Need help to complete setup of entities and activities

General
1

Hi.

I have a simple setup I’m trying to get to work, but I must be missing something.

I have a Samsung TV (IR remote), a Yamaha A/V (IR remote), and a Google streamer box (integration).

I created my first activity with only the power on sequence, and that worked - all three entities area turning on, so I have them all configured in the remote and the activity.

When I tried adding the power off sequence, I was told this might cause issues while the activity was in use. I tried it anyway, and so far, I have not found a way to actually turn off all the entities in the activity. I guess I don’t know what it means for an activity to be active (I don’t remember the exact wording). I have not created a second activity yet at this time.

Furthermore, I made a mistake in button setup - I assigned most regular buttons to the streamer box except for the volume buttons, but I accidentally set “down” to “right”. I adjusted it in the web configurator, and the change shows up even when I refresh the browser, but the activity did not update, and the button assignment was not changed.

In the Activity home screen, I added the streamer widget (which is working), and then I added a button to force the A/V input to the right input (as a temporary thing while CEC is still controlling the A/V and causing issues). That button never made it into the Activity screen on the remote even though it shows up in the web configurator.

So there is a clear issue of items not getting integrated into the remote UI even though they show up in the web configurator, and I don’t know what to make of that or do about it.

Another issue I tried to work around is that the volume controls only seem to do one click at a time on the A/V (even when holding them down), so I created Macros where the appropriate IR command is sent 10x in a row since some video sources have significantly different audio levels. But so far, I have not found any location where the new macros can be integrated - I figured they’d be available to place on an Activity screen or onto a physical button, but the macros are not showing up as available options. Maybe they also have not made it into the remote UI for some reason…

I have a Logitech Harmony remote (and can’t wait to be done with it!), so the idea of Activities isn’t entirely foreign to me, but clearly I’m missing some pieces.

What am I missing, and what can I do to fix the issues I’m having?

Is there a way to set entities as the “default” item for the remote to control when an Activity is started, or do I have to manually assign every button that I need to use? (which is what I’ve done so far)

How do I use the Activity I created to turn all entities off at the end of the day?

Note, the power button the remote only seems to control the A/V and none of the other devices even though A/V and TV are both IR. I did see someone mention that the buttons need to have the right names (POWER_OFF etc.), so I’ll look into that eventually, but I have so many other questions that I haven’t bothered going back yet.

I’d appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks!

2

Default way to end an activity is a short press of the power button.

You need to map every button in an activity, personally I like this..

I think you need to add the macro as an entity inside the activity for it to be visible and you can then map it to a button press.

Is there a reason you’re using ir for the TV and the avr ? Both should have integrations available.

3

Thanks for the reply. The TV and AV are “dumb” devices and have no networking (well, the Samsung does, but outgoing, not for controlling it).

I’ll try to add Macros as Entities, thanks.

Any idea why my changes are not showing up on the remote?

4

You must go to customize my remote and add entities/ activities to a page. Activities are also entities do try to name them so that you can recall what is what.

Ralf

5

I did that. I added an Activity to the page, and I can access the Activity.

But then I made changes to the Activity in the web UI, and the changes are not reflected in the Activity on the remote.

Do I have to remove and re-add an Activity every time I make a change?

6

You do not need to remove and readd. Are your that the same entity you are editing is on a GUI page? This is why I said to use names with a sense. Example Apple TV can be entity and some call the activity the same. I start all my activities with an ID representing the room like SZ1, SZ2…

Rename what your are editing and look if it on a GUI page.

Ralf

7

I’ll check again after work, but I named the Activity “Watch TV” while the entities all have the brand name in them.

8

You must also edit GUI and button mapping of the activity and not of one of the entities. Just to make sure.

Ralf

9

Thanks, I did that, too.

So, I added Entities, then one Activity, added the Entities into the Activity, set the first Power On Sequence, created a page for the Activity, and tested it successfully.

After that, things became troublesome, but I did get a first button mapping to work inside the Activity.

I ran into trouble when updating that button mapping (fixing a mistake) and when trying to add another button to the Activity page.

10

What exactly did you try and what happened? Perhaps a screenshot.

Ralf

11

I used the web configurator to perform the following tasks:

I created the Activity “Watch TV” and integrated it into the Page “Bedroom”. The Activity contains the only three Entities that I added so far: the TV, AV, and Google box.

