Hopper & Harmony 880 Remote Problems

[jdmart]

Have been trying to set up our Hopper with discrete on/off codes using our Harmony 880 Remote. I can use Harmony's Dish 722 setup for discrete on/off codes but then can't setup the color buttons. If I use Harmony's Dish Hopper or 922 setup for the color buttons I can't use the discrete power on/off buttons.

Saw plenty of info on the Harmony one but not much on the Harmony 880. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DustoMan]

The 880 and the One are essentially the same remote, the One just fixed many of the problems the 880 had. I'm not sure what you're asking. You want separate On and Off buttons for the hopper instead of a single power toggle?

 

[jdmart]

The 880 and the One are essentially the same remote, the One just fixed many of the problems the 880 had. I'm not sure what you're asking. You want separate On and Off buttons for the hopper instead of a single power toggle?

Yes. We want seperate On and Off for the Hopper like we had for for our old 722. The reason is we set our DVR for "auto tune" to make sure we never miss the beginning of one of our daily news programs which we don't want to record everyday. Usually around twenty minutes after the start of the program we fast reverse the DVR to the beginning of the newscast and zap all the commercials as we watch.

The problem is without the discrete on & off we would often accidently hit the power toggle (not realizing the DVR was already powered on) which would turn off the DVR and wipe out the beginning of our program when we turn it back on. With the discrete "On" accidently hitting the power key would have no effect on our program.

 

[mdavej]

To answer Dustoman's question, discrete On/Off work better in macros than toggles, so those are preferable on harmony and other universal remotes. Power toggle is fine on a power button, but things can get out of sync using toggles in macros where one thing turns back on when you meant for it to turn off. With discretes, if you tell something to turn off 20 times in a row, it will always turn off, never on, and vice versa.

All harmony's work the same, so anything you read about the One will apply to the 880. Hopper is now in the harmony database, but unfortunately it's missing discrete on/off just like the 922. Since it's easier to learn the colored buttons than the discretes, I'd start with the 722 profile and learn the others from a 20.0 or 21.0 remote. If you have an old cable or one-for-all remote, you can learn from one of those as well. Post back with what you're learning from, and I'll try to help.

Having said that, the more people who learn discrete on/off on the Hopper profile, the sooner they'll be in the database for everyone else. If you still have a 20.0 remote and the manual, there is a procedure in there for sending discrete on/off. It was easier for me to do it with a one-for-all remote.

 

[patmurphey]

Harmonys support Hoppers now in the database. I don't understand why you need discrete on/off. In normal use you would set the "watch TV" activity to turn on the Hopper and the off button would turn off watch TV devices that you set to turn off (default). If you need on or off while in the "watch TV" activity, I believe you will find on/off toggle and maybe discrete on/off on when you select device PVR. The switches will be on the LCD, but probaby not on the first page. For your "watch TV" if you want to add unnecessary on/off, or maybe discrete on/off (the Hopper remote doesn't have them), you would find the option in the customize buttons list for PVR. I need to be at home to check.

Edit:
Looking at your latest post setting a recording instead of auto-tune would solve your problem - I do it with Imus every morning. All you have to do is hit stop and delete, when you're done watching. You don't have to fast reverse, just select start over. Tuners aren't a factor if you're watching.

 

[mdavej]

The Hopper profile in the harmony database does not have discrete on/off. I just checked. But the Hopper responds to discrete on/off just fine. I use discrete on/off exclusively on my remote (not a harmony). While it's true state tracking mitigates the need for discretes most of the time, those of us who want 100% bullet-proof macros on harmony and other remotes prefer discretes. If you ever use the Dish remote to turn your DVR on or off, harmony's state tracking will fail, and you'll have to use the help button to recover. With discretes, that never happens. The activities always work, whether someone used another remote or you had a power failure, or the DVR went to sleep or whatever. Power toggles will fail under those circumstances and discretes will not.

