Just got a harmony 665 remote for my system. Surprisingly I got things up and running almost perfect first time,selecting vero 4K in the myharmony app (4K+ wasn’t listed).
Anyway, I can control the vero just fine, except for power on /off (ie standby mode. I found some references to similar issues searching info on here, but no answers that seem to apply here.
If it helps, i normally power off pressing “power” then “suspend”, I haven’t figured how to set up the system to receive a simple 1 press suspend.
Anybody got an ideas? The ‘boss’ won’t be too happy if I just leave the vero on all the time, would be nice if I could get this working.
You could just set it to suspend after a period of time in settings>system>power saving> but if you wanted to program it from the remote you can certainly do that as well just like what was recently outlined in this thread.
The details for your use case would be tweaked a bit as your using a different remote with an activity based setup. Probably the easiest way to go for you would be to just install the keymap editor add-on and program a key your not going to use for anything else to edit>global>system>shutdown, back out of all the screens, then save the keymap. In Kodi’s power saving settings make sure you have the shutdown function set to “suspend”. You should now be able to press that button and it goes to sleep, and any other button wakes it back up. Once this is confirmed go back to the myharmony app and remove that button from your layout so it is not accidently pressed and then edit the activity to insert this key to be pressed as part of the shutdown activity commands. This should make sleep instant and automatic when you power off or change activities.
Brilliant, thanks as ever for your help with this. I wasn’t sure if it should have just had this function out of the box, I suspected not given the original remote doesn’t have a dedicated on/off, plus the difference between standby and shutdown.
Thanks for the link and the idea on the method to use, I have a bit of learning to get my head around the procedure with the keymap but I understand the principal behind your idea. No doubt I’ll get so far implementing this and come back with a confused question or 2.
I did give it a bit of a non-detailed response because I didn’t know how much assistance you would need. If you get stuck somewhere just ask, I’d be happy to help. There is quite a few pitfalls that one could fall into but writing a book every time a bespoke keymap question comes up is best to be avoided. That being said in this case it should be fairly straight forward unless you pick the wrong key. Not knowing exactly what device you programed into myharmony I think I could only suggest to make sure what you use comes up with a valid key id as I outline in my (largely not applicable to universal remotes) OSMC remote guide [here].
I have it configured to go into Suspend when TV is switched off Settings -> System -> Input -> Peripherals -> CEC Adapater -> "When TV is switched off -> Suspend"
Thanks DD, no panic it’s not practical to write chapter and verse on every response, everyone’s question comes in at a different angle and if this place was full of explicit guides to achieving 1 particular thing it would be harder to find solutions. I’ve tinkered with computers and code for 20 years but most of this is fresh to me, I’ll get my head around whatever I can and come back for more help I’m sure, many thanks
@fzinken, thanks for the suggestion, I did consider using CEC but with a receiver in the middle of my system I concluded it was best switching CEC off entirely otherwise it can get in the way of letting the remote do it’s thing.
Under some conditions I won’t have the TV on while the vero is running so that would be a non starter for my setup. Your input appreciated anyway
Yeah I understand, it’s all about perceived levels of standby. If the power consumption is low enough, and there’s no hdmi output I’m happy. Half of the equation is keeping the boss happy, she knows what the red light on the box means, and if when she turns the system on to watch TV and the vero screen is briefly displayed before the receiver switches to the satellite input (as happens currently) then she knows it’s ‘on’ all the time, and my happiness levels are reduced.
For clarity when I say ‘tv sometimes off while vero is running’ I’m talking about when I’m using it for music and don’t need the TV displaying.
Hi all, thanks for the input above, an update for anybody interested.
I pondered the idea of using the CEC system but there were a couple of reasons it wouldn’t work so week for me.
I decided to follow the method DarwinDesign has laid out but have been too busy with work since posting to be able to get my head into it and sort it.
In the meantime, my temporary solution is this: I set an extra step in the remote just to send a ‘home’ button signal to the vero on the media activity to switch it on, and I have set the shutdown mode to suspend, and set an auto shutdown timer on the vero. The only issue with this setup is I need to manually stop whatever the vero is doing when I turn everything off, even this I suspect I could easily program into the remote.
I’ll no doubt be back to this thread with another update when I get a chance to play. Meanwhile generally loving the vero4k, it’s exactly what I’ve been wanting for some time, it’s nice to be able to easily access all my media. Next up is a drive and software so I can rip my Bly ray collection th the box.
If you have CEC enabled you can set it in Kodi’s CEC settings “action when switching to another source” to stop playback. Alternatively in MyHarmony you can add in whatever activity startup and shutdown commands you want including a stop button press.
Yep for now I’ll add the stop button to the shutdown sequence. It only occurred to me once I’d had it plugged in and was using it.
When thinking thru all the possible use conditions I decided that avoiding CEC and having it all work thru the remote programming was cleanest option. I’ll no doubt keep experimenting, for the time being it’s working slick enough that the boss can use it without any drama, and I have been able to put all the other remotes in a drawer out of the way now so main goals achieved
