Contributor I

Answered

Playbar processes remote control commands twice

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 2, 2021
17 replies
880 views

For a while now it seems my Playbar is processing remote control commands twice.

Whenever I try and control the volume through one of my remotes (TV. FreeSat, FireTV) the command is actioned but the white light on the Playbar flashes twice.

For volume up/down it means the changes are twice what they should be, but it also means I cannot mute the Playbar. Pressing the mute button it mutes and then immediately un-mutes!

The same happens no matter which remote I use. I have tried the ‘Remote Control Setup’ within the app but it makes no difference.

Any ideas anyone?

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Best answer by stevejackson

Whoop! Fixed it!!

Today I learned there is such a thing as the ‘Samsung Universal Remote’ setup on the TV. When you plug in the optical connection between the Sonos and the TV it automatically registers it as a device on the TV.

With the Playbar registered the TV somehow sends extra IR codes when changing volume or muting the sound. Once I deleted the Playbar device from the Universal Remote on the TV everything started working again.

For anyone else having this issue you can get into the settings following these instructions:
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00050204

There are no options you can change for the registered devices so I just had to delete it from the setup.

@ratty - I have no idea how it knows there is a Sonos at the other end!

Thanks everyone for your help :-)

Show previous replies

ratty

So your TV can sense that an optical plug is inserted, and does something different as a result? It cannot know that there’s a Playbar at the other end, since optical is unidirectional.

It’s beginning to sound as though the TV, sensing an optical component, is itself repeating the IR codes. Perhaps it thinks it’s being ‘helpful’ to an external soundbar by issuing IR codes when it receives volume commands via Bluetooth.

Time to start digging in the TV settings.

S

stevejacksonAuthor

Contributor I

When I plug in the optical it goes through some setup...and then confirms with a ‘SONOS Setup Complete’ message. I assume this must be the TV doing this.

Frustratingly I can find nothing in the TV settings that would allow me to configure any kind of IR repeat option and nothing obvious has turned up on Google. Will keep digging...

ratty

I wonder how on earth the TV knows there’s a Sonos on the end of the optical. Like I said, it’s unidirectional. The Playbar has no way of sending anything back to the TV. Did you ever tell it you had a Sonos speaker?

Could the TV perhaps be poking around on the network and finding the Playbar that way? Mysterious indeed.

S

stevejacksonAuthorAnswer

Contributor I

Whoop! Fixed it!!

Today I learned there is such a thing as the ‘Samsung Universal Remote’ setup on the TV. When you plug in the optical connection between the Sonos and the TV it automatically registers it as a device on the TV.

With the Playbar registered the TV somehow sends extra IR codes when changing volume or muting the sound. Once I deleted the Playbar device from the Universal Remote on the TV everything started working again.

For anyone else having this issue you can get into the settings following these instructions:
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00050204

There are no options you can change for the registered devices so I just had to delete it from the setup.

@ratty - I have no idea how it knows there is a Sonos at the other end!

Thanks everyone for your help :-)

ratty

Those universal remote instructions appear to relate to control of external HDMI devices via HDMI-CEC. HDMI is of course bi-directional.

I’d be intrigued to learn how the TV knew about your Playbar...

S

stevejacksonAuthor

Contributor I

@ratty - I posted the instructions to show how to get into the menu on the TV as I didn’t even know that function existed on the TV!

I have just tried disabling the wifi on the TV and re-connected the optical and it identified it again.

My setup is really simple, Playbar has optical connection to TV and power cable only. TV is connected to Humax Freesat box and Amazon Fire Stick both by HDMI. I have other Sonos speakers and they all connect over wifi.

I have no idea how it recognises it as a sonos device! Could there be some bluetooth magic going on as well?

ratty

No Bluetooth. As far I can recall Playbar doesn’t have the Bluetooth Low Energy which later devices use for setup. The mystery continues.

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