topic Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems in Home Automation

Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

disco_stu — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 02:45:18 GMT

I have a Logitech Harmony remote control which supports integration with Google Assistant. The Harmony shows up as a remote control in the Google home app and supports commands that allows me to control AV devices.

I also have a Nest Audio and a Pixel phone.

With the Harmony device, I should be able to do commands like:

Turn up the TV --> Assistant should tell the Harmony remote control to increase the volume on the TV
Increase the volume on the TV --> Assistant should tell the Harmony remote to increase the volume on the TV
Increase the TV volume by 5 --> Assistant should tell the Harmony remote control to increase the volume 5 times
Change the TV to channel 50 --> Assistant should tell the Harmony remote control to change the TV to channel 50

Recently all of these commands stopped working.

If I let the Nest Audio respond to the commands, here's the following result:

Turn up the TV --> Assistant says "Sorry I don't understand"
Increase the volume on the TV --> Assistant turns it's own volume up rather than telling harmony to turn up the volume on the TV
Increase the TV volume by 5 --> Assistant "Sorry I didn't understand"
Change the TV to channel 50 --> Assistant "OK Playing 50 on the TV. Sorry something went wrong and I'm unable to control your home device"

On my phone, here are the results:

Turn up the TV --> Assistant turns up the media volume on my phone.
Increase the volume on the TV --> Assistant turns up the media volume on my phone.
Increase the TV volume by 5 --> Assistant shows a message "Sorry I didn't understand"
Change the TV to channel 50 --> Assistant says "Here's 50 on youtube", then plays a 50 cent music video on youtube (the video varies but is always related to the channel number I asked for)

I contacted Google support and they have asked me to reset the Nest Audio, unlink and relink my Harmony device, move the Harmony device to a different room and even setup a new "home" in the Google Home app. Nothing has fixed the issue.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to resolve the problem? Does anyone have any ideas to escalate the issue with Google?

I just want the devices to work as intended.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Techdood — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 22:13:52 GMT

This is happening with my devices as well, worked perfect for years.

Something changed this past week.

Please fix! Hope it doesn't have anything to do with the Sonos Speaker Group lawsuit loss!!

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

cqjames — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 02:50:23 GMT

Same issue here that just started happening. If I ask Google to turn down the TV it just turns down the volume on the nest hub that I'm taking to. Previously it would have the Harmony hub turn down the TV volume.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

colinbsandy — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 06:33:53 GMT

same issue here. Volume command doesn't work - but turning on/off, mute/unmute,. wotk, but not volue up or down. 😞

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Moboy — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 16:57:56 GMT

Exactly the same situation here. I hope someone replies with the answer.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

disco_stu — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 17:18:36 GMT

I'm part of the Google 12L beta as well. I have reported the issue to google via the beta program. Hopefully they can fix it on all devices.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Moboy — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 22:14:44 GMT

Thanks Stu

Let's hope so.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

colinbsandy — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 05:56:35 GMT

Bit of experimenting today and found:

'Hey google, as harmony to increase volume on TV'

results in:

TV volume increases again, but google responds with 'Sorry, Harmony isn't responding right now. Please try again soon'

then a bit later, started getting response from Harmony saying it was increasing the volume (like the old Harmony (Red) did - but I unlinked that when Harmony (blue) became available. Something wierd happening between Google & Logitech/Harmony

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Lior98 — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:31:24 GMT

Same situation here.

Logitech harmony

Google nest audio

Actually i am thinking to replace the logitech harmony to another device

But i dont find any something that better then harmony

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Quigley0908 — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 03:53:16 GMT

Is their any update on this? I was actually having no issues with this until I upgraded my Gen 1 hub with a Gen 2 hub. Swapped them back and it’s working again…I am having an issue of with the “change channel to” command (it try’s to play stuff on YouTube instead of going through my Harmony Hub commands). This is happening on the gen 1 and gen 2 hub.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

disco_stu — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 04:08:00 GMT

I called them today. They told me it's escalated to a senior support person. I told them I"m going to call them every few days until it's fixed.
The more people who report the problem, the faster it might be fixed. Call Google support and get your support case open. Yes it's painful because they won't understand what a "harmony" is, but I think we all need to report the issue officially to put pressure on them.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Moboy — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 09:32:29 GMT

Great work. This issue is so annoying. What's the phone number?

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

disco_stu — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 20:40:47 GMT

It depends on country probably. Best to check the Google Nest site and find the number.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Moboy — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 15:33:29 GMT

Which number did you dial and which country is that from?

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

disco_stu — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 15:43:44 GMT

1-############ Canada

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

disco_stu — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 15:44:54 GMT

It won't let me post pone numbers lol 1 - 8 5 5 - 9 7 1 - 9 1 2 1

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Jaszy — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 08:10:50 GMT

Logitech Harmony

Google Home mini

Same situation.

Any update or solution?

Thx!

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

JasW — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:10:20 GMT

I have the same/similar situation. I have four (4) Harmony Hubs in the house controlling 4 different TVs (2 of which have home entertainment systems attached). I have a half-dozen Minis, 2 Home speakers, a Home Hub Max, and and Home Hub, all of which have been able to control Harmony with voice commands for over 3 years now without problem.

It all changed around two weeks ago. I had "favorite" channels assigned within Harmony, so I used to be able to tell Home, "Switch the Family TV to CNN" or "Switch the Bedroom TV to ESPN," and the channel would change. Or if a channel wasn't assigned as a favorite, I could simply say "Switch the Family TV to channel 419." It would always work. Now it doesn't. Home simply replies, "Sorry, I can't find any devices in your home that play video" or "Sorry, I can't find any devices in your home that can play that," adding, "You might want to check the device settings in the Google Home app."

Unlike some others here, I can still say, "Increase the volume on the Family TV," and the volume will increase. However, I used to also be able to say "Turn up the volume on the Family TV." That no longer works; instead, like others here, the Home device that responds simply turns its own volume up.

This is quite clearly a Google-created problem and not a Harmony problem. Whatever tinkering was done 2-3 weeks ago—and there is no doubt whatsoever that some kind of tinkering was done by Google—needs to be revisited and fixed. I'm putting in a support request and will pursue it as far as I can.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

Moboy — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:34:41 GMT

You're very right. However just to elaborate on one point you made. You state that you can say "Increase the volume on the Family TV". This only turns it up one unit. We used to be able to say "Increase the volume on the Family TV by 15%" for example and it would do just that.

Fix the Harmony API guys. You know you tinkered with it.

Re: Google assistant and Harmony remote control problems

JasW — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:58:20 GMT

Percentage (and certainly volume numbers) didn't work too well because audio comes through a Denon receiver, which has volume units in increments of 0.5. (It's been a good while since I'd last tried percentage, so I can't remember exactly what happens.) When I tell Home to simply increase the volume, the Denon receiver increases the volume by 7 of those 0.5 increments, e.g., from 52.5 to 56.0. That's usually fine.

If I know I'll need a greater adjustment, I used to just tack on an additional, slightly different command, "and turn up the volume on the Family TV," but that command no longer works. (And you can't tack on a second and identical "increase the volume" command because Google just ignores it.)