Tivo Series 3 and Tivo Series 2 with Harmony 880

[Gavroche]

I have 2 Tivos in the same room - a Tivo Series 3 and a Tivo Series 2 Single Tuner.
I have set the Tivo Series 3 to a remote address of "1" and the Tivo Series 2 to a remote address of "2". (It works fine with the Tivo remote - either the series 3 or series 2 remote which i have programmed to control each tivo depending on the position of the "DVR" switch on the remote.)

I then set these up on my Logitech Harmony 880 Remote, using the "Confirm Infrared" procedure to set up each Tivo to its respective Remote Address.

Everything works perfectly except for one problem:

The ASPECT button on the Tivo Series 3 setting on my Harmony remote no longer works.

I have tried using the command from the Harmony database, and I have also tried having the Harmony learn the comman from the original Tivo Series 3 remote (set to DVR 1, of course).

Nothing works. (The Harmony software says it learns the aspect command fine, but it doesnt actually work on the Tivo).

The Apsect button on the Tivo series 3 remote works fine.

Before I added the Tivo Series 2 into the mix, the ASPECT function on my harmony worked fine and controlled the Aspect function my series 3 just fine.

No matter what I do I can not get it to work now. In fact, pressing my ASPECT command on the Harmony 880 seems like it does nothing at all - in other words, the Tivo Series 3's Remote receiver light does not light up when I press it, like no command is being received.

Does anyone have any suggestions or any ideas of what could possibly be wrong and how to make this work? (Anyone else using a Harmony remote with 2 tivos including a series 3?)

Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas! I'm stumped!

[caddyroger]

Have you tried the learn ir setting where you place the main tivo remote and the 880 2 in apart?

[bp888]

I have the same exact setup (S3 + S2). After a few days of trying out the Harmony 880 I decided it was not an improvement over my existing multiple remotes (HDTV, A/V Receiver and TiVo) and returned it to Amazon. In fact I find that the TiVo remote was mostly adequate. The thing that I didn't like about the Harmony was that it does not support macros, i.e. key commands in a sequence. Anybody know a good universal remote that supports macros? The key sequence that I would dearly want a dedicated button for is to turn on/off close captioning.

[Gavroche]

Have you tried the learn ir setting where you place the main tivo remote and the 880 2 in apart?

Absolutely. The Harmony seems like it leanrs the command, but then when I try it after updating the remote, no dice. The IR receiver light doesn't even light up on my Tivo when I activate the ASPECT command from the remote, even though I've leanred it from the original Tivo Series 3 remote.

I'm baffled, especially considering it worked perfectly before I added the second tivo and updated the harmony to work with it.

[Gavroche]

I have the same exact setup (S3 + S2). After a few days of trying out the Harmony 880 I decided it was not an improvement over my existing multiple remotes (HDTV, A/V Receiver and TiVo) and returned it to Amazon.

Well everyone's tastes and needs are different. I'm all for simplicity as the end result, so I want one remote to control all of my devices.

I agree that there is no true macro support, but you CAN actually program a series of commands to run where you enter or leave certain activities. It's somewhat tricky, but can be a work-around in some situations.

Anyway, back to my original issue... What's really bothering me is that it DID work perfectly until I updated it to run with 2 Tivos. Now EVERYTHING works as before EXCEPT the ASPECT function.

[SNJpage1]

the harmony can learn and sequence of commands you just have to program them as an activity.

[miller890]

Due to lack of T2G & MRV on the S3, I have purchased the cables and another TiVo wireless adapter so that I can cable it up again to the main TV. However, when I went to program my Harmony 880 I ran into a problem with a second TiVo in the same room. Has anyone successfully programmed the Harmony to independently control two TiVos?

[moxie1617]

First set unique addresses for each Tivo and all your Tivo remotes. Set up your activities for each Tivo, then contact Harmony support and tell them which activity is associated with each address. They will update your activities with the address you tell them. I have a DTivo and an S3, DTivo is set to address 1 and S3 to address 2. Activities are Watch DTivo and Watch HDTivo. I told Harmony support that activity Watch DTivo is at address 1 and Watch HDTivo is at address 2. A day later they e-mailed back that they did the update and all is okay.

[BruceShultes]

Yes, but I had to have help from Level 2 support.

I just made sure I had each Tivo set to a different remote address other than 0 using the original Tivo remote and told support what remote address I had used for each box.

