When I first added our Apple TV to our Logitech Harmony remote, I included our LCD TV in the device list for the Apple TV activity. Most of the time, we use the Apple TV for music, not for video, and we often use the Remote application on ipod and iphone. So we don’t really need the TV on — but sometimes we do. How could we get “TV On” and “TV Off” buttons added to the soft buttons on the remote?
You can’t add buttons for devices that are not in the activity’s device list. And you can’t tell the activity to include a device but not turn it on.
OK — so one option would be to alter the setup for the TV device and tell the Harmony that it doesn’t have a Power On command. Then the Harmony would not try to turn it on when you start the activity. But that setting would affect all activities. It wouldn’t work so well when we want to watch Satellite TV — in that case, we always want the TV to come on when we select the activity. Likewise for “Watch DVD”.
So what to do? We don’t want the TV to auto-power-on for one activity, but we do want it to power on for other activities.
I opted to create a second TV device named “TV (no auto on)”. This device is configured exactly as the “real” TV device, but I change its set up like this:
- Click on Devices
- Click on Settings for the “TV (no auto on)” device
- Select “Adjust Power Settings” and click “Next”
- Select “I want to turn off this device when it’s not in use” and click “Next”
- Select “A button on the remote for On, and a different button for Off” and click “Next”
- For “Which command will Power On your device?”, select “I don’t have the original remote, but I know the command that is used”, choose “None” in the dropdown, and click “Next”
- You will be asked “No command was selected. Would you like to continue?”. Click “Yes”
- For “Which command will Power Off your device?” select “I don’t have the original remote, but I know the command that is used”, choose “Power Off” (or whatever applies on your TV), and click “Next”
Now you can use this device instead of your “real” TV device for any activities where you want to include buttons for the TV without turning the TV on at the start of the activity.