In most cases, you can’t. Sonos is at the end of the chain, not in the middle, so getting a display on top of the data coming in isn’t something that can be done. 

I'm not a techie but I somewhat understand what you said.  Thank you for replying.  What I fail to understand is how the most highly rated TV by Consumer Reports and a highly rated soundbar like Sonos, both state-of-the art and very expensive, don't work together on the simplest element, the volume icon.  It doesn't make sense.

The Sonos isn’t part of the video stream. Nor is it a part of the TV’s electronics. It’s external to that. The TV manufacturer declined to make any standard feedback loop for external devices to feed back volume information to the TV, and to allow the TV to show that information on the screen. 

That might be a function of HDMI CEC, I’m not sure, but I’ve not seen anyone implement that feature, if it is. It’s entirely possible that some have, and I’m just not familiar with their TV sets. For Sonos, the only two devices that use HDMI CEC are the Sonos Amp and the Sonos Beam, and the soon to be released Sonos Arc. 

While I recognize that you want what you’ve always had, why is it so hard for your ears to tell if something is too loud or too soft? What benefit does the on screen display offer to you? I get that it’s some sort of UI affirmation, I’m not sold on the need for it, which could be just me. 

Thank you.  I understand your explanation and appreciate your time.  I won’t bother you with all the reasons my wife and I feel the volume display is important.  Life experiences vary from person to person.  Our situation makes the absence of a visual volume display very frustrating and unnecessarily time consuming and inconvenient.  Moreover we paid for an important TV feature, which Sonos prevents us from using.

Sonos prevents you from using? I thought you said you understood the explanation?

Choosing to use an external speaker (ANY external speaker) made this inevitable.

Not inevitable, more completely random. I have three Samsung televisions attached to either Beam or Amp. Two indeed show no volume numbers, but the third one does (even though in steps increasing with 2, i.e. only showing even numbers)

I’ve found the implementation of CEC standards on TV’s to be incomplete at best, and utterly scattershot at the worst. Changing the input from cable to streamer used to start up my old Blue-Ray player (since gotten rid of).  It kept happening until I turned off CEC.   

Since it works on some TVs and not on others, it doesn’t seem like Sonos is preventing anything. 

I confess that with different broadcasters transmitting programs at different audio levels, I tend to let my ears tell me if the system is loud enough rather than a number on the screen. 

I wonder (just wonder, I don’t know) if what is being shown is the volume that the internal speakers would be at if they weren’t muted, or bypassed.  And not the volume actually playing through the external speaker.  I have certainly seen that, although that may or may not be the case in your example.

The volume display on the TV is essential.  Any other argument makes the assumption that the hearing of all people is equal.  Remember, you may have near perfect hearing.  The next person’s hearing may be 80% of your hearing.  My hearing may have been damaged and I may be wearing hearing aids.  If so, the visual volume representation allows me to know when my remote is not working.  It allows me to know when I may be disturbing other members of my family or my neighbors.  Stop to consider the needs of others, not only your own.  See the world through their eyes.  Hear the world through their ears.  My situation is far different from yours, trust me.  The volume display is only a way to calibrate what the individual hears.  My 10 bars may be your 20 bars, in volume.  But I will always know what my 10 bars means to me and to my family and neighbors and whether or not my remote is working correctly.

I agree that it would definitely be advantageous to at least some people to have numerical confirmation of volume. I have always been a little bit annoyed that the volume sliders in the Sonos app don’t show this (even though you can set a numerical value for autoplay of line input). It is just easy for quick reference, even if multiple sources may output different output levels. 
 

John’s remark about the volume icon possibly showing what internal speakers would be playing at if not muted got me curious. I looked into it some more and don’t think this is what is happening in my case. When I use the TV remote to control the volume, the slider in the Sonos app goes up simultaneously. And also the other way around, if I move the slider in the app the volume indicator on the TV goes up and down showing different numbers - actually this way I get the full number range, odd and even numbers.

Not saying this is anything Sonos has full control over, but it is definitely something in the interoperability or handshake betwwen TV and Beam.

Thank you.

Have you resolved the mute issue with your LG TV? If not, goto your Beam’s Room in ‘Settings/System’ in the Sonos App and see if switching off ‘Use IR’ fixes it for you. My thoughts are it doesn’t need IR control as the remote is adjusting it’s mute function using HDMI-CEC controls.

I have not but I will try that.  Thanks.

Ok.  Thanks for your suggestion.  So my objective is to enabled the display of the volume scale.  I found all three IR controls switched ON.  Switching only the Use IR button off had the effect of disabling the volume control and the volume icon of the circle with a line through it no longer displayed.  Leaving the Use IR and IR Repearer on and turning the IR Signal Light off allowed me to change the volume and the volume icon displayed.  Turning the other two IR controls on and turning the IR Repeater off disabled the volume icon but enabled the volume control.  So none of the combinations enabled the display of the volume scale, which is what I want to do.

Ah well, it was worth a try. Sorry to hear it didn’t work.

That was the right test to do and i agree with your conclusion.  I think this also proves you right to say that i was wrong about it being ‘inevitable’ that the volume would not display on the TV.