 

[navychop]

Even under the Device button, no discretes?

 

[patmurphey]

You don't have to use "help" to turn the receiver back on, select the PVR device and turn it on with the toggle. If you have the problem a lot just put the toggle on one of the LCD buttons - you have the current state by looking for the green light. The OP wasn't asking for a macro.

 

[GaryPen]

Harmonys support Hoppers now in the database. I don't understand why you need discrete on/off.

Because discrete on/off is a superior way to control a device's power state.

With toggle on/off, the remote sends a single command which may turn the device on or off, depending on its current state, which may not actually be what the remote thinks it is.

If you use discrete on/off, it will always send the proper power command, regardless of what state the device is in, or what state the remote thinks it's in.

 

[mdavej]

The OP asked for discretes. Many of us want discretes for various other reasons. If you want to solve that problem with a power toggle button, that's fine. That's how I'd solve his particular problem too. But I'd personally rather design my macros better and never have to push any extra buttons, ever, under any circumstances.

In any case, I'm simply offering to help him learn the missing commands he wants. And they'll never get into the database until a significant number of us learn them. It's very easy to learn them from another Dish remote or certain universal remotes. If you don't want or don't care about discretes, that's fine too. But I do, so I'm doing my best to get them in the database.

And to answer Navychop, no there are no discretes in the Hopper profile, even in device mode. If nobody learns them, they'll never get added.

Here's how to send discrete on/off from most Dish IR remotes:
1. Program remote for desired remote address (1 for Hopper/Joey)
2. Hold the SAT mode button down until all mode lights are backlit, then release.
3. Press POWER (not TV Power).
4. Press VOLUME UP for discrete power on, or VOLUME DOWN for discrete power off.
5. Press any other button when done to end

Here's how to send them from a one-for-all or cable remote:
1. Assign SAT code 0775 or 00775 to the CBL or SAT button by pressing the desired device button, holding Setup for 2 blinks then entering the code (2 blinks for success)
2. To send On, tap Setup followed by 00242
3. To send Off, tap Setup followed by 00174
The signal is sent as long as the last digit is held. If you have an older remote that takes 3 digit codes, simply drop the leading 00.

To send the colored button commands, substitute the following in step 2 above:
Red 00048
Green 00108
Yellow 00078
Blue 00046

There is also a discrete code for PIP Side-by-Side which doesn't exist in any remote (except mine): 00141
It works on the 722. I haven't tried it on Hopper yet.

 

[navychop]

Thank you. I've saved those instructions for future use.

 

[jdmart]

The OP asked for discretes. Many of us want discretes for various other reasons. If you want to solve that problem with a power toggle button, that's fine. That's how I'd solve his particular problem too. But I'd personally rather design my macros better and never have to push any extra buttons, ever, under any circumstances.

In any case, I'm simply offering to help him learn the missing commands he wants. And they'll never get into the database until a significant number of us learn them. It's very easy to learn them from another Dish remote or certain universal remotes. If you don't want or don't care about discretes, that's fine too. But I do, so I'm doing my best to get them in the database.

And to answer Navychop, no there are no discretes in the Hopper profile, even in device mode. If nobody learns them, they'll never get added.

Here's how to send discrete on/off from most Dish IR remotes:
1. Program remote for desired remote address (1 for Hopper/Joey)
2. Hold the SAT mode button down until all mode lights are backlit, then release.
3. Press POWER (not TV Power).
4. Press VOLUME UP for discrete power on, or VOLUME DOWN for discrete power off.
5. Press any other button when done to end

Here's how to send them from a one-for-all or cable remote:
1. Assign SAT code 0775 or 00775 to the CBL or SAT button by pressing the desired device button, holding Setup for 2 blinks then entering the code (2 blinks for success)
2. To send On, tap Setup followed by 00242
3. To send Off, tap Setup followed by 00174
The signal is sent as long as the last digit is held. If you have an older remote that takes 3 digit codes, simply drop the leading 00.

