Alexa & Harmony Remote

[countryboy]

I can't figure out what I might doing wrong using Alexa to control my new Harmony Elite remote. I have several Activities Watch TV (OTA  antenna), Watch DirecTV, Watch Blu-ray, Watch Roku, & Watch Apple TV. I can tell Alexa to turn my TV on/off with no issues but mind you this is the OTA antenna. I believe most of the time I can tell Alexa to turn on or watch Blu-ray, Roku, and Apple TV and it works fine.

My issue is telling Alexa to turn on DirecTV on/off she always says she doesn't have that skill enabled. I do have both Blue & Red skills installed although it does say the red one is inactive. I've even tried changing the Activity name from to just DirecTV and even Sat both neither make a difference. I've tried having Alexa tell Harmony to turn on my DirecTV but still doesn't work.

Do you think Alexa is somehow confusing my having two different TV activities even though named differently, or is there something else going on?

[creatorss]

Consider yourself lucky! I have a Logitech Harmony remote and I can't get any of the activities to function. It will turn on and off TV, but thats about it. If I say Start Watch TV, it will just turn tv on. I have never gotten it to control my DVR (Direct TV), Apple TV, Playstation 4, etc.

[countryboy]

Consider yourself lucky! I have a Logitech Harmony remote and I can't get any of the activities to function. It will turn on and off TV, but thats about it. If I say Start Watch TV, it will just turn tv on. I have never gotten it to control my DVR (Direct TV), Apple TV, Playstation 4, etc.

Ok got everything working this is what I've learned from reading their tutorials & phone support. My original issues are now resolved and everything works great! Maybe this will help someone else... this is what I've done:

1. First I setup my Elite via a laptop and I recommend doing it that way.

2. Make sure if you add an Activity such as Watch DirecTV you select Watch TV as an Activity then you can rename it to Watch DirecTV. I mistakenly selected Custom which is the incorrect way to do this.

3. Every time you change an Activity or your Favorites you must sync the remote and then open the Amazon Alexa app in a tablet or phone and do the following:
A. Disable Harmony Skill
B. Re-enable Harmony Skill
C. Link With Account
D. Ask Alexa to "Discover Devices" (sometimes the app will ask to discover new devices)

I originally was not going through the above steps and was having all sorts of issues. Ever since I started following the steps each time I made a change everything has worked great.

By the way you only need the blue Harmony skill now.

4. Friendly Names:
If Alexa still has issues controlling your Activities check your "Friendly Names" in the Amazon Alexa app. Open Skills > Your Skills > Harmony (blue) Skill > Enable Skill. Once you progress through the screens you have your "Friendly Names" page. It already some some Friendly Names for each Activity plus you can add your own name for each. Choose a name to ask Alexa to start your Activity. Continue through screen to finally "Link With Account."

What I've found out and it even says that in their tutorials is that Alexa understands certain words better than others. It's not always better to have a brief word but something more specific. For instance I have an Activity for a Watch Sat but if I ask Alexa to turn on Sat it doesn't usually turn on. But if I ask Alexa to turn on Genie it works every time.

Under Watch Sat Activity I've actually added a bunch of friendly names DirecTV Genie, Genie, DirecTV, Dvr, & Direct. I haven't tried all these friendly names but Genie does work for sure. My point is try different names until you find one that will work.

5. Probably something that doesn't need mentioned but to start an Activity always ask Alex to "turn on ... whatever.