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Problem with new Sony remote and Playbase -- remote only decreases volume

  • 30 November 2021
  • 7 replies
  • 528 views

I just got a new Sony TV (2021 Bravia X90J) and can’t get the remote to properly control the Playbase volume. After I successfully (according to the Sonos app) pair the remote, the remote will decrease volume (when the - volume button is pressed) but won’t increase volume (when + volume is pressed nothing happens). Any ideas?

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7 replies

hi @Dantes does the remote work correctly without being paired with the Playbase? Could it be that the remote’s batteries are low?

 

New remote and new batteries, and it works fine with the tv itself

New remote and new batteries, and it works fine with the tv itself

Is this happening whilst any audio is actually playing through the PlayBase speaker, or is it just something you are seeing in the App when no audio is playing?

Maybe try the volume up whilst music is actually playing.

Problem solved! (Though I’m not entirely sure how.)

@Ken_Griffiths It was something I was seeing in the app when no audio was playing, though I could also see that the Playbase itself was reacting only to volume decreases based on the white light blinking (or lack of white light blinking) on the Playbase (and then turning green when it was all the the way down) as I tried to adjust volume. Didn’t actually try playing sound at that time as I was adjusting volume.

The next day, when I tried using the remote while playing music on the Playbase (not through the TV, while the TV was off), the remote volume controls worked fine. When I tried using the remote with the TV on and playing sound, volume controls didn’t work until I turned off the TV’s bluetooth. I’d read on another thread that it can interfere with some remotes. After that everything worked fine. Not sure if waiting a day allowed something to update, had nothing to do with the solution, or what.

I’m sure someone savvier than me could figure out a more elegant solution, but some combination of waiting a day and/or turning everything off after pairing, turning off TV bluetooth, and then trying again with sound playing worked for me.

Thanks all!

All the HT players only react to ‘volume down’ on the remotes when nothing is playing. This could well be by design, to stop a remote lost between sofa cushions from accidentally winding the volume up to 100% when no-one is in attendance, then scaring the cat (and a few humans) when the TV’s turned back on.

@ratty Aha! That makes sense, and that must be it. Further experimented, and all volume controls work when sound is playing, only volume-down works when no sound is playing.

@ratty Aha! That makes sense, and that must be it. Further experimented, and all volume controls work when sound is playing, only volume-down works when no sound is playing.

Yep, it’s ‘by design’ - it stops you getting blasted when switching the TV ‘on’.. @ratty told me about this feature some time ago and it made me realise just how the Sonos Dev’s do their best to think of ‘real world’ situations that we may come across on a day-to-day basis. It’s rather clever-thinking, I thought.