeps 100

one 922 858
zero 922 858
plead 937
gap 116048
min_repeat 2
toggle_bit 2


begin codes
mute 0x1780
vol+ 0x1001
vol- 0x1002
ch- 0x1003
ch+ 0x1004
prev 0x1005
up 0x1006
down 0x1007
left 0x1008
right 0x1009
ok 0x100A
menu 0x100B
exit 0x100C
guide 0x100D
info 0x100E
stop 0x100F
replay 0x1010
skip 0x1011
play 0x1012
rec 0x1013
rew 0x1014
fwd 0x1015
pause 0x1016
1 0x1017
2 0x1018
3 0x1019
4 0x101A
5 0x101B
6 0x101C
7 0x101D
8 0x101E
9 0x101F
clear 0x1020
0 0x1021
enter 0x1022
red 0x1023
green 0x1024
yellow 0x1025
blue 0x1026
channels 0x1027
commands 0x1028
slowrew 0x1029
slowfwd 0x102A
recordings 0x102B
timers 0x102C
setup 0x102D
user1 0x102E
user2 0x102F
user3 0x1030
user4 0x1031
user5 0x1032
user6 0x1033
user7 0x1034
user8 0x1035
user9 0x1036
user10 0x1037
user11 0x1038
user12 0x1039
user13 0x103A
user14 0x103B
user15 0x103C
user16 0x103D
poweroff 0x103E
poweron 0x103F
end codes
end remote

4) If keys repeat too often/too much, go to your logitech harmony setup tool, and set repeat settings to 1 or even 0.
5) Model your Lircmap.xml after your new config.

My harmony is working perfectly using this setup. I have 64 codes available - more than i ever would want to use ;)

[djon]

Ah damn, when I start the "Xbox 360" activity on my Harmony, which also turns on the Xbox 360 via IR, the PC also starts up. The Xbox 360 on/off ergo uses the same IR command as the PC's MCE IR uses to wake it up from suspend :-(

Anyone else has this issue and knows how to fix it?

[fr0sty]

Can anyone tell me the delay settings in the Logitech software? Because my XBMC only responds when pressing for a long time, and if i check with irw, for every press i get 3 hits. My current settings in the Logitech software are:
Power On Delay: 1500
Inter-key Delay: 100
Inter-Device Delay: 500

[xanadu1979]

Can anyone tell me the delay settings in the Logitech software? Because my XBMC only responds when pressing for a long time, and if i check with irw, for every press i get 3 hits. My current settings in the Logitech software are:
Power On Delay: 1500
Inter-key Delay: 100
Inter-Device Delay: 500

Do you have your remote setup as the KLS VDR? If you have it set as an MCE remote, that sometimes doesn't work very well. I switched to the KLS VDR a long time ago and I haven't looked back. It works A LOT better.

[fr0sty]

Do you have your remote setup as the KLS VDR? If you have it set as an MCE remote, that sometimes doesn't work very well. I switched to the KLS VDR a long time ago and I haven't looked back. It works A LOT better.

I set it up as KLS VDR, but every buttonpress is being registrered as 3 hits when checking with irw. Can you tell me what is in your hardware.conf file?
And your default delay settings? :)

[xanadu1979]

You shouldn't need the hardware.conf. Try renaming it and rebooting.

If that doesn't work, I'll post my entire lirc.conf when I get home tonight.

[fr0sty]

I set my hardware.conf as a "Microsoft Windows Media Center V2 (usb) : Direct TV Receiver", with an empty hardware.conf it wasnt working. Irw is detecting my input, can navigate in XBMC, with normal skin the navigating is to slow (navigating with keyboard is much faster), with the AEON skin navigating is too fast (skips menu items).
I would like to see your lircd.conf if you dont mind :)

[xanadu1979]

Ok, I made it home to look at my setup. Like I said, I have no hardware.conf file. I renamed it.