They made changes to my account and after downloading the changes to my 880 everything worked.

[miller890]

Success!! I was able to get everything working adding a second TiVo to the 880 remote - no call to support needed. First I programed both TiVo remote codes using the original remote. I added the second Tivo as a Device to the Harmony setup page, it called it PVR 2 then when back to Devices> Confirm Infrared Commands: [skip] the power button check, then used the TiVo remote with the DVR selector set to [2] entered direction up then select buttons as requested. Then the Harmony page responded with "A better set of remote commands were found". Updated the remote and that's it - It works.

[moxie1617]

That a lot faster than having to get tier 2 support invloved, thans for the tip.

[jcrewdson]

just curious--why would you have an S2 and an S3 on the same system? or, to put it another way, what's the advantage of keeping the S2?

[bp888]

just curious--why would you have an S2 and an S3 on the same system? or, to put it another way, what's the advantage of keeping the S2?

TiVO To Go for one.

[dbenrosen]

just curious--why would you have an S2 and an S3 on the same system? or, to put it another way, what's the advantage of keeping the S2?

I have my S3 and S1 hooked up to the same TV. I record mostly programs for the kids on the S1, and they like to watch on the big TV. Their programs aren't HD anyway so I can fill up my mod'd S1 (221 hours) with all kinds of junk without taking up space from my HD content on the S3.

I use my Home Theater Master MX-500 remote to control both (and it supports macros as well!).

[ScratchFury]

I found the Harmony's response time too slow when compared to the Tivo remote when going through menus. I tried it when it first came out. Has that improved?

[GoHokies!]

I found the Harmony's response time too slow when compared to the Tivo remote when going through menus. I tried it when it first came out. Has that improved?I haven't noticed a difference. You can also change some of the advanced settings in the harmony setup to make it snappier (sorry, I don't remember them, there was a thread around here about them).

[wierdo]

I found the Harmony's response time too slow when compared to the Tivo remote when going through menus. I tried it when it first came out. Has that improved?
You have to configure the repeat settings. By default the Harmony repeats any code it sends 3 times. If you set it to not repeat, it's as fast as the original remote.

[bp888]

I have my S3 and S1 hooked up to the same TV. I record mostly programs for the kids on the S1, and they like to watch on the big TV. Their programs aren't HD anyway so I can fill up my mod'd S1 (221 hours) with all kinds of junk without taking up space from my HD content on the S3.

I use my Home Theater Master MX-500 remote to control both (and it supports macros as well!).

I previously ordered the Harmony but returned it because it didn't support macros. Thanks to this post I just ordered the Home Theater Master MX-500 from Amazon.com. We'll see.

[drew00001]

I have an 880 and my S3's video does not always come out of sleep mode when I press "watch PVR." This problem generally occurs when I turn my TV and Receiver off with a timer, and was never a problem when I used the S3's original remote.

To remedy the situation, sometimes I only have to press the "Tivo" button . . . this seems to wake the S3 up. Other times I have to turn everything off before hitting "watch PVR" again . . . Sometimes I have to turn everythin off multiple times, which is extremely annoying.

Any ideas how to fix this? :confused:

[GoHokies!]

Why is your S3 going into "sleep mode"? (I assume this means standby?)

If that's the case, it's easy, just go into the Harmony setup and tell it to leave the S3 on.

If you are leaving it on, there's no such thing as standby, and I would guess that you're hooked up via HDMI and it's some sort of handshaking issue with HDCP. What kind of TV is it?

[drew00001]

Why is your S3 going into "sleep mode"? (I assume this means standby?)

If that's the case, it's easy, just go into the Harmony setup and tell it to leave the S3 on.

If you are leaving it on, there's no such thing as standby, and I would guess that you're hooked up via HDMI and it's some sort of handshaking issue with HDCP. What kind of TV is it?

I am leaving it on, so it must be going to standby. I see a grey Tivo screen when I switch to DVD.

The odd part is that it's not the remote that puts it in standby. As above, the problem occurs when I turn my TV and Receiver off with each device's timer, which I setup 1 1/2 hours before it turns off.

I am not using HDMI because I haven't upgraded my TV yet. I have a 36" Sony (Tube) Wega TV and am attached via component.

[GoHokies!]

You tivo won't automatically go into standby and there is on such thing as "sleep mode".

Since you aren't doing anything with the remote, it isn't that and it doesn't sound like the Tivo is doing anything although what do you mean by a "grey Tivo screen"? What does it look like?

