Getting nVidia Shield remote to control Sonos Beam volume

JustAnotherSaver

nVidia Shield: https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/shield/shield-tv-pro/ The 2019 pro one

TV: https://www.panasonic.com/uk/support/discontinued-products/televisions/tx-58dx750b.specs.html

Sonos Beam (first one) connected to TV via HDMI port 2.

Connected the Shield up for the first time this week & story short I can't change the volume using the Shield's remote, I have to use the TV remote to do that. Not the end of the world but a bit annoying all the same.

If it's possible to sort it then I don't know how. I went to find devices, entered Sonos & still can't do it.

So if someone reading this has managed to do it then I'd be most grateful.

[Deleted User]

Great choice of Android TV box, I have one too.

So there are two options for controlling the volume of other devices, both infrared and through the HDMI CEC (known as Viera link on Panasonic).

CEC option:

On the shield got to:

Settings > Device Preferences > Display & Sound > Volume control

If you enable the CEC setting, it will pass the volume up/down through the HDMI lead to the TV and this in turn should operate the volume for the Sonos bar.


If you haven't already being using this method, you will also need to enable "Viera Link" in your TV and also check HDMI CEC is enabled on your Sonos.

You will also need to ensure your HDMI 2 is the ARC port (probably is) and also check the HDMI cable is CEC compatible.

IR option
You can also configure the Shield remote to fire IR signals compatible with most devices in the same menu as mentioned above, and you can either change the config in Shield to match what your Sonos supports or if possible, set the Sonos to respond - you may need to meet in the middle with a common TV manufacturer.

At the bottom of the menu option below is the "Change IR setup"

Settings > Device Preferences > Display & Sound > Volume control

JustAnotherSaver

Thanks for the response.

I went in yesterday and started messing with the IR option and found it actually worked.

Switched back to CEC and again it was now working. Weird.

The only down side to it is that before the sound bar, i would select volume and you'd get a number. This was best as you had a number to work off so I knew at volume 20 I was good.

Then i installed the soundbar and you'd get a +/- on the screen (as in both IIRC) to show that you were altering volume. You just had to keep pressing until you were happy.

Now there's nothing. Nothing shows up on screen at all through the nVidia Shield but it at least is now altering the volume.

[Deleted User]

It won't show anything because the Shield and the TV don't know what the volume is set at in terms of a level number, they just pass the up/down signal through to the sound bar.

Neither the Shield or the TV are altering the volume, the Shield just sends a digital sound signal to the TV, the TV passes that straight through to the Sonos and there is no concept of volume in that signal at all until it reaches the analogue stage in the Sonos which can be altered in volume.

Because only the Sonos knows what the volume is, there is no way to show that on screen.

If you do IR volume control for the TV to pick up and pass through to Sonos as CEC signal, then you should get a +/- on screen, but I'm not sure whether the Sonos can pass the volume number back to the TV - I've not come across a device that does that so I'm not sure if it is possible.

JustAnotherSaver

No when it was set up as IR it didn't give any indication of volume change on the screen either.

You seem to know your stuff. Are you able to tell me then why the Shield doesn't show anything on the screen (regards volume) but the Amazon FireStick does?

[Deleted User]

JustAnotherSaver said:

No when it was set up as IR it didn't give any indication of volume change on the screen either.

You seem to know your stuff. Are you able to tell me then why the Shield doesn't show anything on the screen (regards volume) but the Amazon FireStick does?

Interesting, I was so intrigued I had a scan of the Sonos forums and it seems to be dependent on the input device and model of TV in use along with the model of Sonos sound bar itself. Some people even see it work one week and not another!

So maybe it isn't as simple as I first explained, I've never had a volume indicator with HDMI CEC and HDMI ARC in use - maybe some other forum members can share their experience and see if they know of a way to get it working?

I've always though most devices send the audio on "passthrough" mode which means the digital signal is unaltered and volume is not ... so I went on the Nvdia forums and found this

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/328298/shield-pro-volume-control/



Dolby Audio processing seems to be a factor as well.

Nothing is ever simple!

JustAnotherSaver

Hmm i think your closing line is bang on the money. Thank you very much for your time, it's really appreciated.

The main thing is it works. Would've been nice to have a symbol on the screen showing that i'm pressing a button but hey ho we can't have everything. At least it works now and I don't need to keep 2 remotes with me on the sofa