How to turn TV off with HTPC Remote

[fobos8]

Hi all

I have a remote - a VRC-1100. Its branded as Ortek but I believe it has other brand names whilst still having the same part number.

I'd like to use the remote to turn off my Panasonic Viera TV. How do I do it? I started looking at EventGhost but didn't like it as it takes over all functionality of your remote and all keys have to be reprogrammed for every app you use.

What are my options?

Thanks in advance, Andrew

[LuckyDay]

Is it a universal remote? I'm not sure you have an option to directly turn off the TV if the remote doesn't support it.

When I used to have a remote that was only an MCE remote I set the remote to turn off my PC, which cut off the input to the TV. Then I went into the settings of the TV and put a timer for the TV to turn off automatically if it didn't detect anything through the input after 15 seconds. My TV would turn back on if the input came back, but not all TVs support this.

[mdavej]

There is no possible way your Ortek can turn off your TV. You need a UNIVERSAL remote, preferably learning, that can control your Ortek dongle. In the UK, I recommend One-for-all. Alternately, you could replace your Ortek and dongle with an MCE remote with TV control capability. I personally use the Xsight Color, shipped worldwide from ebay (allshop29) and costing only about 15 pounds. It can fully control your PC via the Ortek or any other dongle, TV and 13 other devices as well as perform all power and input switching with a single button press (activities), has an LCD for additional functions, macros, favorites and activities, and is programmable via PC. It's definitely the best value you'll find. The Inteset INT-422 is another great option, but is currently out of stock everywhere until next month. There are also Microsoft and Xbox remote with limited TV control, but aren't truly universal like the others I posted. For a lot more money, you could get a Harmony. The 650 would be a good, inexpensive option.

HDMI-CEC control is also an option, via a Pulse Eight interface. In that case, you would not use the Ortek dongle at all but your TV remote to relay all commands via HDMI, assuming you're actually using HDMI from your PC to TV in some way already.

[Tester]

mdavej, that is actually not completely correct. You can use the Pulse Eight Device and your standard MCE remote to power cycle the TV.

There are 2 ways that I have tried and have worked, but I am sure there are more:

1. Leave everything as is and use MCE Standby to trigger a CEC TV POWER OFF command at sleep ( which is the state the PC will enter when the MCE remote Power button is pressed ).

2. Use Intellremote to hook the MCE Power button command and again send the same CEC command.

The process can be reversed when the PC wakes.

I use method 1 to turn off both my TV and AVR when the MCE remote power button is pressed. I can provide details if needed.

Tester

[mdavej]

Thanks for the correction. Didn't realize it would work on the TV. Nice.

[LuckyDay]

Hi all

I have a remote - a VRC-1100. Its branded as Ortek but I believe it has other brand names whilst still having the same part number.

I'd like to use the remote to turn off my Panasonic Viera TV. How do I do it? I started looking at EventGhost but didn't like it as it takes over all functionality of your remote and all keys have to be reprogrammed for every app you use.

What are my options?

Thanks in advance, Andrew

I forgot to mention, and I know this isn't what you asked so may not be an option for you, but if it were me, I would just grab the cheap harmony and call it a day. Universal support for 4 devices, works great with MCE. I use the 300.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony- ... armony+300

[Tester]

LuckyDay, how did U get past the delayed button action seen with the 300 using the MS Media Center profile from Logitech ?
I have one of those and stopped using it for that reason.. I would not replace my existing setup, but am building a new system which could use the 300 if I could get it working correctly.

Apologies to the original poster for hijacking this thread off topic.

[LuckyDay]

LuckyDay, how did U get past the delayed button action seen with the 300 using the MS Media Center profile from Logitech ?
I have one of those and stopped using it for that reason.. I would not replace my existing setup, but am building a new system which could use the 300 if I could get it working correctly.

Apologies to the original poster for hijacking this thread off topic.

I'm not sure what you mean exactly. I have no delay at all and it works just like a regular MCE remote.

Maybe it has to do with the IR receiver I'm using? I'm using the one built into my case, which originally came with an iMon remote.

[mdavej]

Realize that the 300 is far more limited yet twice as expensive at the Xsight and the others I posted.

300:
- Only 1 activity possible
- No sequences (macros)
- No LCD
- 4 devices
- $40 US

Xsight:
- Unlimited activities
- Unlimited macros
- LCD with fav channel logos and additional functions/activites/macros, 6 items per page, ~10 pages
- 15 devices
- $18 US

If Xsight is not your cup of tea, even the Harmony 600/650/700 is far more capable than the 300 and not much more expensive. I've never noticed any delay in any of them, including the 300. Perhaps you're using learns instead of the built in Ortek device?

