Sony X850G Remote won't work with Playbar (Bluetooth v IR)

J
I just recently bought a new Sony television. I've been able to get the remote that comes with it to control the volume on my Playbar if I disable the bluetooth, but doing so disables the voice control for the remote. Is there a work around to use the Bluetooth connection on the remote, but still have volume control of my Playbar that anyone knows of? And, yes, I have gone through the Sonos app and tried adding the remote. Same issue, with Bluetooth, it won't recognize it, but with that disabled, it does. I basically need a way to run Bluetooth and IR simultaneously, it seems.
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10 replies

R

I also had the same issue. Disabling Bluetooth in TV/unpairing the remote puts the remote in IR only mode and i can use the remote with both Sonos and TV. But i miss the voice assistant. Any of you have a suggestion for universal remote with voice assistant support ?

 

Airgetlam

Sorry to hear that. Does the TV accept just an IR signal? If so, you could get a universal remote, and ditch the Sony one. If the TV doesn’t, though, I don’t have a good solution, other than using two remotes. 

Bruce
S

The X950G remote is a POS. Doesn’t do IR and Bluetooth. Sony blows. I wish I could send them this failed remote for credit so I can get a remote that actually works in a Home Theatre

R

I just put up an X950G with a Sonos Playbar and ran into the same issue. I disabled Bluetooth on the TV and now I can control the volume. Only thing I can’t do, as mentioned above, is use voice control, and that’s not a requirement. I really appreciate all the help from Belle C in Sonos Support helping me walk through the Playbar setup.

U
I just got the same set up today, Sony x850g with playbar and was able to get the remote working fine, but not until after having the same issue you described... granted I’ve only had this setup for a day, seems to be working alright though. To get it working, I went into the Bluetooth setting on the tv and paired the remote (for some reason mine wasn’t paired straight out the box). Once the remote is connected go to the setting on the Sonos app. In room setting for the room you want, make sure the first and second options are turned on (green sliders). The second option is so that you can tell when the Sonos is receiving the IR signal from the remote, you will see a small white flashing light with every press of a button. Once this is all set up, turn off your new Sony tv. Then go back to the Sonos app and try setting up the remote again by following the apps instructions. My tv seemed to cause enough interference between the remote and the playbar to cause pairing issues, with the tv off I was able to get through the Sonos remote setup on the first try and the remote to tv connection via Bluetooth remained. Hopefully this helps!
J
Yeah, when I chatted with Sony support, they insisted that both IR and Bluetooth would work at the same time, but in practice, that didn't seem to be the case. The only thing that may help, is an eventual software update to the remote itself. The only function I'm missing though is voice search, which isn't a deal breaker. If it updates, I'll report back.
Airgetlam
Shoot, it must have an IR blaster in that remote. How else would you be able to control other devices, such as DVD/Bluray players. I can't imagine that they only provide HDMI-CEC control for all of those, since there's so many out there that don't have that capability.
Bruce
Airgetlam
I'm curious if the manual that came with the TV has any indication of an IR receiver, for those people who may want to use a multi device remote control, like a Logitech Harmony device.

Hmmm, this page:

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00117038

seems to imply that it does.

I'd ask Sony how to control the sound using a universal remote. They should tell you how to turn on the IR receiver and that would probably turn on the iR sending device in the current remote, which would allow the PLAYBAR to receive a valid signal.
Bruce
J
I reached out to Sony and there only solution was to use a HDMI-ARC connection instead of the Optical. Unfortunately, the Soundbar doesn't have that, just the Beam.
melvimbe
Have you tried Sony support with this question? Sonos doesn't have bluetooth, so if the remote doesn't send IR, the playbar won't get the command.

The only suggestion I would recommend is to use a second universal remote to control the TV. Probably wouldn't be able to to do voice control though, so you'd probably want to keep the original remote around for that.
Danny
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