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TV Remote not controlling Playbar

  • 12 December 2022
  • 4 replies
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I have two Playbars both bought from the same shop a few weeks apart in 2016, connected via Optical cable to two TVs.  One with a new Samsung TV worked immediately with the TV remote to control the volume of the Playbar.  The other was on an older Panasonic TV and the Playbar volume never worked with the Remote.  The TV sound came out of the TV speakers and the Sonos Playbar, but you had to control the Sonos Playbar volume levels through the Sonos App.  I assumed this was due to the age of the TV. 

However, I have now moved the Samsung TV to the other room and connected it to this 2nd Playbar and the Remote still does not control the Playbar volume.  It still has to be controlled on the Sonos App.  I am now thinking there must be an issue with the Playbar. 

They look identical on the system, same version, hardware, series ID.  The only difference in setup is the one not working on remote hasn’t got Trueplay tuning set up as everytime I try that, it errors saying I’m not moving enough even though I am going round the whole room. 

Any ideas would be appreciated?  Was really looking forward to moving the Samsung TV in to the room and having this issue resolved.  I can’t move the other Playbar, as that is now working fully against a newer Samsung TV. 

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Best answer by John B 12 December 2022, 18:36

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4 replies

What happens when you go into the app Settings for the Playbar you want to control and go through the Remote Control Setup process?  Any warnings or error messages?

Is the remote control an IR remote?

No, there are no issues or warnings in the app.  It all looks normal, and just shows that the Playbar is playing the TV at the moment.  The remote is the Samsung remote that came with the TV, and that remote was working with the other Playbar.  I presume the TV volume has to send a message down the Optical wire to control the volume, because the TV is showing the Optical Volume symbol, not the normal TV Sound level when you use the remote, so either the wire isn’t working or something is stopping the Playbar from receiving or reacting to the message.  Perhaps I should try swapping the optical cables and see if that fixes the problem. 

You have followed the advice in this article?  And you are not expecting a remote that has been paired to one Playbar just to work with another Playbar without re-pairing?

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/control-sonos-home-theater-with-your-tv-remote

I very much doubt that Trueplay is relevant to the problem.

You may try factory resetting the troublesome Playbar ONLY, if nothing else works.

The setting up of the remote has solved the problem thanks.  As the other Playbar had just worked, I hadn’t seen that option so feeling a bit stupid!

Thanks for the help!!  Both Playbars working perfectly now.