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    Controlling AV devices

    Hi there,
    I need some advice with getting HS Pro to control some AV IR devices.
    I have HS Pro up and running controlling a few lights (via Z-Wave) and a DSC alarm system and it works well.
    I currently control a few AV devices using a Logitech Harmony 555 Universal IR remote control. And that works really well too :-)

    However I'm a little confused about is how to integrate HS Pro into my AV setup. I'm looking to have HS turn off all devices at night and a few other simple operations like that, but I have a feeling that it's not as simple as adding in a IR transmitter/emitter. Wouldn't the IR emitter and the universal remote need to know the current state of all the AV devices before sending IR codes?

    Regards,
    Austin

    #2
    Yes, it would really help if your HS system could know the state of the component. Many components don't have a discrete power IR option, but only a toggle. so if it is off and HS sends power (to turn it off) it will end up toggling it on. so the conditional part of the event would be IF component is ON, turn it OFF.

    You can send IR using global cache or secu16IR w/ocelot, and probably some others. as far as awareness of component status, many people do a combination of ds10a's w/a current sensor on the power cord of the component, if you are simply wanting to know whether it is on/off.


    check also to see if your components have rs232 control, that is often a "cleaner" approach. you can often get some help from people around the board cobbling together a little rs232 control script, if there isn't one already made for whatever the component is.

    let us know if you have any more questions!

    Ian
    Plugins:
    BLLogMonitor, BLGarbage, BLBackup, BLOutGoingCalls, BLUps, BLRfid, JvEss, DooMotion, Applied Digital Ocelot, AC RF Processor, UltraMon, PJC AVR 430, UPB, Rain8net, DSC Panel, JRiver Media center, Windows Media Player, SageMediaCenter, SnevlCID, MCSTemperature.

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks for the reply

      Originally posted by completelyhis View Post
      Many components don't have a discrete power IR option, but only a toggle
      Damn, this is what I thought.

      I was hoping for a more integrated & simpler solution. e.g. if Logitech had a version of the Harmony which had a Z-Wave receiver built into it, then HS could send commands to this device and it would know the devices' state.
      Or would something like a Nevo Q50 work? Or are there other universal remotes out there which can be controlled via Z-Wave (using HS Pro)

      Comment


        #4
        While some devices don't have discrete on and off buttons on the remote, often the IR command set does include discrete codes. I set up my AV control using a USB-UIRT (a cheap simple usb controller IR receiver/emitter) and for my devices that didn't have discrete buttons like on and off, or discrete buttons for source and only a toggle, etc. I was able to find codes for those functions on sites like remotecentral.com. I don't know about other devices, but there's a little utility for the USB-UIRT where you can just paste in hex codes. So for most of my components I used a combination of normal remote learning by pointing the remote at the USB-UIRT and pressing buttons and manually entering some hex codes off the internet into the learn helper utility.

        For some things I use a virutal device to keep track of on/off state, but that's usually only when I just want to display the state on a screen. For things like a "goodnight" event I send the discrete off codes I was lucky enough to find for all my components. The only discrete codes I was unable to find were a discrete on and the 'HDMI3' discrete source code for for my main TV (a Samsung DLP set from a few years ago). So the TV has a toggle for the on and a discrete off which works fine since it's really only the discrete off that matters, and I have to use the 'source' toggle when I switch to HDMI3 (I found codes for 1&2 but the code listed on remotecentral for just 3 didn't work).

        I also extended this setup to two rooms by just using a cheap RF IR extender from radio shack. I have the USB-UIRT attached to my homeseer server and that points at the stereo receiver on the main level as well as the receiver part of the IR extender, and I have the emitter part of the IR extender in the TV room to run the a/v receiver, TV, cable box and blu-ray player. Not the most sophisticated setup, but for a little under $100 I've got complete AV control of two rooms, and without upgrading any of my A/V hardware.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by austin View Post
          Thanks for the reply


          Damn, this is what I thought.

          I was hoping for a more integrated & simpler solution. e.g. if Logitech had a version of the Harmony which had a Z-Wave receiver built into it, then HS could send commands to this device and it would know the devices' state.
          Or would something like a Nevo Q50 work? Or are there other universal remotes out there which can be controlled via Z-Wave (using HS Pro)
          I believe those remotes only send z-wave commands, they do not respond to them. You can't have the remote receive a z-wave command and have the remote then send an IR signal or anything like that. Anyway, the remote doesn't know the real state of the device anyway, what if someone hits the power button on the component itself or uses a different remote to turn it on or off?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Thrag View Post
            I believe those remotes only send z-wave commands, they do not respond to them. You can't have the remote receive a z-wave command and have the remote then send an IR signal or anything like that.
            The data sheet for the product does say "Reliable wireless control using 2-way RF", I'm assuming its talking about Z-Wave; no doubt the reality of that is that it doesn't really work the way you'd want. I'll give Nevo a call and post an update if they say its viable

            Originally posted by Thrag View Post
            Anyway, the remote doesn't know the real state of the device anyway, what if someone hits the power button on the component itself or uses a different remote to turn it on or off?
            That's true of course. But I guess when working with a universal remote, you just use that remote and nothing else to control the devices

            Originally posted by Thrag View Post
            For things like a "goodnight" event I send the discrete off codes I was lucky enough to find for all my components.
            Thanks, I'll check out if that approach will work for me

            Comment

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