harmony 550 +BlueWave(PS3)

[zinfamous]

so the lady gave me an early x-mas gift last night. I haven't spent much time with it, and the only issue right now seems to be getting the 550 buttons to function as they're supposed to.

This is my first experience with setting up Harmony remotes. I went the Blue Wave route b/c I didn't want to spend $50+ on a IR/bluetooth converter. The only advantage seems to be that those will turn the PS3 on (I have to put a disc in anyway).

Any advice? I went the manual route a few times, and that hasn't done much.

 

[marketsons1985]

With the logitech software, is the blue wave in there as an option for devices? You can manually assign the buttons in the logitech software under devices --> settings (for whatever device) --> customize buttons. This will let you map the buttons + the LCD buttons.

I'm not sure how this works with the blue wave, but I'm looking at going the same route pretty soon. Just got the 550 this week

EDIT: Looks like it is there as a device. Looks like people on amazon are also saying there are some quirky things you may have to do to get a logitech to work with the nyko adapter completely. Might want to check it out there.

 

[zinfamous]

yeah, I've checked all over AVS and whatever other threads google has spit out. I did add the Nyko as a device rather than the PS3, as logitech's knowledge base says, and it does recognize the unit as DVD player.

I went through several rounds of the customize function, with limited results. The learn function doesn't improve things...the 550 doesn't even recognize the O button on the remote....

 

[zinfamous]

OK, so now I tried what this amazon reviewer said:

After having used a Harmony 676 to control all my devices, I was not happy when I needed to use the PS3 controller to control Blu Ray movie watching.

This remote's dongle does the job in letting my Harmony 676 control the PS3. There was one problem that almost led me to return the remote however, and I wanted to mention the solution here.

Problem (for Harmony remotes):
On the PS3 XMB (Cross Media Bar), the directional buttons would move the selection several spots for each key press. I read several posts and tried teaching & re-teaching the Harmony. I tried teaching using the "Raw" IR learning but that would slow down the response from the PS3 to each key press.

Solution:
Within the Harmony program, go to Devices->PS3 and select "troubleshoot" under device options.
Select "Show me more problems" (last choice).
Then select the choice "PS3 doesn't appear to receive every command correctly," and the select "The device responds too much to some commands (for example, volume up increases the volume too quickly)."
In the screen with the radio buttons, select '0'.
Save & update the remote and everything the directional buttons will work perfectly.

and that pretty much fixed everything. I had already gotten the arrow keys to work after some manual tinkering, but used a different setting in the troubleshooting when the delay was clearly off (it's worded very similar to the "PS3 doesn't receive every command correctly" then "responds too much to some commands" description.
Using that, not only did it fix the arrow key problem, but magically got all of the other buttons to work: OK now = enter, play, skip and fwd/rev, etc. Menu pulls up the quick menu.

Only thing is you have to place play again to pause (single button on BlueWave)....not really an issue, of course, but the separate pause button is on the 550 is now useless for DVD

Just need to try and map the display function to Guide or Info key on the 550 (I use this all the time when watching BDs to check the bitrates for video and audio).

Now to see how well it works with that comcast crapathon Motorola DVR. that remote is so ridiculously buggy it pisses me off. glad to be rid of it

I also have an HD-A2, so it's nice that I can create two separate "watch DVD" activities and rename them to BD and HD DVD

Very sleek. My brother has the Harmony One, and while the LCD menu on that is far superior, I much prefer the design of the 550. buttons feel a wee bit more solid. Of course, rechargeable base would be nice too....

 

[marketsons1985]

Yeah that reviewer seemed very helpful. I'll certainly be looking to that once I get my own adapter.

Could you map the pause button to the play button too? Then even though it's a bit redundant, there's nothing hurt by having a duplicate command key.

I'm looking forward to using this with my HT setup, though it's a bit limited ATM, HTPC, PS3 and Samsung LN40A530. Slowly building my surround sound around the TV and PS3.

I looked at the One but couldn't justify spending 150 extra bucks over the 550. I love the feel of this remote.

 

[zinfamous]

well, on teh blue wave the pause/play is only one button. I ahven't found a way to not have both functions mapped to the play button on the 550. doesn't bother me though. at least it pauses.