Hey guys,
Just wondering if any of you had some creative ideas to incorporate into the harmony/ ST integrations. Are their devices other than the usual? Any hacks you can recommend? Just looking to play around a bit.
Thanks!
DO this to speed up response in ST when you use Harmony…been a huge help for me
Thanks! I’ll give it a shot. This device is a game changer for me. I wanted Control4 so bad and I almost had it till the wife found out the cost of maintenance and installation.
1 Like
A number of community members have used the harmony to control non-home theater devices that have an IR handheld remote . Ceiling fans, window air conditioners, electric candles, digital picture frame, etc
https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/compatibility
As far as control of AV equipment, A lot of the trickier projects have been superseded by the voice control options with Alexa. But some people like to use motion sensors or pressure pads under the sofa cushions to trigger when the TV comes on or off. 
1 Like
I have harmony integrated with ST. I also have a voice control device in each room, I’m in the process of phasing out Amazon echo devices for Google Home devices to give even more entertainment integration.
I would reccomend ensureing your Harmony is fully configured to your liking before setting up the ST integration, as it becomes extremely coubesom to replicate the changes into St afterwards.
Each Harmony “activity” will show up as a device in smartthings, not the individual devices themselves. Keep this in mind when configuring and naming your activities. Also I’ve noticed voice assistants do not like the default Harmony verb/noun names e.g. “Wathc TV” and work better with simple nonuns for example “TV,VCR,DVD Player, ECT.”
After all is said and done it works just like any other light or device in your house, if using a voice controller you would say " turn on the TV". No need to turn off the activity if switching input method, for example after turning on my TV you could then say “turn on the VCR” and Harmony and smartthings will decide what buttons need to be pressed.You can only have one “activity” active at a time, this is a limitation of Harmony not ST. For this reason I would recommend one Harmony hub per dsiplay.
Important note. If you turn on your entertainment devices with their stock remotes and not via Harmony, any automations you have setup to turn them off, for example when you leave the house using the “goodbye” routine will not work as Harmony will not have an accurate assessment of the device’s current power and input state. I would reccomend purchasing the Harmony hub and remote combo to minimize the potential for this issue.
If looking to control your media using smartthings, Harmony, Google Home and Chromecast build a great foundation for this. In addition to contoling power the Google Home can stream video content to Chromecast, or audio content via its own speaker another Google Home speaker you specifiy or all Google home devices.
3 Likes