To send the colored button commands, substitute the following in step 2 above:
Red 00048
Green 00108
Yellow 00078
Blue 00046

There is also a discrete code for PIP Side-by-Side which doesn't exist in any remote (except mine): 00141
It works on the 722. I haven't tried it on Hopper yet.

Thanks everyone for the responses and especially mdavej for all the great detailed help! I tried setting up a Dish 21.1R/UHF Pro with IR and Address 1 for discretes per your instructions which are also in the manual as you pointed out. I am trying with the Harmony's Dish 922 setup. Unfortunately, it seems like the dish remote is only still sending a power toggle signal instead of a on or off discrete signal for the Harmony to learn. Going to next try Harmony's 722 setup with its discretes and try learning the color keys and see how it goes.

 

[jdmart]

To answer Dustoman's question, discrete On/Off work better in macros than toggles, so those are preferable on harmony and other universal remotes. Power toggle is fine on a power button, but things can get out of sync using toggles in macros where one thing turns back on when you meant for it to turn off. With discretes, if you tell something to turn off 20 times in a row, it will always turn off, never on, and vice versa.

All harmony's work the same, so anything you read about the One will apply to the 880. Hopper is now in the harmony database, but unfortunately it's missing discrete on/off just like the 922. Since it's easier to learn the colored buttons than the discretes, I'd start with the 722 profile and learn the others from a 20.0 or 21.0 remote. If you have an old cable or one-for-all remote, you can learn from one of those as well. Post back with what you're learning from, and I'll try to help.

Having said that, the more people who learn discrete on/off on the Hopper profile, the sooner they'll be in the database for everyone else. If you still have a 20.0 remote and the manual, there is a procedure in there for sending discrete on/off. It was easier for me to do it with a one-for-all remote.

That was the key for me (in bold part of mdavej's quote). I updated my Harmony's firmware & software and used Harmony's Dish 722 profile with its discrete on/off and a Dish 21.1 remote in IR with Address 1 and learned the Dish color keys on the Harmony 880. I now have discrete on & off with all color keys working on my Harmony 880.

Thanks mdavej!!!

 

[mdavej]

Glad to hear it.

I have a request for those still under warranty with Logitech. Please contact them and ask that they copy Power On and Power Off (address 1) from the VIP-722 profile to the Hopper Profile. I doubt enough people will learn them for those commands to ever make it into the database otherwise. I can't really contact them because all my harmony remotes have been out of warranty a long time. If you don't care, please move on, because I don't want to debate the merits of discrete power commands anymore.

 

[GaryPen]

Do they not support devices of owners whose remotes are no longer under warranty?

 

[mdavej]

They typically charge for all support after the warranty period. Sometimes I've gotten lucky and they've done what I asked for free. They added about 300 DirecTV commands for me a while back, but I think my contact from that time is gone now.

Since I don't even use harmony remotes myself and already have all the commands in my Xsight and JP1 remotes, I'm not interested in paying for any support.

If you have an email address for Logitech support, please post or PM it, and I'll try to contact them. But they usually won't make any changes to the public database unless they get several requests.

 

[DustoMan]

Make a post on their support forum. I've had good luck passing along feedback like that there.

 

[david_jr]

I just recently got my Hopper and am having the same problem with the discrete on off codes. Did anyone ever come up with an email address for Logitech. I know I am way out of warranty with my 880, but it is still working like a champ after about 4 years and solving all the charging issues. My Hopper is not turning off when I close down "Watch Satellite".

 

[patmurphey]

I just use the toggle. There was a thread about discrete codes a while ago. Have you tried a forum search?

 

[david_jr]

Yes I tried a search and read the other thread. If you use the toggle does it shut the receiver off on power down? Mine doesn't under its current configuration. I tried setting it up for discrete codes, but it doesn't shut down. I will try the togle I guess. I can always change it back.