topic Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings in TV

EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 11:46:19 GMT

My TV is connected to a Marantz Receiver for audio and EETV mini box.

If I set the Bluetooth control setting on the mini box to TV, then I get - volume adjust, no mute and it switches off TV.

If I set it to 'Set top box', then I get - volume adjust, mute and no switch off TV even when holding down for a few seconds.

Is there a way to get the volume adjust, mute and TV off all working?

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 14:23:16 GMT

@imacken

Try resetting the remote, plugging the Box Mini into the TV instead of the Marantz, and letting it suss the TV out directly.

If this works, you may then be able to go back to having the Box Mini plugged into the Marantz, for better audio, ease of control, and/or both, and have it all still work.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 14:28:29 GMT

Sorry, I just realised that my post might have confused you.
My mini box is connected to my TV. The TV audio only is connected to the Marantz receiver.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 15:24:13 GMT

@imacken

Sure did 😢

With my Box Mini remote in TV mode, Mute uses the TV Mute on my LG GX; with it in Set Top Box, it uses the Box Mute.

So your problem seems to be that the remote in TV mode isn’t controlling the TV mute.

Try repairing them; if still no go, report the make and model of the TV here, so EETV can get these details corrected.

Have you got the Box in Surround Mode, or Stereo?

In Set Top Box mode, it does not control my Volume, reporting instead that the Box Is in Surround Mode. If it was in Stereo mode, I would expect it to control the volume, but by changing the Box volume, not the TV volume.

In TV mode, it does control the TV volume, on the TV. Also, it turns off the TV, and the Box.

In Set Top Box mode, mine also does not switch off the TV even with a long press.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 15:26:33 GMT

Hmm, strange that we are so different.

Just to confirm, for me, the things that are wrong are 1) in 'TV' mode it doesn't mute receiver audio from the TV, and 2) in 'Set Top box' mode, it doesn't switch off the TV.

The TV model is Samsung PS50C680.

Not sure what you mean by 'try repairing them'.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:07:51 GMT

@imacken

You haven’t yet answered if your Box is in Stereo or Surround Mode. That could explain one difference.

(1) What happens if you mute the TV, while it is feeding into the Marantz AV, with the TV remote? Does it work? Where does the mute symbol show, TV or AV, or both?

(2) We don’t differ on this.

This TV is a plasma? Plasmas drive YouView boxes crazy. Hang a black cloth over the IR sensor on the front of the Box Mini, or make sure it is absolutely out of line of sight from the TV, and try the above again. Even with the Box Mini set for Bluetooth, it will respond to IR, and YouView boxes think plasma TVs are talking gibberish to them over IR.

Re-pairing 😛

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:33:31 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Thanks again.

The mini box is in stereo mode.

1) maybe I'm not explaining this too well, but the Marantz AV is always connected to the TV. If the remote is set to 'TV' mode, then the sound does not mute, but it does go up and down. If the remote is set to 'Set Top Box', then the sound does mute - and that shows both on the TV and the AV - and it can be adjusted up and down.

Re-pairing made no difference.

The TV is a plasma, and putting a dark cloth over the IR sensor made no difference.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:59:20 GMT

@imacken

Your explanations are great; I’m still short by one answer though, which I’ll cover below.

The difference between TV mode and Set Top Box mode is what they operate on; logically enough, whether the remote aims its commands at the TV, or at the YouView box. And there are subtle differences; what the TV shows as its symbol for a TV mute is different from what it shows for a YouView mute.

I don’t have Set Top Box Control of volume because Surround mode goes to 100% max volume on the YouView box, and isn’t adjustable, so I see no change. You see a change because you are in Stereo mode, where the YouView box volume is controllable.

I have TV mute because my YouView Box remote is accurately sending an IR signal for an LG TV mute, same as the dedicated LG remote for the TV does.

You don’t have TV mute because whatever your YouView box sends as an IR TV mute signal isn’t what your Samsung TV is expecting (and isn’t anything your Samsung TV could expect), so it does nothing.

