i have a philips hdtv (34pw9818) i want the harmony to change the aspect ration from 4:3 to widescreen when playing dvd's, xbox or ps2 and back to 4:3 when viewing tivo. how would i go about doing this?

I hope that you are willing to experiment a little and you are not afraid to modify the XML.

If you have a button that toggles the modes, it will be a lot hard to program and you might want to talk to the Harmony techs for help as going into the details for variables and the like on this forum is not simple. If you have a seperate button for 4:3 and widescreen, then it is fairly simple.

If you need to go through the Tv's menus to change modes, it can be done via the remote, but again you'll need to set up a state variable and you'll have to program the whole button stroke sequence. (not to mention it looking ugly on the screen)

However, if you have a button on the remote for widescreen and another for 4:3, then the following will get you there.

Get yourself into Advanced mode by going to the advanced page (why most people would not do this as a default is beyond me)

First you need to add the information to the device to allow the change of aspect ratio.

From your Home Page, at the top of the Device column, click the "More Options" link. Then, click the "Modify the language for a device (digitize infrared commands)." link.

Now select the device that corrosponds to your TV.

Look at the selections. If you do not see any of these that sound like 'change aspect ratio' (and mine did not) scroll all the way to the bottom and work with the "teach a new command" box.

Enter a name for the 4:3 button. Click teach and teach that button. Make sure you make a note of the names you assign, and DO NOT USE SPACES. After the code is learned, you will see a screen that is a bit confusing (I'm doing this from memory, so it might not be the immediate next screen) It will ask something like 'add another activity'. The selection you want to use is the line UNDER the one with the dropbox. Again I do not remember the exact words, but you'll understand when you see it.

After teaching the new buttons, go to the device "more Options" again and select "modify the XML" and select the entry for the television.

Scroll down to the section and find the entries you just created. make a note of the name for each. (case matters)

When you are sure you know the name of the entries, click the "No Changes" link to return to the home page.

Now on the activity side of the world, select "More options" and then click the "Modify XML" at the bottom.

Now you are presented with a host of activities. Select ONE to experiment with. Perhaps the XBox. It does not matter what you select, just concentrate on ONE activity until you get it working and know what you are doing.

Once you are in the XML, you want to make a note of several things.

First, near the top, in the section, you will see an entry for DISPLAY. Under it is a number. Make a note of that number as you will need it later.

Next, find the section.

In there you will see at least one entry that switches the input on the TV. Chances are the number you saw associated with the DISPLAY above will be referenced.

Now, we want to make a copy of this record. To do this, place the cursor at the very left edge of the text box on the same line as the tag. Then, hold down the shift key and tap the down arrow until you have highlighted everything down the the first tag. (should be 4 lines) Release the shift key.

Now, press and hold the CTRL button and then hit the letter 'C' key. This memorizes the highlighted area. If you are unsure that you hit the 'C', you can hit it several times so long as you are holding the CTRL key with no problem. Release the CTRL button.

Now, set the cursor to the far left of the text box on the line that says .

Press and hold one of the SHIFT keys and then press the INSERT key. You will see a copy of the text you highlighted appear.

In that new record you just created, verify that the DEVICENAME is the number associated with the TV. Then, on the next line, change the entry between the and to the name you associated with the button you programmed earlier. So, if you want XBox in widescreen and you programmed the widescreen button to ShowWidescreen, you should have a line that says:

ShowWidescreen

Once you have verified that it is spelled correctly, you can click the change button and dowload the new program.

Since we never deleted anything, you can always delete the new things we added here and return to the original program. You can also click Cancel and abort the edit at any time. Go slow and watch your spelling and it should all work out.

This is a great little exercise to get used to the XML and add some function to your device. Let me know how it goes.

Ah damn, all the XML tags were deleted by the HTML in my last reply... Should have known better...

OK, here is the text again with the bracket characters instead of the less than and greater than characters. I'm just too lazy to go look up the HTML codes...

I hope that you are willing to experiment a little and you are not afraid to modify the XML.

If you have a button that toggles the modes, it will be a lot hard to program and you might want to talk to the Harmony techs for help as going into the details for variables and the like on this forum is not simple. If you have a seperate button for 4:3 and widescreen, then it is fairly simple.

If you need to go through the Tv's menus to change modes, it can be done via the remote, but again you'll need to set up a state variable and you'll have to program the whole button stroke sequence. (not to mention it looking ugly on the screen)

However, if you have a button on the remote for widescreen and another for 4:3, then the following will get you there.

Get yourself into Advanced mode by going to the advanced page (why most people would not do this as a default is beyond me)

First you need to add the information to the device to allow the change of aspect ratio.

From your Home Page, at the top of the Device column, click the "More Options" link. Then, click the "Modify the language for a device (digitize infrared commands)." link.

Now select the device that corrosponds to your TV.

Look at the selections. If you do not see any of these that sound like 'change aspect ratio' (and mine did not) scroll all the way to the bottom and work with the "teach a new command" box.

Enter a name for the 4:3 button. Click teach and teach that button. Make sure you make a note of the names you assign, and DO NOT USE SPACES. After the code is learned, you will see a screen that is a bit confusing (I'm doing this from memory, so it might not be the immediate next screen) It will ask something like 'add another activity'. The selection you want to use is the line UNDER the one with the dropbox. Again I do not remember the exact words, but you'll understand when you see it.

After teaching the new buttons, go to the device "more Options" again and select "modify the XML" and select the entry for the television.

Scroll down to the [Override] section and find the entries you just created. make a note of the name for each. (case matters)

When you are sure you know the name of the entries, click the "No Changes" link to return to the home page.

Now on the activity side of the world, select "More options" and then click the "Modify XML" at the bottom.

Now you are presented with a host of activities. Select ONE to experiment with. Perhaps the XBox. It does not matter what you select, just concentrate on ONE activity until you get it working and know what you are doing.

Once you are in the XML, you want to make a note of several things.

First, near the top, in the [Implementations] section, you will see an entry for DISPLAY. Under it is a number. Make a note of that number as you will need it later.

Next, find the [SETUPACTIONS] section.

In there you will see at least one entry that switches the input on the TV. Chances are the number you saw associated with the DISPLAY above will be referenced.

Now, we want to make a copy of this [Setup] record. To do this, place the cursor at the very left edge of the text box on the same line as the [SETUP] tag. Then, hold down the shift key and tap the down arrow until you have highlighted everything down the the first [/SETUP] tag. (should be 4 lines) Release the shift key.

Now, press and hold the CTRL button and then hit the letter 'C' key. This memorizes the highlighted area. If you are unsure that you hit the 'C', you can hit it several times so long as you are holding the CTRL key with no problem. Release the CTRL button.

Now, set the cursor to the far left of the text box on the line that says [/SETUPACTIONS].

Press and hold one of the SHIFT keys and then press the INSERT key. You will see a copy of the text you highlighted appear.

In that new record you just created, verify that the DEVICENAME is the number associated with the TV. Then, on the next line, change the entry between the [OPERATION] and [/OPERATION] to the name you associated with the button you programmed earlier. So, if you want XBox in widescreen and you programmed the widescreen button to ShowWidescreen, you should have a line that says:

[OPERATION]ShowWidescreen[/OPERATION]

Once you have verified that it is spelled correctly, you can click the change button and dowload the new program.

Since we never deleted anything, you can always delete the new things we added here and return to the original program. You can also click Cancel and abort the edit at any time. Go slow and watch your spelling and it should all work out.

This is a great little exercise to get used to the XML and add some function to your device. Let me know how it goes.