Newbie

[BlueBus]

Hello,

I'm a newbie with all this stuff of PS and IR incompatibility. I learnt of it because i'm buying a Logitech Harmony One and was kind of surprised to discover that it wouldn't be able to control my ps3 (duh, if only i though for a sec it would be obvious).

So I have a few questions that i'd like to get answered before I order a PS3IR-PRO

1 - Is the PS3IR-PRO a standalone box that I can place out of eye-sight ?
2 - What is the IR blaster ?(i've read a thread about it, but I find no mention to it in the rest of the foruns)
3 - Can the device be always connected to a USB charger just like any other appliance, or does it required any special attention on what power supply concerns?
4 - What is the size of the package ?
5 - What happens if somebody turns the playstation off in its button (instead of using the remote)? Does the power-on power-off cycle gets out of synch?

For what I read I think I just have to pair the unit with the PS3 and then configure my harmony to use it, and I'm ready to go. Am I right?

I'm still a little bit confused, to I'm sorry to ask some dumb questions.

[Beerstalker]

1 - Is the PS3IR-PRO a standalone box that I can place out of eye-sight ?

It is a stand alone box, but you will have to place it out in the open somewhere so it can receive the IR signals from your Harmony One.  You could however hide your PS3 away in a closet/cabinet as long as you keep it in wireless range of the PS3IR-Pro (around 10 meters /33 feet).

2 - What is the IR blaster ?(i've read a thread about it, but I find no mention to it in the rest of the foruns)

An IR blaster is a device that sends out IR commands.  You will not be using one if you have the Harmony One.

3 - Can the device be always connected to a USB charger just like any other appliance, or does it required any special attention on what power supply concerns?

Yes the PS3IR-Pro has to be plugged into a full time power supply in order to work best (the power tracking feature will not work if the power is shut off to the PS3IR-Pro).  You can plug it into a USB charger (Motorola and Blackberry chargers are easily found and usually work well), or you can plug it into a USB port in one of your other devices that is always powered (DirecTV HR series DVRs are a good example of this).

4 - What is the size of the package ?

Approximately the size of a pack of cigarettes or deck of playing cards.

5 - What happens if somebody turns the playstation off in its button (instead of using the remote)? Does the power-on power-off cycle gets out of synch?

Yes the power tracking feature will get messed up.  The easiest way to fix this would be to turn the PS3 back on (by hand or with the remote), and then shut it off with your Harmony remote using the all off button.  Otherwise the PS3 will most likely get turned back on when you hit the all off button on the Harmony remote.  If that happens you will have to either run your PS3 activity again to get the Harmony and PS3IR-Pro to realize the PS3 is on, or you can turn the PS3 off manually again.

For what I read I think I just have to pair the unit with the PS3 and then configure my harmony to use it, and I'm ready to go. Am I right?

Actually you will need to configure the Harmony remote first, as you will need to use the remote to get the PS3IR-Pro to pair with the PS3.  Here is the thread with the install instructions to help get you going.

Also, once you have your Harmony Remote account set up you can PM me your login and password and I can set everything up for you (as far as the PS3IR-Pro goes).  I have done this for many members and have received great feedback on my help.

If you have any additional questions feel free to ask and we will try to answer all of them.

[BlueBus]

Yes the power tracking feature will get messed up.  The easiest way to fix this would be to turn the PS3 back on (by hand or with the remote), and then shut it off with your Harmony remote using the all off button.  Otherwise the PS3 will most likely get turned back on when you hit the all off button on the Harmony remote.  If that happens you will have to either run your PS3 activity again to get the Harmony and PS3IR-Pro to realize the PS3 is on, or you can turn the PS3 off manually again.

Now this can be a silly suggestion/question, but... why don't the PRO send the turn on signal to PS3 every time the Harmony uses an activity that requires the PS3, and the turn off signal when somebody presses the all off, or PS3 off option? That is, why exactly does the PRO need to know the power state.

Please note I'm a professional software engineer, you can talk in technical terms if appropriate.

Thank you for your answers.

[Beerstalker]

The Pro and Harmony do work like that, and as long as you use the Harmony remote to always turn the PS3 on and off it will work fine.

However the problem is any bluetooth command will turn on the PS3.  If you turned the PS3 off, and someone somehow sent the FF command (or anyother PS2 IR command) the Pro would see it and send out the Bluetooth command automatically, which would turn on the PS3, even though you really didn't want it turned on.  So what we came up with as a solution is to actually turn the Pro unit "off" so it doesn't accidently end up sending out other bluetooth signals and turning on the PS3 when you don't mean to.

How the power tracking feature works is when the Pro sees the PowerOff IR command it will then send out the series of bluetooth commands to turn off the PS3, then the Pro shuts itself "off" (it's really more of a standby state, but most people call it off).  The Pro will ignore all IR commands that it sees (except the PowerOn command).  Then once the Pro sees the PowerOn command it will turn itself back on, and send out the PS command over bluetooth that turns on the PS3.  The Pro will then start responding to all of the IR commands and send them out as Bluetooth commands to the PS3.

