Skip to main content
Question

Playbar IR reader only registering when LG TV is off

  • June 17, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 36 views

I've gone through all the universal control settings on my LG TV and selected optical and Sonos as the manufacturer. I've turned off SIMPLINK (LOL btw) and auto device detection. I've successfully gone through the remote control setup (TV had to be off to get that to work) on the Sonos app. The LG "magic remote" just refuses to work when the TV is on. Why would LG make it specific to the point you can select Sonos as the manufacturer if it just reverts back to RF/WIFI or whatever when the TV is on? I found some trick that if you hold the back and home button for 5 seconds it disconnects the remote smart features, at which point it does actually change the Sonos volume, but then the remote just reconnects when you hit okay. Am i doing something wrong or is this just a lost cause?

3 replies

Airgetlam
  • June 17, 2026

What did LG’s customer service say? It sound odd, certainly, I’d be tempted to check the TV for updates, and reboot it by unplugging it from the wall for two minutes, but LG is ‘in charge’ of the remote, not Sonos. 


106rallye
Forum|alt.badge.img+18
  • June 17, 2026

Maybe since the TV was off when you set this up, the TV does not know it should not connect to the remote via bluetooth. That might be why the TV and the remote are reverting to bluetooth.

There's no way to tell the TV to use ir? I know some TV's will emit the ir signal themselves after switching this on (my 2019 Samsung does).


buzz
  • June 17, 2026

Note that I have no experience with LG TV’s.

I suggest that you change the setup. Claim to the LG that you want to use its remote to control an arbitrary home theater system, not SONOS, via IR, then configure PLAYBAR to respond to those IR commands. Make sure that SIMPLENET remains disabled.