Fios remote turning up Vizio Soundbar with any button

Update: Vizio has come out with a firmware update for M21d-H8 soundbar (1.2.0.5) that has seemingly fixed the MUTE CEC issue that I found. My workaround configuration seems to work fully now for me with the Fios remote. Thanks Vizio!

All comments

Skurph

I have a Vizio TV and Vizio sound bar, and we've had this current set up with out STB for probably close to 4 years. Today I noticed that when I was browsing the channel guid the volume on the sound bar kept decreasing. In fact every single button press on the cable remote takes the sounder volume down a peg. I've scoured the internet and can't find anything about this. I've unplugged the STB, and the sound bar and nothing has changed.

Any ideas?

If this is with the new voice remote try going into the voice remote settings, restore factory settings for remote, then manually add your TV and sound bar back in. Go to Menu > Settings > Voice control > Fios TV Voice Remote > Program Voice Remote > Manual Setup

Select your TV or Receiver or Soundbar Brand and Model and follow the steps,
You will see a “Success” message in the top right of the TV screen when the setup is complete.

@ssk299 wrote:
We recently purchased a Vizio soundbar (M21d-H8) and hooked it up to our Vizio TV(E60-F3) thru the ARC..No issues until about two weeks later. We use our fios remote to control the tv and now no matter what button we push on the remote the volume with turn up or down depending on the last way you pushed the volume button. So..changing the channel, pausing etc will mess with the volume. Also the tv will randomly turn on after we have turned it off... I spoke with Vizio and they were no help, told me to contact Verizon. Anyone had an issue like this??? I have not gotten in contact with Verizon just yet.

First take the batteries out of the remote for 5 minutes and put them back in. You'll probably have to re-program the remote. Next go to settings>Audio and video>video settings and disable video input control.

That unfortunately did not work..Thanks for trying though!!

@ssk299 wrote:
That unfortunately did not work..Thanks for trying though!!

Try deleting the remote and re-pairing it to the Fios box, and re-programming it to your TV and soundbar. Are you running Fios box to TV then soundbar via ARC, or Fios to soundbar to TV?

sgleason1

Hi,

We have a Vizio Sound Bar for the TV. We have paired the remote. However, the volume changes when pressing any button. I have tried rebooting the Fios box, re-pairing the remote, re-pairing the Sound Bar, etc. Not sure where to go from here!

thank you!

@sgleason wrote:
Hi,
We have a Vizio Sound Bar for the TV. We have paired the remote. However, the volume changes when pressing any button. I have tried rebooting the Fios box, re-pairing the remote, re-pairing the Sound Bar, etc. Not sure where to go from here!
thank you!

I'd start by taking the batteries out of the remote for 5 minutes, then erasing its programming and trying again. Sounds like it had a hiccup when programming. If you have another remote for a different box, you could try programming that one for the TV and Vizio and see if that works.

MC93

I had this same issue! However, I use a Harmony remote (I had to change the setting for command repeats on the Arris box to zero), not the Fios remote. So unfortunately I can only offer you a suggestion. My suggestion would be to unpair the Fios remote from the soundbar and use the soundbar remote to change volume.

Also, do you have the soundbar in ARC or optical? If ARC, maybe switch to optical and turn off CEC on your TV.

This is a tough issue and I’m pretty sure my Fios remote still does it. But since I don’t use it, and I fixed the Harmony, no harm done. Hope you somehow get it working!

MC93

I just replied to someone else with this same issue. I have the same soundbar as you with the same problem. I never got it fixed with my Fios remote. But since I use a Harmony remote (which also had the same issue, but I was able to fix it), no harm done. My suggestion to him/her was to unpair from the Fios remote and just use the Vizio remote to change volume.

Also, maybe switch to optical connection and turn off CEC on your TV and then re-pair to Fios remote. I think it basically boils down to some issue with CEC, but if you turn off CEC while it’s plugged into ARC you won’t get sound.

I'm having same issue vizio tv and soundbar and with every button press on fios remote it changes soundbar volume. Using hdmi arc tv to soundbar. I have an older qip 7232 set top box no voice remote.

I don't think it's cec. I unplugged my hdmi arc from the vizio m21 soundbar and it still responds to fios button presses increasing or decreasing the volume based on most recent volume change (I see the soundbar leds change). I think vizio is responding to fios IR codes which is incredulous... but that doesn't explain why for two weeks things were working for the original poster.

@DirkDaring wrote:
I'm having same issue vizio tv and soundbar and with every button press on fios remote it changes soundbar volume. Using hdmi arc tv to soundbar. I have an older qip 7232 set top box no voice remote.

Sounds like a recent Vizio update that changed the remote coding in some way. The Newer voice remote and the older remote you have both use the same codesets, so it has to be the soundbar since the codes in your remote can't be updated. Only other thing would be to try disconnecting the HDMI cable to the soundbar and see if the volume still changes. That would rule out CEC and ARC issues and would place the blame on the soundbar itself.

lmk99

I am having the same exact issue and not sure what to do. Has anyone found a way to fix this issue yet?

I currently have my Vizio soundbar connected to the ARC in the TV and Fios connected to the TV.

