Remotes

[SalsaCycle]

I just purchased a Roku Ultra 2024 for my home theatre system and am trying to make it work with my Logitech Harmony 890 universal remote. Problems with the Harmony Elite remotes were noted in other threads but the solution proposed there doesn't work.

The Harmony 890 is an older Logitech product than the Elite remote. It sends RF commands to a wireless extender, which converts the commands to IR codes and then sends these to IR transmitters that are positioned in the line-of-sight of each device in the home theatre. The Logitech database has an entry for Roku remotes. One can also use an original IR remote to teach the appropriate commands to the Harmony 890. I've set up an activity to use the Roku Ultra as the source, but the only button on the Harmony 890 that seems to work is the power toggle; the directional arrows, OK button, pause, fast forward, rewind, etc. have no effect. Control operates as expected when using the Roku remote. 

I guess that an obvious question is whether the Roku Ultra can accept IR commands and, if so, how to turn this on. The language in the parts of the Settings menu that deal with remote control seem to imply that the remote and the Roku device communicate through the network that they are connected to rather than by IR.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this problem.

[Tivoburkee]

@SalsaCycle 

The Roku does accept IR commands at all times, nothing to turn on. You just need a line-of sight to the front of the Ultra for it to accept IR commands. As for your Harmony 890 the only way it can control the Ultra is by IR, unlike Harmony Elite which help from the hub can control the Ultra by IP the internet. 

[SalsaCycle]

Thanks for your input @Tivoburkee. Unfortunately, I'm still at a loss trying to understand why the Harmony 890 doesn't seem able to control the Roku Ultra. As I mentioned, the Logitech database has an entry for Roku devices and the commands have been downloaded to the 890 remote. I've also tried using the capability to "teach" the commands to the 890 remote from the Roku remote.

I hope that you can indulge me in answering a few more naive questions. Even if I can't ultimately get everything to run from the Harmony 890 remote, I'll have a better understanding of how the system works.

The rack holding the home theatre gear is behind the chairs that we sit in while watching TV. Even if the Roku remote is facing the screen, i.e., not in the line-of-sight of the Roku Ultra, it can control the Roku Ultra. If the Roku remote works by IR codes, how is this possible?

I've noticed that the front of the Roku remote is a continuous piece of matte black plastic. It's not obvious where the IR commands are emitted. All the other IR remotes for my devices have a small section of glossy black plastic, which is the "window" from which the IR codes are emitted.

Finally, although I doubt that it is relevant, I'll ask whether the HDMI CEC settings could be affecting this. Everything in my home theatre system is connected to a Bryston AV processor via HDMI.

[Tivoburkee]

@SalsaCycle 

The original remote that came with Ultra is wifi, so it can go through walls. In case of IR remote it can't. It sounds like in your room set up isn't right for an IR remote where the components are at the back of the room. The Roku ultra remote being wifi it doesn't send IR signals so the Harmony remote can't learn them, unless you unplug the Roku power, then Roku remote will switch to IR and 890 should learn them. 

If you have a RF base station that the 890 communicates with, then your only problem is getting the right Roku commands in the 890 remote, or it can be combination of one of two not working correctly? 

[SalsaCycle]

I'm making progress but am not quite there yet. Here are some unusual behaviours that I'd like to understand to keep moving in the right direction.

I'm interested in your comment that if power to the Roku Ultra is turned off, the Roku remote will revert to IR mode. I was able to teach the Harmony 890 remote Roku IR commands. During this process, the Harmony remote prompted me to press a key on the "teaching" remote, acknowledged that a key press was detected, and then moved on to the next key.

Here's the first unusual behaviour. After finding that the Harmony remote wasn't working, I shut down the system and immediately tried to redo the learning procedure. However, the learning procedure now wouldn't work; the Harmony would not acknowledge detecting a key press. I then tried the learning procedure a third time, after the system had been shut down overnight, and it worked. 

The second unusual behaviour occurred on starting up the home theatre after it had been off overnight. Starting the Roku activity started the AV processor and the projector but did not start the Roku Ultra. This sometimes happens when starting an activity and is remedied by simply resending the command from the Harmony remote, but this did not work. More surprisingly, the Roku remote would also not start the Roku Ultra. What did start the Roku Ultra was to disconnect and then reconnect it from power; it started right away, without having to press the power toggle on either remote. The final piece: if I shut down the entire system and then start the activity again after only a few minutes, the Roku started as expected.

Any thoughts about what is going on?

[renojim]

@SalsaCycle, the power button is solely for the TV.  The Ultra never turns off, however it may enter a "power saving" mode if it's enabled.  To wake it, press a different button like Home.

[SalsaCycle]

Thanks @renojim . If I understand correctly, you are saying that when setting up an activity involving the Roku Ultra, a power toggle does not need to be sent to the Roku;  another command such as the home key should wake it up.

This does make sense of another observation. When I sent a power toggle command to the Roku, whether from the Roku remote or from the Harmony 890, my projector would respond.