Hi @Furphy.

Welcome to the Sonos community and thanks for reaching out to us. I understand that you are having trouble connecting your TV remote via your Sonos Playbar. Let me help you out.

Since your Sonos Playbar is connected via optical cable to your TV, the Sonos Playbar would only accept IR remote control as you have mentioned above. I would like to recommend setting up an available IR remote control using the set up a remote control through the Sonos App. Any IR remote will do like for example, cable box remote, DVD player remote, airconditioning system remote, or an Amazon Generic universal remote, etc. Since the only function the Sonos Playbar needs would be the volume control and the mute and unmute button which can be programmed using the Sonos App and your choice/preference of the mentioned buttons. By doing this, your TV remoter would still work with the TV functions and the IR remote programmed through the Sonos App can control your Sonos Playbar. 

I hope this helps.
Please let me know if you still have further questions or concerns. We are always here to help.

Thanks,

Thank you Paul a. 

I've been using my phone today for volume. Also last night used my old Sony remote. 

Didn't plan on spending all this money then having to use an old remote. Not cool really. Lol. 

But they all ways have us. 

Thanks again for your help. 

Hi @Furphy.

Thanks for the feedback and immediate response. 
I understand that you are frustrated about the limitations of the Sonos Playbar and that you have no intention of spending more money than what was already spent. This is also the main reason for my recommendation of using any extra/available IR capable remote with the Sonos Playbar. The Sonos Playbar (using the optical cable connection with the TV) does not have the capabilities of (CEC Consumer Electronics Control) that would allow non IR capable remote to work as this is only possible for HDMI Sonos home theater speakers capable devices such as the Sonos Amp, Sonos Beam, or the Sonos Arc. CEC feature is not available for optical connected Sonos devices such as the Playbar and Playbase since CEC is an HDMI feature/function.

I hope this helps.
Please let me know if you still have further questions or concerns. We are always here to help.

Thanks,