There is one other Page on the main screen of the remote called “Bedroom Devices” where the raw Entities are listed, but this page is not part of the problem.

Inside the Activity “Watch TV”, I created a Power On Sequence along the lines of “turn on A/V, turn on TV, turn on Google box, wait a second, then force A/V to the correct input”.

This was working, so I kept going.

I created a button mapping inside the Activity “Watch TV”, basically assigning the most important buttons to the Google streamer box and the audio buttons to the A/V. I tested this, and it worked - except I clicked the wrong button for one of the arrow keys. When I press “Down”, the remote sends the “Right” command.

So I edited the same button mapping again and switched “Down” to actually send the “Down” command.

However, after making this update and even refreshing my web browser in case something was caught in the cache, the remote still has the incorrect mapping for the Activity “Watch TV”, and pressing “Down” still executes “Right”.

Similarly, I updated the Page “Bedroom” (where I had already placed the Activity widget for the Google Streamer which works) and added a button to set the A/V input. This button shows in the correct location on the correct Page in the web configurator, but it still does not show up anywhere on the Remote interface.

Later, I also updated the Activity “Watch TV” with a Power Off Sequence, but I could not figure out how to execute it. There was a message about updates not being reliable while the Activity is running, but I don’t remember exactly what it said. I still don’t know how to “stop” the Activity to turn off all devices. Supposedly, the Power button should do that.

However, the Power button on the remote only turns off the A/V. I did not make any button assignments to the Power button yet. If it is true that the Power button is supposed to end the currently active Activity, then it makes sense for it to turn off the A/V, but you’d think it would also turn off the other devices - which it doesn’t at this time.

While I’m still figuring things out, I am leaving CEC active, so turning the Google box on or off with its own remote triggers the appropriate power toggle for all devices (except the TV is dumb and sends the incorrect input channel to the A/V which I can’t override anywhere - which is why I wanted the A/V input button separately listed on the remote in a convenient location until I have the setup completed).

I’ll try to create some pictures in the next few days, but it may be a while.

Does this help?

12

I never had problems changing button mapping. Make sure that you selected short when you tried to change mapping.

The yellow info is only a warning that changes might not immediately be available if activity is running while you edit it. To avoid problems stop activity if you want to make changes.

If power button is not assigned to a function it ends the activity. CEC might cause conflicts. If you want it still be active while you will learn how the R3 works you must take it into account.

If power on of your Google streamer with the original remote starts all necessary devices through CEC then only power on/off the streamer also in the R3 start/end sequences. I myself have 4 activities in 2 rooms working with CEC to avoid using IR with my R2/R3.

CEC and R2/R3 but also Logitech Harmony can work together if CEC is taken into ac6.

Hope that helps Ralf

13

I think it helps some, thank you. It explains how it is supposed to work.

It is possible that CEC keeps the other devices from shutting off. I’ll have to try that some day when I have more time, but until then, I need to keep it active for the original Google remote.

In the long run, I do NOT want CEC to handle any of this because it isn’t working as expected, so I’d rather have Remote 3 handle all devices itself - once I get it all to work.

Any ideas why some button assignments or UI changes simply won’t show up on my remote?

Also, is it true that Macros need to be added to the system like Entities once you create them? (I created two Macros to send the Volume Up/Down commands 10x in a row for faster volume control, but I can’t find any reference to them outside the Macro system).

14

If you disable CEC you must of course add power on/off again to the start/end sequence.

If you created macros their are entities which you must add to the activities where you want to use them. If they are added you can assign them to the GUI but also a physical button as if it is a build in command of a device.

I have no idea why you don’t see changes you see.

If I edit an activity which is already added in customize your remote I see the changes at once.

Just to understand your system a bit more: which remote with which firmware do you have?

Ralf

15

Thanks for the confirmation.

I have the Remote 3, and I don’t think there are any updates available for it at the time, but I could be wrong. The Dock immediately prompted me for an update, but the remote did not.

I guess I’ll have to spend more time with it and try a few things.

At this time, all three devices are added to the power off sequence, but it is quite possible that CEC is either preventing or undoing the power off at this time - more to experiment with.

Thanks also for confirming on the macros and how to find them (as entities that I need to add to the activity).