Since the WD TV only has a “power toggle”, when using it with a Harmony remote, how can you stop it from getting out of step?
Every other device I have, either has a descrete On/Off code, or has a combination of button presses to achieve the same (i.e I press “Play” on my DVD to switch it on, and Play → Power to switch it off.
In the case of the WD TV, if you get out of step, then when you change to the WD activity, it will go off, and when you leave (or power off) it will come on.
Has anyone come up with a way of keeping it in step? There is a Power Save feature which should work as it switches the box off after 3 hours, so even if it does get out of step, the WDTV would get switched off after 3 hours… BUT… It does a ‘hard’ standby, not soft… So it goes into “deep” power off mode, and the next power on takes minutes which is a pain!
So either a descrete code (combination) would work… Or an auto-standby feature… But I don’t think either of these exist.
Have never experienced what you are talking about. I have had two different Harmony Remotes and used with three different WD models (WDTV gen 2, WDTV Live Plus and WDTV Live SMP.) I think you need to check your Harmony configuration.
Have you really never experienced this? It affects any device where there are no descrete “on/off” codes.
Let me give you some real world situations
You go to your WD Activity… Box goes on… It then crashes or you have a power cut… Then when you hit the poweroff button on your Harmony, the WD comes on, rather than off… And when you power off, it comes on…
You go to your WD Activity and the box comes on… Then you power off, but the code didn’t get to the box (perhaps it was obscured)… Now its on, but the Harmony thinks its off… So you are out of step
You have the auto power off enabled on the box… You turn it on… And you leave it on all day… Then it switches off on its own… But then you do a power off sequence from your Harmony and it comes on.
These are all possibilties and REALLY annoying… 2 is very likely… One you are out of step, you need to get the original remote to turn it off and get it back in step with the Harmony.
Personally, I like the idea of the auto off… That way, it doesn’t matter if it gets out of step, as every night the box will switch off… Problem is, it does a full power off, so the next power on takes ages…
So I am at a loss. I can’t be the only person who experiences this am I ? As I said, its not just WD boxes… Its any device which doesn’t have Descrete codes, or the ability to put it in a given state (see my DVD example above)…
#1 is a special situation. I hope you don’t have regular power outages.
#2 Can happen with any IR device so yea but being aware of where the remote is pointing pretty much prevents this.
#3. Yes I can see this happening but the WD draws so little power compared to the TV or receiver I dont use autoshutoff.
But in any of the cases above you don’t need the original remote. Go to the “devices” menu on the Harmony and do the power toggle to the state you want the WDTV to be in.
OK… So even easier… Just put define ‘power’ button in the activity, so I don’t even have to go to the device… I get that, and its what I have done.
But its just a pain… All I was asking is whether anyone has come up with a soluition (perhaps a descrete code)… If not, thats the answer.
I don’t want to use the Auto Power off either as I am not worried about the power… I like it… Switching off after 3 hours is good. But it doens’t do a “soft” shutdown, which means it takes ages to come on every day.
So I am just going to have to live with this… Thanks for your help.
Sure, I am assuming we have all been in situations where our Harmony (or other universal remote) is out of sync and assumes that one profile is being used while something else is on. This can happen just by not having the remote pointed in the correct direction. Not so terrible and it does not happen very often.
For example:
I inadvertantly hit a button on my Harmony when it is sitting on the couch facing the wrong direction. It goes through it’s process and now believes that my AVR has switched inputs from my SMP to my Roku and changed the sound setup I use for for that device, while in reality nothing has changed and my SMP is still on screen
I point the remote into my hand or some other object and press the button to trigger it back to the SMP and correct AVR setup. Now the Harmony is back in sync.
Pretty easy and not that much stress. Your harmony believes that your TV/AVR/Media player are set to wherever it last set them. If that’s not the case, just hit the sequence to get it back there without actually having it do anything.
Thanks for all your help… I set it up and its working fine… I think the reason I assumed this would be a big deal is that I had the “3 Hour Power Save” enabled, which means that every night it would completely power off, and it would do the same if left on for 3 hours (Which is normal for me as I don’t power off after leaving each activity, I just do it at the end of the night when I power off)
Anyway, I tested it and its fine… i am sure its goign to get out of step at some point… But as you pointed out, there are various techniques to get around this…
It would be nice if there was an option to do an “auto power off” after x hours, but it only put it in standby, and not force it into its power off mode!
I just wish that all manufacuterers were forced to add “descrete Codes”… I come from a Pronto era and even back then, there was a quest to find descrete codes for every device… I just find it amazing that manufacturers doesn’t see the need for this.
