Contributor I

FIXED: Sonos Playbar Remote Pairing with TCL TV remote – What Actually Worked

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
May 5, 2025
45 replies
9191 views

I wanted to share this in case someone else runs into the same frustrating issue I did:

TV: TCL P7K QLED Google TV (2025 model)
Soundbar: Sonos Playbar (2015)
Connection: Optical cable (no HDMI ARC)
Remote: TCL stock remote (IR + Bluetooth hybrid)

🧨 The Problem:

The Sonos S1 app wouldn’t complete remote pairing. Sometimes it would recognize the first Volume + press, sometimes not. If it did, it would fail on Volume - and say “volume control with optical is not supported” (which is nonsense — Playbar is designed for IR+optical).

Disabling HDMI-CEC on the TV didn’t help.
IR confirmed working via phone camera.
Bluetooth turned off didn’t work.
Factory reset on the bar made no difference.
Universal remote wouldn't pair either (even though it had worked with the Playbar before).

✅ What Finally Worked:

After all else failed, we just started mashing the requested buttons repeatedly during setup like we were speed-running a boss fight in a video game.

Literally just kept pressing Volume + rapid-fire at different angles, and eventually Sonos accepted it. Same with Volume -. If one of the steps timed out, hit the ‘back’ button once and try that step again.

Moral of the story: If everything else checks out, and Sonos sees some input but won’t pair, go full gamer mode on the remote. Don’t be gentle.

Hope this saves someone 2 hours and some sanity.

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H

HairBear

Lyricist I

Another option for the geeky minded amongst you:

Use the TCL TV API to get the current TV volume level - this value is still updated with remote keypresses even when you switch off the built-in speakers
Use the Sonos Playbar API to set the volume level to the value you got from the TV.

I do this using a HomeAssistant automation via the integrations for both Sonos and Android TV. It runs every time a value change on the TV volume is reported. It works incredibly well and is surprisingly responsive with little to no lag. As a bonus you can leave the remote in Bluetooth mode which I prefer to IR mode

The downside is that you’re relying on a 3rd system as a middleman. But so far it’s the best way I’ve found to do it without using another remote.

T

tripmaster

Lyricist III

Another option for the geeky minded amongst you:

Use the TCL TV API to get the current TV volume level - this value is still updated with remote keypresses even when you switch off the built-in speakers
Use the Sonos Playbar API to set the volume level to the value you got from the TV.

I do this using a HomeAssistant automation via the integrations for both Sonos and Android TV. It runs every time a value change on the TV volume is reported. It works incredibly well and is surprisingly responsive with little to no lag. As a bonus you can leave the remote in Bluetooth mode which I prefer to IR mode

The downside is that you’re relying on a 3rd system as a middleman. But so far it’s the best way I’ve found to do it without using another remote.

Man i’d love to read how you did it!

H

HairBear

Lyricist I

First thing you need is HomeAssistant running on your network:

https://www.home-assistant.io/getting-started/

Once you are running HomeAssistant, the TV should be automatically discovered and offered to you to add in the settings->devices & services. If not, it can be added manually by selecting Add Integration -> Android TV Remote and supplying the TV’s IP. See more here:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/androidtv_remote/

Your Sonos system should be auto discovered too in the same way. If not, once again add it manually with Add Integration -> Sonos. See more here:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/sonos/

With both now configured you can set up an Automation in Settings -> Automations & scenes. Here is general info on automations:

https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/automation/
Specifically, my automation is configured as follows:

alias: TV - Sonos Volume
description: ""
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id:
      - media_player.living_room_tv_3
    attribute: volume_level
conditions: []
actions:
  - action: media_player.volume_set
    metadata: {}
    data:
      volume_level: "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.volume_level }}"
    target:
      device_id:
        - 08643b437ed928bd060a240f0a21f15d
mode: single