Question

Tivo & Sonos Playbar & Samsung TV w/o ability to turn off internal speakers

  • 13 January 2015
  • 9 replies
  • 2276 views

My Samsung LED 60in TV does not support external speakers and therefore does not have the menu option to turn off the internal speakers. I have confirmed with Samsung support that I can't flash the firmware or do anything to get them disabled. 

I have the Sonos playbar connected via ethernet cable to router and I have the playbar going optically to the Tivo Roamio because my TV doesn't have optical port just HDMI ports.

Thus, after setting up my Sonos Playbar with my Tivo Roamio and Samsung TV I have the following issues...

When I change the volume via my Tivo remote, I have to use my iPad/iPhone Sonos app if I don't want the TV volume to go up/down. When I use the Tivo remote like I normally would, the Sonos Playbar and Samsung TV volume go up/down. Thus, I am still getting Samsung TV sound. Not horrible but not ideal.

Also when I turn the TV off, I have to press mute as well on the tivo remote in order for the playbar to go quiet since it is plugged into Tivo and Tivo is always on. 

There is an option within Tivo setup remote control where you can set your A/V and the volume/mute buttons won't affect the TV but your power button, input buttons still will work with TV. The problem is that Sonos is not an option. Seems like Sonos needs to reach out to Tivo for making them an out of the box option....
http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/294“Programming A/V volume and mute” -> doesn’t have sonos as an option.. 

If I change my Tivo to use another brand TV and then reconfigure my Sonos playbar to work with my Tivo remote volume/mute works with Sonos and not TV so that is good.. except I can't change input buttons or power off my TV so that workaround isn't good.

If I change my Tivo settings to use any brand w/n the A/V setup since sonos isn't one of them I get the MUTE symbol on my TV the whole time and it won't go away so that doesn't do me any good.

Any recommendations out there and/or can Sonos get ahold of Tivo and make that an option w/n the Tivo remote control settings for A/V?

I realize since the Tivo is always on, I will always get sound so that problem might not be avoidable. I might always have to power off TV and click mute to silence the sonos playbar. Unless Sonos could make it so that it detects the power button being pressed on remote and then issued a mute automatically??? And the same thing when powering on TV via power button press???

Ideally, I want to use my Tivo remote to power off/on my TV.. use it's input buttons to switch HDMI ports.. Use it's volume and mute buttons to control the sonos playbar w/o my TV responding to volume/mute button presses. 

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9 replies

Maybe try it with a universal remote control from Logitech. You can select what signal it send to what source when clicking volume up or down. That should be able to solve your problem. Hope that helps
Maybe try it with a universal remote control from Logitech. You can select what signal it send to what source when clicking volume up or down. That should be able to solve your problem. Hope that helps
Universal remote to control my tivo sounds like a lot of work considering all the other functions besides volume/mute/power...  :(
Assuming you're using your TIVO remote, why not select a different brand remote than Samsung and code that for the audio portions? You'll just have to MUTE your sound when you turn off the TV....
Assuming you're using your TIVO remote, why not select a different brand remote than Samsung and code that for the audio portions? You'll just have to MUTE your sound when you turn off the TV....
Because then I have a mute symbol on my tv while watching it. Tried it. Wacky to have on the screen the whole time visually. Though it does make the remote work properly. Need sonos to work with tivo and get their brand in there
Assuming you're using your TIVO remote, why not select a different brand remote than Samsung and code that for the audio portions? You'll just have to MUTE your sound when you turn off the TV....
But when you have this working, can't you turn off the speakers in the TV?  My Samsung let's me set the tv speakers to OFF..
Assuming you're using your TIVO remote, why not select a different brand remote than Samsung and code that for the audio portions? You'll just have to MUTE your sound when you turn off the TV....
My tv doesn't let me do that. I even checked with samnsung. And it's only 1 year old. My older Samsung can do it but it's 8 years old
I know this is an old thread, but . . . does your TV have a headphone jack? If so, plug in a headphone and you can ignore the TV volume as it will only go over the headset. I have mine set to a wireless headset I use when my wife is sleeping and it solved the "Mute" on the screen issue.
I know it's been awhile for this. I'm in the same exact situation. How did you get it to work?
I too am unable to program my Playbar with my Tivo Learning Remote. The Playbar is replacing a Bose 321 system. The Tivo remote is programmed to work with the Bose 321. I tried to pair the Playbar using the Bose remote and the Tivo remote with no joy.