Can't get LG Magic Remote volume control to work with Playbase

Some pad/phone cameras are sensitive to Infrared. If this is the case for your device, confirm that the LG remote is issuing IR commands when you attempt to control the SONOS system.

I’m not familiar with your TV, but I can imagine a couple odd issues. First, the LG remote might not be configured properly and is sending a different set of IR codes when the TV is ON and another set when the TV is OFF. One way of confirming this is attempt to train the SONOS system while the TV is ON. If this is successful, but the SONOS system will not respond when the TV is OFF, then attempt to train the SONOS system while the TV is OFF. If you can train the SONOS to operate in one mode or the other, but not both simultaneously, then the LG remote is sending different codes.

As a generality, one must configure the a TV remote to control an A/V system and the model number is arbitrary. If you can, disable SimpleLink on the LG.

A second possibility is that the light output from the TV is confusing the PLAYBASE. You can confirm this by using a piece of cardboard to cast a shadow and prevent TV light from reaching the PLAYBASE IR sensor.

My Logitech Harmony remote keeps track of whether devices are On or Off. When the TV is Off, the volume control will not affect my Playbase even if I have music streaming to it. Now and again when my wife uses the TV remote to turn the TV on, rather than the Harmony remote, the Harmony will not affect volume as it still thinks the TV is Off.

I say all this to get to the point: is it possible your tv and the remote operate in a similar way and have got out of sync? 

nik9669a,

You are the victim of a Power ‘toggle’. A toggle simply flips between two states, ON and OFF. The Harmony does not interrogate the TV’s Power status, Harmony simply assumes that you started with everything OFF and the first ‘Power’ command will turn ON the device while the next ‘Power’ command will turn the device OFF. Harmony keeps track of its own ON/OFF commands, but it is blind to actions by another remote. Some devices and universal controls support “discrete” power commands and the ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ commands always result in the correct action.

Power toggles minimize the button count, but it’s a lot of pain if a string of ‘Power” commands (TV, receiver, disc player) is emitted by Harmony and one device is out of sync. The operator must manually toggle each device until they are all in sync. The Harmony “Help” function attempts to work through such situations.

Thanks @buzz - my words were poorly chosen. As you say, it’s just toggling rather than keeping track. But for @LGRemoteNotWorking I'm wondering if (s)he’s in the same situation, and hence my post. 

Hey @buzz , thanks very much for your reply. I am a bit of a noob when it comes to these things, so can you confirm if by ‘training the SONOS system’ you mean I should repeat the process even if it presumably changes nothing?

From my reading over the last few months about this, the LG Magic Remote is capable of both IR and RF signals, and sends IR when the TV is off, and RF when it is on. That’s why the Playbase picks up the remote’s signal immediately when the TV is off, but gives a ‘nope’ signal when I try to change the volume when the TV is on.

I was wondering if there’s an IR only LG remote out there, or if Sonos have a sound remote available too. So far I’ve not been able to find any of the two options.

I also wanted to say that the smart buttons on the Playbase also work. The system works fine and I am very happy with it, but the fact that I cannot use a remote that was working before, is souring my experience. And the TV is also amazing, I cannot justify buying a brand new one because the firmware changed and the remote isn’t working with Sonos.

Just to also add, that after setting up the device connector with Sonos as the Soundbar manufacturer in the TV settings, I have seen some users report in the community here, that they first also had to put their TV into standby mode to get the ‘magic remote’ to work with the Sonos TV Remote setup process - so maybe keep that in mind too.

Thanks for the reply @Ken_Griffiths. I recorded a short video of what my TV’s menu currently looks like, to make it simple. As you can see there’s no ‘sentence case’ anymore (but I remember there used to be 3 years ago, when I purchased the Soundbase).

You may be able to see something that I am missing, in the settings. If you need to see anything else, please let me know. Any further help or advice will be much appreciated.

https://youtu.be/lAmQYe49n8U

Yes I see. That’s different to what I see on my older LG C9 TV - did you try the suggestion of setting up the remote whilst the TV is in standby mode?

I’m proposing this step as a diagnostic. If PLAYBASE can be trained to respond while the TV is OFF, then we know that the LG remote is issuing IR commands. If PLAYBASE will then not accept IR commands from the LG remote when the LG is ON, but you can re-train PLAYBASE to respond to the remote’s IR commands, then there are two different sets of IR commands. I don’t know why this might be the case, but I’ve seen manufacturers do many silly things. I don’t have a ready solution for this case, but at least we’ll know what we are fighting.

I have seen accounts of some TV remotes emitting IR commands while the TV is OFF, but switching to Bluetooth commands when the TV is ON. There are usually work arounds for this, but you’ll need to navigate some TV menus. I can’t help with this because I don’t have access to an appropriate LG TV. Typically, one must confiture the TV and it’s remote to control an A/V receiver. Don’t worry about the A/V receiver model number, just pick something that you don’t own, then train PLAYBASE to use these commands.

There is another approach. If you have a cable box, you can usually train these to control an A/V receiver via IR commands. Pick the same model A/V receiver model that you used above. This will still leave you with two remotes, but you won’t need to start up the phone in order to use the SONOS controller for simple TV viewing or music listening  Volume adjustments.