I have a new Vizio TV P-Series 55" Class 4K HDR Smart TV (2018) - and just got a Sonos Beam as a gift. I was so excited cuz I've never had a TV this big or a soundbar before - so I was feeling super fancy - until the daily struggle ensued of the TV remote only sometimes working with the soundbar.
If the remote DOES work - it's always lagging, or skipping. I will push the up volume and it will have a delay of a couple seconds before the volume actually goes up on the TV. Or sometimes for no reason it will suddenly drop down to 20 if it had been at around 40, with no one touching the remote, and vice versa.
But the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE lately - and this is happening on a daily basis - is the remote will just not budge the volume at all, nor will manually pushing the volume buttons on the TV. It will only budge when I touch the volume buttons on the Sonos Beam manually. When I push the volume or mute buttons on the remote the volume dialogue will come up on the TV, just like it always does when you touch the volume, and it will show me that the volume is at 0 or whatever it's at, but it will do nothing. So the TV recognizes that I have hit the volume button, but again - it will do nothing. I have to turn the tv on and off like 3-5 times, or completely unplug it and plug it back in.
IT'S NOT THE REMOTE: I have tested the remote to make sure it's not that - changed the batteries - done the whole fancy thing where you hold your camera phone in front of the remote to make sure that when you push a button on the remote the light sensor appears showing it's properly sending a signal. It's not the remote.
IT'S NOT THE TV: I have unplugged the Sonos Beam from the HDMI ARC port and the remote will suddenly be adjusting the TV volume perfectly, so it's definitely something that's happening with the Sonos Beam.
What am I missing? Is this a common issue? Does it mean there's something wrong with the ARC port, or do I need a Sonos remote or something?
Thanks so much for your help! 🙂
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Have you tried power cycling the TV, by unplugging it from the wall for a couple of minutes? It seems like what you’re experiencing is an issue with the HDMI-CEC handshake /functionality, which only gets reset by a power cycle, not just turning off the TV with the remote, which doesn’t reset the handshake.
Userlevel 7
Hi Boomie
After you have followed the advice of Airgetlam if you are still having issues try this using the Sonos App:
Go to > Settings > Room Settings > Select the room with the Beam > Scroll down to: Remote > Select IR > Remote Control Setup > now follow the steps...
Let's us know how things sort out. Cheers!
After you have followed the advice of Airgetlam if you are still having issues try this using the Sonos App:
Go to > Settings > Room Settings > Select the room with the Beam > Scroll down to: Remote > Select IR > Remote Control Setup > now follow the steps...
Let's us know how things sort out. Cheers!
Thanks for the quick responses Airgetlam & AjTrek1! I'm unfortunately still having issues, but I've found a workaround that's a bit annoying but is a quick fix. I appreciate the advice though - any other suggestions?
TLDR; I have been doing the power cycle (unplugging and replugging) and it seems to work for 1-3 days, then goes right back to not responding to the remote. I also went into the remote control setup in the Sonos app settings and that basically made the Sonos stop responding to the remote right away, when it had been working fine. 😕 I went into the settings, it prompted me to push the up volume button on my remote once, which I did, and I saw the volume go up on my TV, and I got a prompt in the app that said it recognizes my remote and I'm good to go, but then immediately when I pushed the up volume button on my remote it did nothing. womp womp. Strangely, the down volume button was working fine.
It's kinda always wonky. It's either laggy, or it freezes on me, or it only recognizes either the up volume or down volume but not both...
My workaround is to physically push the up or down volume button on the actual Sonos beam sound bar itself - for some reason that snaps it out of the weird issues and makes it respond to the remote again. But I have to do that every couple days.
TLDR; I have been doing the power cycle (unplugging and replugging) and it seems to work for 1-3 days, then goes right back to not responding to the remote. I also went into the remote control setup in the Sonos app settings and that basically made the Sonos stop responding to the remote right away, when it had been working fine. 😕 I went into the settings, it prompted me to push the up volume button on my remote once, which I did, and I saw the volume go up on my TV, and I got a prompt in the app that said it recognizes my remote and I'm good to go, but then immediately when I pushed the up volume button on my remote it did nothing. womp womp. Strangely, the down volume button was working fine.
It's kinda always wonky. It's either laggy, or it freezes on me, or it only recognizes either the up volume or down volume but not both...
My workaround is to physically push the up or down volume button on the actual Sonos beam sound bar itself - for some reason that snaps it out of the weird issues and makes it respond to the remote again. But I have to do that every couple days.
You really shouldn't have to be doing that power cycle repeatedly. I'd be double checking to see if there's a software update for the TV, if we think it's a CEC handshake issue.
But it's entirely possible, albeit quite unlikely, that there's an issue with the Beam itself. It might be the time to contact Sonos via telephone to discuss it. The reason I suggest the phone rather than their other options is that often, it gives them a bit more in terms of tools to work with, including a remote session with your system to look and see exactly what might be happening (although, given we're talking IR issues, it may not be as easy for them to look at via software).
There's three possibilities, it's the remote, it's the Beam, and it's the TV. Guess I'm trying to cover all the bases, and make sure that we're limiting the variables in the equation. And you have said that it's not the remote, or the TV, so I think it makes sense to touch base directly with Sonos.
But it's entirely possible, albeit quite unlikely, that there's an issue with the Beam itself. It might be the time to contact Sonos via telephone to discuss it. The reason I suggest the phone rather than their other options is that often, it gives them a bit more in terms of tools to work with, including a remote session with your system to look and see exactly what might be happening (although, given we're talking IR issues, it may not be as easy for them to look at via software).
There's three possibilities, it's the remote, it's the Beam, and it's the TV. Guess I'm trying to cover all the bases, and make sure that we're limiting the variables in the equation. And you have said that it's not the remote, or the TV, so I think it makes sense to touch base directly with Sonos.
Thanks will do!
Haven't contacted support yet - but just to let others know I found another workaround. Workaround #1 - physically push the volume buttons on the beam. Workaround #2 - if you have Alexa setup with the Sonos beam and the volume is not responding to the remote you can ask Alexa to "turn up the volume" and she turns it up 10 points which made the Beam respond to the remote again.
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