[drew00001]

Since you aren't doing anything with the remote, it isn't that and it doesn't sound like the Tivo is doing anything although what do you mean by a "grey Tivo screen"? What does it look like?

The "grey Tivo sceen" only comes on for a second after I hit "watch DVD." At that time, my RECEIVER switches from TIVO signal to DVD. Again, both are component sources.

The "grey Tivo screen" says "Press the TIVO BUTTON, LIVE TV, or FORMAT to turn on the TIVO Digital Media Recorder." The screen then changes to my DVD's wallpaper or menu.

[GoHokies!]

Interesting, that is the standby screen. Your remote must be putting it in standby.

Try changing the settings in the Harmony software, I think it's in the advanced device options.

[Bierboy]

...Try changing the settings in the Harmony software, I think it's in the advanced device options.Devices tab --> TiVo S3 (or whatever you named it) --> Settings --> Adjust Power Settings --> Click on "I want to leave this device on all the time"

[drew00001]

Thanks Guys. I made the changes and already notice that the switching between video sources goes much faster. I may have to play with the settings to speed this up further. As for the handshake issue with the timer, I expect it will be a few days before I know if the problem has been resolved. Thanks again for your help.

[drew00001]

Your remote must be putting it in standby.

This must have been the case. After changing the setting on my 880, my Tivo, TV, and receiver are turning on correctly. I believe the 880 was putting the TiVo in standby when I pressed "Watch TiVo," since I was using the timer to turn off the TV and receiver and never pressed the off button on the remote.

[GoHokies!]

This must have been the case. After changing the setting on my 880, my Tivo, TV, and receiver are turning on correctly. I believe the 880 was putting the TiVo in standby when I pressed "Watch TiVo," since I was using the timer to turn off the TV and receiver and never pressed the off button on the remote.
That makes perfect sense, glad that things worked out for you.

Thanks to Bierboy for the assist, I haven't programmed my Harmony in so long, I couldn't remember where the settings were offhand. :D

[BiloxiGeek]

First set unique addresses for each Tivo and all your Tivo remotes. Set up your activities for each Tivo, then contact Harmony support and tell them which activity is associated with each address. They will update your activities with the address you tell them. I have a DTivo and an S3, DTivo is set to address 1 and S3 to address 2. Activities are Watch DTivo and Watch HDTivo. I told Harmony support that activity Watch DTivo is at address 1 and Watch HDTivo is at address 2. A day later they e-mailed back that they did the update and all is okay.

I went this route with my Harmony remote to control two Series 2's and the worst part was the long wait on hold with Harmony support. Once I got connected to level 2 support it took about 10 minutes, and they had it set. They even had me update the remote and try it out before I hung up.

[Bierboy]

...Thanks to Bierboy for the assist, I haven't programmed my Harmony in so long, I couldn't remember where the settings were offhand. :DI hadn't either, so I had to walk through it here on my computer before posting :o

[jcrewdson]

I suppose the next question is how long it's likely to be before Tivo offers transfer functionality for the S3? I'm a little surprised that this doesn't exist already. Is there some techological reason for that?

[MickeS]

I previously ordered the Harmony but returned it because it didn't support macros. Thanks to this post I just ordered the Home Theater Master MX-500 from Amazon.com. We'll see.
I have the RF version of that one, MX-600, and it's a great remote, but compared to newer models it's a bit cumbersome to set up (no computer connection).

But the macros work great and are simple to program. I think you'll be very happy with it.

[pattont]

has anyone noticed a slight delay when the buttons are pushed on the 880 compared to the straight Tivo remote?? I haven't figured this out yet, I wish it would work faster..

[Bierboy]

has anyone noticed a slight delay when the buttons are pushed on the 880 compared to the straight Tivo remote?? I haven't figured this out yet, I wish it would work faster..That issue was addressed way back when the S3 was introduced....do a search, and you should be able to find posts about it and how to modify your Harmony remote. I'll look, too, and post if I can find them.

EDIT: Found this thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=318771&highlight=delay) which addresses the delay issue.

[drew00001]

I like using [the list key] because I can program a macro to return to the recorded show I was just watching that works from almost anywhere.

Now Playing->Right Arrow->Right Arrow

A "Resume Play" macro as above would be great, but I have not been able to figure out how to program a macro for such on the Harmony 880. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.