I got a Roku HD player from Woot.com recently and, as with any electronic device for displaying content on your television, it came with a remote. I have a refurbished Logitech Harmony 880 remote that I use to control all of my devices so after verifying that the Roku worked (and adding my Netflix, Amazon Video, and Flickr accounts to it), I decided to add it to my remote’s repertoire.
This proved not to be so easy as the Roku didn’t seem to fit into any of the existing categories of Television, Amplifier, Cable/Satellite Box, Video Recorder, DVD, Music Player, Game Console, Mini System, Computer, Home Automation, or More Device Types. Well, I thought it fit into Mini System or Home Device Types, but those two categories were comprised of Mini System (DVD, CD, Radio), Mini System (CD, Radio, Cassette), and Mini System (DVD, VCR, Radio), and Tape Deck, Minidisc Player, and DAT, respectively. After some playing around I finally found it. Apparently, the Roku is a DVD Player! Or at least that’s what Logitech says.
Inside the Logitech Harmony Remote Software (I have version 7.7.0), do the following:
- Go to Devices
- Click Add Device
- From the first dropdown, select DVD as the category and DVD as the subcategory
- Select Roku as the Manufacturer
- Enter your model (mine is an N1100, the example is N1000)
- Click Next
- It will show your device, then click Next again
- Scroll through your list of devices and click Settings on the one named DVD (this is your Roku’s default name)
- Select Rename this device from the list
- Click Next
- Enter the new name (i.e. “Roku” or “Roku HD”)
- Click Save
- Click Done
Congrats! You now have your Roku player associated with your Logitech Remote. Now you can add it to any activities you like or create new ones.
EXCELLENT! I just got the same thing from WOOT and was looking to add this to my Harmony One. Thanks!
Very helpful and easy to follow post on Roku/Harmony…I reviewed many posts before I found yours and it solved my issue..thanks so much…Sandor Lenner
Good tip thank you!
Rock On! Exactly what I was looking for. Thx Much.
Thanks for the tip! I was worried that Roku wasn’t supported by Harmony remotes, never would have guessed it would be listed as a DVD player.
Yeah, that seems pretty silly to me, but at least it is in there.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Thanks! This hooked my Roku UP!
Thanks for the tip. Found my Roku under DVD and now the remote controls my Roku. Great. But now I can’t figure out how to control the actual DVD player/recorder (Samsung) on the same system. Any ideas?
You need to setup an activity with the Roku and then another with your DVD Player/Recorder. To do that, use the “Watch a DVD” template, selecting your Roku as your DVD player. After you have the activity setup, then go back into it and select Rename (I used “Watch Roku”).
Then setup another activity using “Watch a DVD” and this time select your DVD Player/Recorder.
This works like a charm on a Harmony One. You will need to do some custom setup of buttons to get all the functionality of the Roku 9 button remote. You will need to designate a button as home, back, options, and replay. Now the Roku remote can live in my cabinet with the other unused remotes!
Thank you for taking the time to put this together. It was a big help.
Thank for the helpful tip. This is the love/hate relationship with Logitech. The Harmony was good and they broke it with crap software. Fortunately there are people like you willing to help others workaround such Logitech silliness – like Roku HD in the DVD section…!?
THANK YOU! It would have taken me AGES to try DVD Player. I had tried some randomly, but wouldn’t have gotten down to DVD player for a long time. Thank you for your help!
Thanks, exactly what I was looking for!
Still helpful after all these months; this posting solved my problem. Perhaps one day, Logitech will discover that a Roku doesn’t play DVDs.
What I would really like is for them to update the list of commands the Roku supports, specifically to add the Instant Replay button. You can buy a newer Roku remote (or use the iPhone app) and Instant Replay will work, even with older Rokus.
You have to remember that DVD no longer means Digital Video Disk. It now means Digital Video Device.
One of the most useful Harmony tips on the Internet, Thanks!
I thought I’d never find the stupid setting for the Roku.
And, Mr Fred, you’re right but the Logitech setup shows a shinny disk as you try to setup to use your roku. And you have to say you’re watching a DVD
Just got the Harmony 900 and the Roku.Two great additions. Have tried the above set up but my Roku model number gets changed to a different number. Guess I should try it anyway. Also Roku does not come up as a manufacturer. Would also like to set up all the functions of the Roku remote on the Harmony 900. anyone know of step by step instructions anywhere?
OK going to try again!
Thanks for the tips.
OK thanks for all the help. Found Roku in the list. Must have been tired last night. LOL! Got it all set up except the part where I want to watch a DVD so I will try that now. Got all the commands set up as well. This was great help!!!
Awesome post, exactly what I needed! I crated the activity, but still can’t control volume or the ok button on my 900. Does work to start the activity, but can’t control anything else once I’m in. Tried to learn the roku remote, but it didn’t work. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Eric
Eric –
When you setup the activity on your Logitech, you need to choose the device that controls your sound and it should automatically set the volume buttons on the remote to the volume buttons on your sound output device.
