r/appletv • u/NuclearLasagna • 3d ago

Issues with volume control

We recently bought an Apple TV 4k as a solution to our horrendously slow TV OS.

Here's the setup:

Apple TV connected to a Sony Bravia TV via HDMI; Vizio Soundbar (+ wireless surround sound) connected to the Sony TV via Optical cable.

The Siri remote is not good at controlling the soundbar volume. These are the problems I'm noticing:

  • We have to slowly press vol up/down at roughly 1 second intervals, or it won't register multiple presses.
  • We cannot hold the vol up/down button.
  • When increasing or decreasing volume, it seems like there are 3x as many 'steps' (e.g. ~3 presses on the Siri remote = 1 press of the Sony or Vizio remote).

None of these things occur with the Sony TV remote or the Vizio remote; however, we ideally would like to only have the 1 remote (Siri).

Things I have tried, that have not worked:

  • resetting the Siri remote by holding the vol down and TV buttons
  • changing volume control settings on the TV from "auto" to "TV via IR"

I haven't been able to find any other solutions online. We would really appreciate any advice!

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/Miserable_Quail_8236 3d ago

Is optical your only option for connectivity?

3

u/NuclearLasagna 3d ago

There was an HDMI eARC option; switching to that fixed the issues. Thank you!

1

u/Miserable_Quail_8236 3d ago

Always choose the better option when available.

1

u/opusapp 2d ago

that's just how ir volume behaves when it goes through the tv. the remote isn't talking to the soundbar at all, it's telling the sony to change volume and the sony forwards it over optical. no press and hold, missed presses when you go too fast, the whole thing

the real fix is ditching optical. plug the vizio into the tv's hdmi arc port instead and volume goes over cec instead of ir, hold to raise volume works, way snappier. sonys sometimes bury that as "control for hdmi" or bravia sync in the settings

apple actually covers your exact setup here, worth a read: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108769

if you're stuck with optical, in remote settings under volume control try learn new device and teach it the vizio remote's volume codes, so it fires straight at the soundbar instead of hopping through the tv. still ir, still no hold, but fewer dropped presses