Here is my lircd.conf file:
http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f26a6b7ef

[xanadu1979]

I set my hardware.conf as a "Microsoft Windows Media Center V2 (usb) : Direct TV Receiver", with an empty hardware.conf it wasnt working. Irw is detecting my input, can navigate in XBMC, with normal skin the navigating is to slow (navigating with keyboard is much faster), with the AEON skin navigating is too fast (skips menu items).
I would like to see your lircd.conf if you dont mind :)

Are you using Karmic? I just upgraded to it and I found out that Karmic doesn't like not having a hardware.conf. I figured out how to get it to work. Here's how I did it.

** You might not have to do this, but I deleted everything out of my /etc/lirc directory and reinstalled lirc in Synaptic. When asked to configure the remote, I chose the Windows Media Center remote for the time being. **

1. Copy and rename the lircd.conf file in my previous post (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f26a6b7ef) to /usr/share/lirc/remotes/kls/lircd.conf.kls

2. Edit /etc/lirc/lircd.conf to include the kls configuration from the previous step instead of the mce config.

3. Replace your /etc/lirc/hardware.conf file with this one (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f635ed264).

4. make sure you don't have any lircmd.conf or whatever it's called in your /etc/lirc directory.

5. restart lirc or reboot

6. create this file (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f1024686c) as Lircmap.xml and place it in your ~/.xbmc/userdata directory

7. now when you start xbmc, your remote should be working

Hopefully this helps. This setup works a lot better than the MCE remote in Lirc for me.

[Evanrich]

Are you using Karmic? I just upgraded to it and I found out that Karmic doesn't like not having a hardware.conf. I figured out how to get it to work. Here's how I did it.

** You might not have to do this, but I deleted everything out of my /etc/lirc directory and reinstalled lirc in Synaptic. When asked to configure the remote, I chose the Windows Media Center remote for the time being. **

1. Copy and rename the lircd.conf file in my previous post (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f26a6b7ef) to /usr/share/lirc/remotes/kls/lircd.conf.kls

2. Edit /etc/lirc/lircd.conf to include the kls configuration from the previous step instead of the mce config.

3. Replace your /etc/lirc/hardware.conf file with this one (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f635ed264).

4. make sure you don't have any lircmd.conf or whatever it's called in your /etc/lirc directory.

5. restart lirc or reboot

6. create this file (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f1024686c) as Lircmap.xml and place it in your ~/.xbmc/userdata directory

7. now when you start xbmc, your remote should be working

Hopefully this helps. This setup works a lot better than the MCE remote in Lirc for me.

wanted to quote your entire post for greatness. After reading this thread, I decided to buy a 550, and using your wisdom, and sample files, I successfully got my remote working great in XBMC live, so thanks a ton! Your instructions were extremely easy to follow. The only buttons that don't work are power on/power off for me :(

[xanadu1979]

wanted to quote your entire post for greatness. After reading this thread, I decided to buy a 550, and using your wisdom, and sample files, I successfully got my remote working great in XBMC live, so thanks a ton! Your instructions were extremely easy to follow. The only buttons that don't work are power on/power off for me :(

Thanks, glad I could help. It looks like you figured it out, but I should have added to my instructions that you need to setup your remote as a KLS VDR using the instructions in this (http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=306606&postcount=6) post.

[Evanrich]

Thanks, glad I could help. It looks like you figured it out, but I should have added to my instructions that you need to setup your remote as a KLS VDR using the instructions in this (http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=306606&postcount=6) post.

I did set it up as that. Every single button works perfectly, just can't turn the power off. It's not that big of a deal, as i can just get up and push the button, but just a small bother.

Thanks again!

Edit I figured it out, my lircmap.xml file didn't have the power, volume, or mute keys in it. After adding these, i can change volume and turn the box off.

great!

[wmcneil]

Are you using Karmic? I just upgraded to it and I found out that Karmic doesn't like not having a hardware.conf. I figured out how to get it to work. Here's how I did it.