You can verify this by opening up the activity, and customizing the buttons. From there you can verify/set what the Volume and OK buttons do.
-John
Thanks for the great tip! I searched a few of the device categories looking for Roku, came up empty, then found your site. Hiding this one under ‘DVD’ is not intuitive — nice one Logitech.
hi – is it just me !! can any one explain why when i type in the bing browser “snowulf.com” i get a different site yet whe i type it in google its ok? could this be a bug in my system or is any one else having same probs ?
alfies
Well I searched for “snowulf.com” on both google and bing.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=snowulf.com&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-7&form=QBLH
https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=off&site=&source=hp&q=snowulf.com&pbx=1&oq=snowulf.com&aq=f&aqi=g-v1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=314l1295l0l1384l11l6l0l2l2l0l196l855l1.5l7l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=a1bc1589ec616832&biw=1920&bih=1019
The first result on both is the same, the main page here. After that I get a bunch of different results. What is the site you’re getting?
Thanks! Was struggling to find my Roku XS in the Harmony Remote software. You’d think with the popularity of streaming devices, there would be a separate category for them.
Thanks again!
Yea. Amusingly enough, the traffic to this here blog doubled (to record highs) for a few days after Xmas. 100% of it because of the Roku/Logitech.
Thanks! Worked great.
does this also work for the Roku 2?
I have all my devices working except the Roku 2… not sure what activity it will fall into. Listening to the radio? Yes, because I have Pandora setup. But I also have channels setup as well (HBO GO, SHO GO, etc.)… not necessarily a DVD.
HELP, please.
Yes, that is also where you would enter Roku 2.
John, Trying to setup a Roku XD 2050x and Logitechs software does not have a device option anymore. It only has me enter the manufacturer and model number. When I enter all the correct in, it asks me if I have a Roku XD, which I do, and then I sync. However, when I try to use the remote with the Roku, it does not work. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help.
Bob –
Your logitech software has the ability to “learn” another remote. It sounds like you might need to use that option. Have it learn from your new Roku’s remote and that should solve the problem.
John
What happens if you do not have the roku remote? Is it possible that you can have the harmony 900 learn how to control the Roku N1100 without the remote? I was able to add the roku as a DVD player but my harmony will not control the roku at all. How can it learn to control the roku?
Is there a way to add a keyboard to the Harmony Remote? I hate having to choose each letter by using the up, down, left and right arrows. Seems so archaic with the Sleek Harmony 1100.
Thank you
Awesome, thanks!! I looked under Cable, Satellite and Computer. Who knew it was a DVD player?!
Thanks, helped very much!
Thank you very much for the tip. I couldn’t find ROKU in the database, but came to know that it is in DVD category,,strange though!!!!! Finally added ROKU to my logitech harmony remote. Thanks again for your tip.
Thank you so much for posting this. It saved me and probably numerous others a lot of time. Kudos to you!
It worked, however the last command sets the Input on my receiver to BD (for Blueray Device) even though I have the input ad HDMI 1 I have tried to add another command but it will not let me. Any tips
Sounds like you might have messed something up; try deleting the activity and starting again.
very helpful saved me a lot of research work. !!!!
Thanks — that’s saved a lot of hassle. Roku’s motion-sensing remote *eats* batteries.
Logitech seem to have updated their software since some of these comments were made: you can now just enter “Roku 2 HD” as the device, and the Instant Replay button is now assignable.
Shame there are shortcuts that’ll take you directly to things like Pandora, but there aren’t any for BBC iPlayer or Plex, though, but you can’t have everything :)
I was able to add my Roku XS to my Logitech Harmony 900 remote. However, I can only power my Roku through my Harmony 900 Remote. How can I get all the function keys on my Roku Remote programmed on my Harmony 900 remote? I really don’t want to use my Roku remote for commands like the home key, fast forward and rewind. Does anyone have step by step instructions on how program my Harmony 900 remote to include the commands I want?
Have you setup a Watch Roku Activity? Once you do that, you can edit what any/all of the buttons do.
I have successfully programmed my Roku but for some reason I can get into a program like Netflix or Hulu but I can’t back out of it. So for example if I am in Netflix and I decide to change to Hulu I can’t back out to the main home screen. What is the command to get to the main homescreen.
You need to use the Home key/command.
If it helps anyone, I couldn’t get this to work at first, BECAUSE I put in my model number (mine is the 3100X). I tried again, and just said the suggested model “Roku2 XS”, and it worked perfectly.
I’ve been using a Harmony 900 for a while with a Roku device, most recently the Roku 2 XS. Having said that, I cannot control the volume without first selecting my Pioneer AVS as a device. Then if I want to control the Roku device, I have to select it as a device.
Has anyone found a way to truly control a Roku device by default using the Harmony 900 controls without having to switch to either the Roku device and/or or control the volume?
Inside the harmony software you should be able to set any button (such as the Volume Controls) to do anything any of your remotes can do.
It sounds like you might need to reconfigure your “Watch Roku” activity to specify that Volume Up/Down controls your Pioneer AVS.
Much appreciated!