How to Fix Harmony Activity Input on LG TV

by Rian

Logitech Harmony is no longer maintained. Perhaps “maintained” is not the right word; Logitech stopped manufacturing of the product, but the server —for accounts and DBs— is maintained. As far as I am aware, this also indicates the DB for the device lists and commands aren’t kept up as rigorously. Many users are already stockpiling their remotes, and frankly so long as I can keep the Logitech Hub (i.e. control via smartphone app), I think I will have few more years until there is a good replacement or HDMI finally decides to do something about CEC.

This how-to is going to be geared towards documenting what I experienced. This may not be the case for you. But I believe it is an indication that this problem may as well be what you are seeing. LG has released several OLED TVs by now, and frankly I suspect many have grabbed one during Black Friday sales this year. My first google search led me to a thread where several people necroposted to Harmony support for LG C1 TVs.

This is where it gets little out of hand for most users, I believe. LG, just like any other TV manufacturers, have multiple “model numbers” that have similar to or nearly identical functionalities, specs, and appearances. Some numbers are just given out to specific retails. Logitech isn’t a fool, and the company decided the app would automatically suggest similar models that are likely to share the same remote signals. But not all device listings on the DB are the same.

Symptoms

When I add my new TV to the Logitech Harmony app, the app does indicate the model number I gave is not on the DB. However, on the listing, the app finds there are similar other models. And the selected alternative model number’s signals do work equally well. Some buttons are missing, but that isn’t a big issue —it’s mostly small apps that I don’t use, and etc.

The problem is when I start an activity, Harmony fails to switch input on the TV. What’s surprising is that Harmony does have a way of switching inputs. Commands for, say, HDMI 1 is clearly listed. But when the said activity with HDMI 1 starts, the TV fails to switch over to HDMI 1.

Instructions

Again, this will differ greatly depending on the TV. But seeing as this has happened with one model on Harmony DB, I suspect the problem has happened before.

On your remote, there is an option to “fix” an activity after it has started. Usually the option brings up the list of devices for the activity, and the relevant activity-starting commands for that device. For example, for the TV, fix will be power command and input commands. On my setup, Harmony gave me only “power” command. Which is odd.

The actual model I have wasn’t listed on Harmony. Instead, the app suggested LGOLED55C3PUA, which had the commands to change inputs. However, like I have previously said, those input commands weren’t listed as part of “fix” or activity-starting commands. I suspect there were errors when the DB was updated. So I tried different model number from what Harmony app has recommended: LGOLED55C3AUA. It’s nearly identical in terms of the commands, but this one does have input commands as activity-starting commands.

If you cannot find an alternative model to register on Harmony app, I suspect adding the input command as a startup sequence for an activity is an option. If the input command is erroneously treated as non-vital, I can only hope the app still lets users to add them later in the startup sequence.