Mac Mini + Television Part 2

December 24th, 2009

Yet another step toward digital video nirvana achieved. I finally got my Harmony Remote to control the Mac Mini attached to the television without simultaneously controlling the Apple TV, and vice-versa. It turns out you can in fact “pair” the Harmony with different Apple devices, and the Harmony will effectively mimic a different Apple Remote depending on what activity / device you’re controlling.

The basic steps on how to perform the pairing are at the Harmony website.

However, before following those steps, I had to delete the current Apple TV and Mac Mini devices in the Harmony software, create them again, and sync the remote. I suppose the device definitions can change over time and I had old definitions. Otherwise, I wasn’t seeing the “pair” command on the Harmony Remote.

Then, you basically select the device you want to pair on the Harmony remote, point the remote at said device, and press “pair” on the Harmony. One important tip is to turn off all other Apple devices while pairing, otherwise you might end up pairing two devices to that particular remote device.

I then bent Remote Buddy (worth a more thorough post) to my will to create a simple app launcher. Make sure to turn off “Enable support for multiple remote controls.” (under Preferences -> Hardware -> Built in IR Receiver). When that setting is on (it’s on by default), there is another check box for “Automatically authorize newly found remotes to control this computer.” This shouldn’t be active, because every time I switched over to controlling the Apple TV, Remote Buddy would grab onto this “new” remote and start doing unwanted things the Mini. So turn off that autodiscovery setting.

Remote Buddy also has a setting within which you can pair a remote. You can do the pairing here or in System Preferences proper (System Preferences -> Security); either seemed to have the same effect. The “pair” command on the Harmony Remote works as well.

So I am now able to switch between the Harmony remote activities of using the Mac Mini or the Apple TV without inadvertently controlling the other device. Hooray.