** You might not have to do this, but I deleted everything out of my /etc/lirc directory and reinstalled lirc in Synaptic. When asked to configure the remote, I chose the Windows Media Center remote for the time being. **

1. Copy and rename the lircd.conf file in my previous post (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f26a6b7ef) to /usr/share/lirc/remotes/kls/lircd.conf.kls

2. Edit /etc/lirc/lircd.conf to include the kls configuration from the previous step instead of the mce config.

3. Replace your /etc/lirc/hardware.conf file with this one (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f635ed264).

4. make sure you don't have any lircmd.conf or whatever it's called in your /etc/lirc directory.

5. restart lirc or reboot

6. create this file (http://xbmc.pastebin.com/f1024686c) as Lircmap.xml and place it in your ~/.xbmc/userdata directory

7. now when you start xbmc, your remote should be working

Hopefully this helps. This setup works a lot better than the MCE remote in Lirc for me.

I had to add 'lirc_kls' to the REMOTE_MODULES line in hardware.conf:
REMOTE_MODULES="lirc_dev lirc_kls"

Prior to doing this, when I tried to start lirc I got no messages, and lirc
did not start. I can't confirm this works, because I am having another
problem, but it does allow lirc to start correctly.

My other problem is that my IR reciever doesn't see my Harmony 880
sending commands (as a KLS PVR) at all. It only works with the ORtek
remote (sold as 'Vista MCE' on Amazon) that came with it. I think
I am going to have to buy a more mainstream IR receiver. I've tried several other Harmony profiles (iMon, Microsoft 360MCE) and my IR receiver can't see those either.

[boba23]

Hey guys,

I am also setting up my Logitech Harmony 885 right now to replace my MCE Model 1039 Remote. Using the MS USB Receiver to receive IR.
With the MCE Remote XBMC works perfectly fine. I got the 885 to work, first using the MCE 1039 Profile, and then I also tried the KLS one explained here.
Buttons all work fine, but the thing that's driving me nuts, is that I can't seem to adjust the delay settings in a way, that the harmony feels like the original MCE.
The MCE is like FAST. I can press e.g. the Up/Down buttons really fast, and it feels like it responds right away in XBMC.
The harmony though has got a delay with button presses, like let's say I press DOWN 3-4 times a sec. You can see the 3-4 presses lagging behind in XBMC, which doesn't happen at all with the original MCE.
I already played around with all the delay settings in the Harmony software, but I cannot get it down to a non-delay settings. A slight delay is always there, which is driving me nuts.

Can anybody help me with this?

thanks

boba

[analogue]

Hey guys,

I am also setting up my Logitech Harmony 885 right now to replace my MCE Model 1039 Remote. Using the MS USB Receiver to receive IR.
With the MCE Remote XBMC works perfectly fine. I got the 885 to work, first using the MCE 1039 Profile, and then I also tried the KLS one explained here.
Buttons all work fine, but the thing that's driving me nuts, is that I can't seem to adjust the delay settings in a way, that the harmony feels like the original MCE.
The MCE is like FAST. I can press e.g. the Up/Down buttons really fast, and it feels like it responds right away in XBMC.
The harmony though has got a delay with button presses, like let's say I press DOWN 3-4 times a sec. You can see the 3-4 presses lagging behind in XBMC, which doesn't happen at all with the original MCE.
I already played around with all the delay settings in the Harmony software, but I cannot get it down to a non-delay settings. A slight delay is always there, which is driving me nuts.

Can anybody help me with this?

thanks

boba

Welcome to harmony remotes. its not a bug, its a feature. you'll either get used to it or get rid of the remote...

[boba23]

Welcome to harmony remotes. its not a bug, its a feature. you'll either get used to it or get rid of the remote...

Great :-) You are really sure, that there is no way to make the harmony perform as the original remotes?
Just registered in a harmony forum, hope I can get som help there.

boba

[Evanrich]

Is there a button command you can assign that either forces a library update, or scans for new content? those two options are the only thing missing in my remote that would allow me to ditch the keyboard completely.

I tried looking through the wiki and other places, but couldn't find anything.