My remote is not a voice activation remote, it is the VZ P265v5. I noticed if I put the volume where I want and then shut off the tv and fios box and restart without touching the volume I can then use the remote without the volume either increasing or decreasing. This is definitely not a solution

@lmk99 wrote:
I am having the same exact issue and not sure what to do. Has anyone found a way to fix this issue yet?
I currently have my Vizio soundbar connected to the ARC in the TV and Fios connected to the TV.
My remote is not a voice activation remote, it is the VZ P265v5. I noticed if I put the volume where I want and then shut off the tv and fios box and restart without touching the volume I can then use the remote without the volume either increasing or decreasing. This is definitely not a solution

This is looking more and more like a problem with the Vizio soundbar itself. No one else with any other brand has reported this issue. The fact you are using the P265 remote, which can't be software upgraded and it is not functioning correctly shows it is not the remote itself. as I said, has the soundbar had a firmware update recently? Which APR version does your Fios box have? Did you try turning the Fios box off and seeing if the remote correctly controls the soundbar volume?

lmk99

Thank you for replying. I am not sure if there was a firmware update as I just received this soundbar and TV for christmas, I assume it is all up to date. I don't know.

My APR is version 7.5, I've tried shutting off the box and it still acts up. If I shut it off and then turn it back on without touching the volume button it works great, once I adjust the volume the issue starts. So strange.

@lmk99 wrote:
Thank you for replying. I am not sure if there was a firmware update as I just received this soundbar and TV for christmas, I assume it is all up to date. I don't know.
My APR is version 7.5, I've tried shutting off the box and it still acts up. If I shut it off and then turn it back on without touching the volume button it works great, once I adjust the volume the issue starts. So strange.

Just for fun, try adjusting the volume with the Vizio remote first and see if the soundbar does the same thing. Sounds to me Vizio messed up their firmware. You should contact them and ask for a fix. This actually happens more frequently than you would imagine.

BLUF: Vizio soundbar enters mode where it will partially acknowledge FIOS remote commands with the effect of 'repeating' the previous soundbar command action on FIOS remote button push
Hardware: Vizio m21d-h8 connect HDMI ARC with CEC enabled to 2018 PQ65-F1 Vizio tv. FIOS remote is a p265v5 for an older QIP 7232 FIOS HD STB
Workaround (this worked for me YMMV)
1)FIOS remote: Resest remote to factory. Program with FIOS TV code.
2) Soundbar: Reset to factory settings. Put soundbar into 'Disable use of VIZIO TV remote' mode. This will make the soundbar ignore volume adjustments with your VIZIO TV remote and FIOS volume buttons..but those actions will be accomplished through the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) interface. The soundbar will still accept remote commands from the Vizio soundbar remote.
3) Enable CEC on Vizio TV. TV should discover soundbar...volume adjustments will work with FIOS remote or Vizio TV remote..and other FIOS remote keys should not change soundbar settings/volume/etc.
Issues: Soundbar seems to ignore 'MUTE' over CEC when commanding TV. TV goes to MUTE but not soundbar. This would indicate an incompatibility with the TV CEC firmware and the soundbar firmware (please fix VIZIO!). There is a workaround but it brings to bear the original issue. You can use the Vizio soundbar remote, or 'teach' the soundbar the IR code for MUTE command from your FIOS remote. However this creates the bad behavior with repeat command. A MUTE press on the FIOS remote commands the TV AND soundbar (IR) with MUTE command. Somewhere in the handling of the CEC command and the IR command the soundbar gets into a mode where any further FIOS button presses (channel up, last channel, play, pause etc) with make the soundbar repeat the last command it handled (ie a MUTE in this case, or a volume change that most others have experienced.) For some reason the soundbar is at least partially accepting FIOS IR codes and interpreting the code as a 'repeat previous command' action. To get out of this bizarre mode...send a valid CEC command from the TV (ie volume up/down in my case..as I only taught the soundbar to recognize a MUTE IR command and ignore others.)

I am still dealing with this issue as it sounds like many of you are...Today I contacted fios (no help) and called Vizio...I was able to update the firmware on my soundbar to the latest and it did nothing. I am still having this issue.

Ok all Vizio confirmed it is probably a coding issue between the sound bar and the remote. No way to fix this. Returning my sound bar this week.

How did you check/update firmware? Did you attempt the workaround I detailed?

I have tried so many of the workarounds...Not worth keeping the soundbar if it isn’t going to function without me having to trick it. I downloaded the updated firmware from the vizio support site on a USB drive. I then plugged the USB drive into the soundbar. The firmware updated but that was not the issue.

Now that I have learned more about how the soundbar functions I doubt it was actually working before. We weren’t using the tv much and the problem will begin only once you adjust the volume for the first time after tv is turned on. So if I never adjusted the volume the issue wouldn’t happen. Found this one out while troubleshooting more and more.

Timmy11

I think it has to be a Verizon issue. I am having the same exact problem with my Bose soundbar. I found this thread while looking for Bose tips. Since multiple brands are having the same exact issue, it has to be a Verizon problem.

My current solution, use HDMI and have the TV control the volume and I have a post it note covering my IR sensor on the soundbar