Introduction

This is a complete guide to all the steps I have collected for the optimal use of a Logitech Harmony 650 remote with CoreELEC / Kodi → in my case using them to control Ugoos AM6B+ and Odroid N2/+ hardware.

Of course other Logitech remotes and Kodi boxes will likely be very similar.

Once properly set up, a Harmony 650 (or similar) is an excellent Kodi companion, with just the right mix of hard buttons for essentials, plus a programmable screen for less often used things. I'm yet to find a better alternative.

General Setup in MyHarmony/CoreELEC

In CoreELEC config.ini , set/add these config items.

<aside> ℹ️

To make changes to config.ini you will first need to ssh in to your machine and make the flash area writeable with: mount -o remount,rw /flash

</aside>

These two disable HDMI CEC - a good idea with all these machines, as CEC is just ludicrously unreliable and can lead to all sorts of strange issues:

hdmi_cec='0'
cec_func_config='0'

If using an Odroid N2/+, also add these:

remotewakeup='0x800f040c'
remotewakeupmask='0xffff7fff'
decode_type='0x5'

• Also - make sure ALL CEC stuff is turned off/disabled in Kodi and CoreELEC settings (needs to be off in all places to really be, and stay, off - otherwise you may see weird behaviours with things switching on/off or changing channels unexpectedly!).
• In MyHarmony, add a new device for Kodi and set the device type to be: Microsoft Media Centre Extender
• In MyHarmony, set device settings for this device → repeats and inter-device delays both to 0
• [Odroid N2/+ only] Add the remote-repeat.rules file (linked below), to /config/udev.rules.d/ - this improves the general responsiveness to the remote
• Add the keymap.xml file below to your userdata/keymaps folder (of course you can tweak this to your personal taste - Kodi's built in functions and default keyboard.xml and remote.xml are useful resources here)