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TiVo remote & Sonos Playbar

  • 10 January 2021
  • 10 replies
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  • Contributor I
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I have read through a couple of these threads, but the options i saw were either not solving my problem or not acceptable for my viewing environment.  At issue is that i own a TiVo Edge.  the TiVo remote does indeed control power on, inputs, channel changes, etc, as I own an LG tv.  I go to the TiVo setup and look for the mfg, LG is there, and I pair the remote to my LG.  But as with many, I don’t use the TV sound system, but rather a SONOS Playbar.  Since in the remote pairing, it does not allow me, once i have included the LG tv, it assumes that when i hit the Mute button, it mutes the sound on my TV, which i am not using.  If i go to the A/V setup SONOS is not a listed mfg.  So according to TiVo, i am to use the Denon (?) manufacturer.  I tried all the settings and none of them allowed my mute button, for example, to mute or control volume.

TiVo suggested i contact SONOS and i suspect SONOS will suggest i contact TiVo.

All said and done, i want to be able to use my TiVo remote to not only manage my TV (on/off, channels and inputs, etc) but to be able to control volume provided by SONOS.  Any help would be appreciated.

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Best answer by Airgetlam 13 January 2021, 07:47

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I have used TiVo remotes with my playbars for years, one with LG and the other on a Samsung. Too long ago to remember how I set it up, but can confirm it works great.

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After further thought, this is how I did it: I programmed the TiVo remote for the TV: power input mute and volume. Then when I added the playbar I just taught it the commands from the remote. That was it. Same on both TVs.

So you did a manual “learn” from the original Sonos remote to the TiVo remote?  or a universal remote which is working just fine?

Thanks, this makes more sense to me than some of the posted solutions 

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So you did a manual “learn” from the original Sonos remote to the TiVo remote?  or a universal remote which is working just fine?

Thanks, this makes more sense to me than some of the posted solutions 


I don’t know what you mean by “Sonos remote”?

I use the TiVo remote only:

  • Program the TiVo remote to control your TV, as I described.
  • Connect Playbar, during setup teach it to use your TV remote codes (which are also on your TiVo remote now). I Can’t remember the details of this, many years ago.

Some TiVo remotes don’t do IR unless you tell them to (they use RF by default), so you might need to do that first.

I’m wondering if the OP is using an old CR200 or CR100, neither of which (to my knowledge) use IR, but are directly connected to SonosNet. 

I think.

Who knows. Probably someone who has owned either of those devices. :)

I think i might have more to add to this discussion.  My wife and I both have a remote.  She the TiVo and I a Harmony universal remote.    My Harmony works just fine, but apparently if SONOS can only respond to one remote, it might keep me from activating the second

At issue, my wife has an old Harmony which is difficult for her to manipulate, which is why she uses the TiVo remote.  But in the old world both Harmony’s worked.  (So the notion that i can only manipulate the SONOS with one remote, is confusing).  Also I can go into the SONOS app, and it asks if i want to disable the remote already defined, and set up a new one, but I could not determine if the one it already new about was an OLD TiVo remote (we changed to a new TiVo).  So IF i say, go ahead and set up the new remote will it disable the OLD TiVo remote no longer being used, or will it disable both Harmony’s that are working fine.

Harmony interacts with a Logitech HUB which then communicates with the SONOS Playbar, whereas I would expect the TiVo remote would work directly with the SONOS.  But to this point, I have been unable to find anyone who can work through this logic.

In the meantime, i tried to use the TiVo remote and use its learning function, but none of the codes allowed me to mute.  I also tried the codes with the DENON manufacturer and those codes did not work either.  

So as of right now, I am rather stuck.

The Sonos can respond to only one set of IR codes, not one remote. It is not smart enough to know what device is generating the IR, since that data is not part of the encapsulated stream. 

You need to set up both remotes to emit the same set of codes, and then program the Sonos to recognize those. 

The Logitech Hub is just an extension emitter of IR codes, it is essentially no different than the TiVo remote. 

Find the instructions for both the TiVo, and the Harmony remotes. Program them both to operate the TV you have. Once that is done, go into the Sonos app, and teach it what codes are in use, and then both remotes will work for you on both the TV and PLAYBAR. 

Thank you.  

OK, so i now understand that both the Harmony and TiVo remote have to use the same IR code.  Since the Harmony works as expected and the TiVo does not, can someone suggest how I might determine how to know what code is being used by the Harmony?  I had tried those codes recommended in the community forum but those did not work with my TiVo, so I can only surmise that my Harmony is using a different code.

Upon programing the Harmony, i merely picked the devices from the manufacturers list and they worked, so i did not have to delve into choosing the right code to make them work.

OK, so i now understand that both the Harmony and TiVo remote have to use the same IR code.  Since the Harmony works as expected and the TiVo does not, can someone suggest how I might determine how to know what code is being used by the Harmony?  I had tried those codes recommended in the community forum but those did not work with my TiVo, so I can only surmise that my Harmony is using a different code.

Upon programing the Harmony, i merely picked the devices from the manufacturers list and they worked, so i did not have to delve into choosing the right code to make them work.

You could use the Logitech Harmony App to edit the IR codes of your LG TV device which is the one you installed to your harmony remote from the Logitech site… just change the volume up/down/mute buttons and program them yourself using your TiVo remote.  See my screenshots to help get you started albeit mine relates to their Hub, but your Harmony remote editing should work in exactly the same way..