The only time this causes an issue is if someone turns off the PS3 manually.  If they do that, and then hit the all off command on the Harmony remote, the Harmony remote will send out the PowerOff command.  When the Pro sees the PowerOff command it will send out the series of Bluetooth commands to shut down the PS3 and the Pro turns itself "off", but since the PS3 is already off the commands will end up turnging the PS3 back on.  Then you are in the situation where the PS3 is on, but the Pro is off, so the Pro will ignore all IR commands, if you just try to send the PowerOff command again the Pro will ignore it.  You can fix this by either walking up to the PS3 and turning it off manually, or by using the Harmony remote to send out the PowerOn command to turn the Pro back on, and then the PowerOff command to turn both the PS3 and Pro back off.

It really sounds more confusing than it ends up being in real life.  I have been using this kind of setup for over a year and the power state has only got mixed up a couple of times (I also use the Harmony One and PS3IR-Pro).  When it does get mixed up it can be confusing at first, but once you realize what happened it is very easy to fix.

Also, just so you know, this is pretty much exactly how the competing products try to track the power state as well.  There is one competitor that actually has the option of sensing power using  USB or another add on device attached to the PS3, but that setup costs about twice as much as the Pro unit, for little benifit in my opinion.

[BlueBus]

Hello,

Thank you for your comprehensive answer. Allow me to add a further question, that remained in my head after reading your text: how can a command be sent accidentally by the PRO? By receiving some IR command that is misunderstands?

Thank you once again.

[Beerstalker]

No not a command it misunderstands, but an accidental button press by a user.  This wouldn't happen very often with a Harmony remote, but with other remotes someone could accidently hit the stop button, or any of the number buttons, while the remote is set to work the PS3IR-Pro and that would end up turning on the PS3.  By making it so the PowerOn command is the only command that will wake up the PS3IR-Pro (and thus the PS3) we can help avoid these accidental power-ups.

I'm going to guess that you probably have a TV in your house somewhere that just uses the original remote.  Imagine how annoying it would be if that TV turned on any time any of the buttons on the remote were pressed.  Manufacturers understand that, so they provide a single power button (in most cases) that is the only button that will turn the TV on, and it cuts down on the number of accidental turn ons. 

This is one of the complaints a lot of people have about Sony's Bluetooth remote control.  Hitting any button turns on the PS3, so it gets turned on a lot of the time by accident (moving the remote, cleaning, pets, etc).

[BlueBus]

Oh, I see.

I can live with that, I'll order one unit today. Still, is there any way to disable the power check system and let any button to wake up the PS3 (I mean, prevent the PRO to ignore other commands?)

Best.

[Beerstalker]

At this time there is not.  I really don't think you need to worry about it that much though.

If you do get your unit, and it is causing a lot of problems for you then let us know.  I would imagine that Mike could create a new version of the firmware with the power tracking system disabled (I really don't think you'll need it though).

[BlueBus]

Ok,

My unit was shipped to a friend in the US and then he will send it to Portugal.

I'll let you know of my experience.

Thanks a lot for the support!

[BlueBus]

geez, scheduled delivery for MA only to March, the 10th. Were from do you send them? New Mexico, or what? 

They'll travel faster to Portugal than within US coast-to-coast...at least I hope.

[rdenghel]

Not New Mexico. We ship from Round Rock, Texas (north of Austin). 

Romeo Denghel
Schmartz, Inc. Support Team

[BlueBus]

Hello,

I'm getting my PRO soon, so I have a question: what is the power specs for powering it? I have a 4.7V, 1A wall socket adapter (formerly used to power my iPod)... will it do the trick ?

Thanks!

[rdenghel]

Your adapter should work for powering the PS3IR-PRO. As long as the voltage is over 4.35V, you should be OK. Also, the device needs less than 0.1A.

Romeo Denghel
Schmartz, Inc. Support Team

[BlueBus]

I'm nearly a moron on electricity terms, so... am I safe plugging a 1A charger to a device that needs less than 0.1A to work?

I recently had a problem with my PS3 sixaxis controllers: no matter what wall socket charger I use, the controllers won't charge when I connect them with the sony mini usb cable. The controllers read something like 3.7v, 0.35a and that very same iPod charger won't give them enough juice.

Sorry for bringing the PS3 to the subject, but maybe I could use this change to learn a bit more about power sources.

Thank you very much.

[rdenghel]

Yes, you may plug the PRO into a 1A charger. The 1A rating is the maximum current provided, at the specified voltage. You may get more than 1A, but it won't be at that voltage, since that would exceed the maximum power rating for the charger. Power = Current x Voltage.

To charge my PS3 controllers, I usually just plug them into my desktop and leave them be.

Romeo Denghel
Schmartz, Inc. Support Team

[BlueBus]

So if I have a device with an operating voltage of 3.7 and current of 1amp I'm safe with plugging a 3.7V, 1GigaAmp but not 5.0V/1amp?

I also read somewhere that the charging voltage is usually slightly higher than the operating voltage. Is this true?

P.S.: My PRO is still in US territory