[Tester]

@mdavej Part I left out is that I did have to figure out the CEC commands, was not hard to do.. but was no plug and play at all..

@mdavej/LuckyDay good to hear guys, maybe they updated the MCE profile for that remote. Back in the day when I bought the 300, many users where having the same issue I had with the button delay.. Some got lucky and got an updated working profile by contacting Logitech directly, some like me did not.. I'll have to give it another shot since I do plan on using it.. Good to hear from others that it seems the issue has been resolved.

[LuckyDay]

I've never heard of XSight, but the cheapest one I can find on Amazon is about $80. Still, I've never had an issue with the 300 and don't need macros or an LCD so it works fine for me. I think I got it for about $30 on sale when I bought it.

[mdavej]

I've never heard of XSight, but the cheapest one I can find on Amazon is about $80. Still, I've never had an issue with the 300 and don't need macros or an LCD so it works fine for me. I think I got it for about $30 on sale when I bought it.

It's One-for-all's failed attempt to compete with Harmony. Now discontinued and at fire sale prices. I have at least 12 of them, enough to last me the rest of my life. The beauty of them is they are JP1, meaning the GPL software will be around forever, can be modified by anyone, is far better than Logitech software, doesn't depend on a website and can't be disabled at the whim of the manufacturer.

This one is $17 US: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271569357984 . This model originally sold for $150 and is comparable to the old Harmony One.

I can see the 300 working fine in a case where you have just a PC and TV. But I can't see myself ever needing just one macro. Even my simple smart TV and extender has at least 5 activities (Watch WMC, Watch TV, Watch Netflix, etc.). In terms of bang for the buck, even the $25 Inteset INT-422 is far more capable than the 300 (unlimited activities, 15 step sequences, device specific volume punch through, 2 functions per button, macros/activities on any button, better ergonomics)

[LuckyDay]

That's cool, maybe someday when this 300 goes out I'll look into one of those though.

I'm a no frills remote kind of person though. I don't use anything you mentioned (don't even know what step sequence and volume punch is). I use channel/volume +/-, and power on/off for the PC/TV. That's about it.

This 300 has the option to program stuff like watchTV, but I never use it. I have 5 activity buttons of some sort on here too and I've never touched those.

[mdavej]

I'm a no frills remote kind of person though. I don't use anything you mentioned (don't even know what step sequence and volume punch is). I use channel/volume +/-, and power on/off for the PC/TV. That's about it.

Even more reason for a cheaper remote. My main issue with the 300 is it's way overpriced for what little it can do.

FWIW, volume punch through means the remote's volume keys work the device that makes noise in your system. For example, if you use an AVR, the turning on volume punch through would work the AVR volume instead of the TV volume. That's done by activities in the Harmony world. A sequence is using one button to do several steps. For example, toggling captions in WMC normally takes about 5 commands. I have my remotes programmed to do it with one command. Same story for anything that takes more that 2 commands in my system, commercial skipping, you name it.

[LuckyDay]

Ah I see. I use a soundbar and the remote controls it as one of the 4 devices, so that works for me.

The wife is the one who uses the remote most of the time, and when I use the PC in the living room I'm generally using the mouse or mouse/keyboard so I've never really played around with many more functions on the remote.

[mdavej]

If you set up at least one activity on your 300, then you won't have to switch devices to change your soundbar volume (assuming it's not controlled through HDMI).

I'm the complete opposite, using a remote with my PC 99% of the time. It's just a lot faster and simpler than keyboard/mouse except when I have to do a lot of typing. So a decent universal is a must for my systems.

[Tester]

I finally pulled out my 300 out of retirement to use for my secondary setup. Once again, I encountered the button delay when used on my media center.
Since I am using the infrared port on a NUC to drive the system, I tried programming the 300 with that exact part number.. makes no difference.
I then got my MCE remote from my main system and tried it, no delay in the button press.
So I have now narrowed it down to an issue with the 300... I remember also reading about this issue when the remote first came out but I stopped using it.
Will have to look back into the issue.

[mdavej]

JP1 remotes have no delay and can actually be tweaked to have a far shorter delay than any OEM remote since you can totally customize the protocol. Something to consider.

[Tester]

I am a cheap bastard and like to use whatever I have laying around, not to mention making my projects more challenging.
Anyway, my fiance hates the 300 layout now that she is used to our mce remote, so I am going to switch to my extra mce remote and use a blaster to power cycle the TV.
Not my favorite setup by any means, but it works and it is only the Den TV, which will probably only get used twice a week... waf aside, she can wait a few seconds for the system to be ready.

[mdavej]

I hear you. I'm a cheap bastard too. That's why I go on and on about my $3 JP1 remotes. I can get 10 for the price of one Harmony 300.