Thats why I asked you what happens on screen when you mute with the dedicated remote for the Samsung TV, because I’m betting that mute symbol looks different from what the YouView box mute looks like. But you didn’t report back on this 😢

If re-pairing and the black cloth trick made no difference, then I guess the YouView Box remote just doesn’t have the IR command for the TV mute in its repertoire 😢

I’m a bit surprised, as Samsung codes don’t change all that much, and it does do the On/Off and Volume; but we are talking about a 14 year old TV, so there may not be much to be done here 😢

You might want to try getting a One For All Remote, or similar, after first checking if that has its TV in your repertoire.

Or maybe it’s nature’s way of telling you it’s time from a new TV 😛

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 20:40:19 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Ok, thanks to your questions, I've worked out the issue. The TV remote does not mute the sound from the optical output going to the Marantz either. It only mutes if I select the internal TV speaker. Then, the EETV remote also mutes it.

So, looks like there is no solution.

This TV is in a spare room, and although it is 13 years old, it works very nicely with a high qulaity HD picture and I have no reason to change it atm.

Thanks a lot for all your help in this!

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:25:20 GMT

@imacken

It’s not odd that mute doesn’t work on optical, but it is odd that volume up/down works on it in that case.

Normally, optical is either completely fixed or completely variable. If the one, volume shouldn’t work; if the other, then mute should.

Can you connect amp and TV by ARC, or does one or other device predate this?

What, exactly, is the model number of the Marantz?

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:57:26 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Exactly what I thought. Why does it control volume but not mute?

The amp is https://www.marantz.com/en-gb/product/amplifiers/pm7000n/PM7000NGB.html. It’s my hi-fi amp, not AV receiver. I was thinking of my Yamaha AV receiver - in another room - when I said earlier it was a AV receiver!

Not sure if the Samsung has ARC. How can I tell?

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 09:24:09 GMT

@imacken

I looked up the manual for your TV online; no ARC. And few if any HiFi amps have ARC, and yours doesn’t anyway.

But as it’s just a stereo amp, I’d be inclined to take a feed from the headphone output of your TV, and run that into the amp instead of using optical. That should give you control of both volume and mute with the Box Mini remote on TV, and TV On/Off as well.

Normally, I would support Optical out in preference to Headphone out, as Optical can pass 5.1, not just stereo. But as your amp has nothing to handle 5.1, you might as well stay in stereo, on both the Box Mini and the TV, and get the full control you want.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 09:49:09 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Thanks again.

The TV has Anynet + HDMI/CEC.

Would using the headphone output not confuse things? Would the EETV remote not alter the volume of the output going to the amp, and then the amp and TV levels would become confused. No?

Looks like I have to decide whether the EETV remote controls mute or TV switch off.

Another thing I find interesting is that the TV remote does not control the optical output at all - no up/down or mute - yet, the EETV remote does control up/down even when in TV mode!

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:16:52 GMT

@imacken

I see you found the headphone output 😛

Yes, the remote would alter the volume of the output going to the amp. But this is what *something* (see below) is already doing, so what’s the issue here?

I don’t think you have to decide at all. It may be that you haven’t got a 3.5mm stereo jack to two phonos cable in your bits box, but that’s a small expenditure to try this.

As regards the TV remote not controlling the optical output, I’m unsurprised - most equipment regards optical out as fixed level, to be controlled by the sink (receiving) device, and that is consistent with the muting being disabled when you use optical out.

As I’ve said above, you can generally tell when you alter the volume or muting with the Box Mini remote in either mode which device it is affecting, as the mute symbol and volume indicator are different on the TV and the Box Mini (even though they both appear overlaid on the Box Mini picture).

And I wouldn’t be surprised if the volume adjustment that the Box Mini does, even in TV mode, when you are using the amp, is actually done on the Box Mini, not on the TV.

Try these controls with the amp disconnected, and see if what volume control display appears on the screen changes between amp connected and amp disconnected.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:49:54 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Thanks again.

I would need to buy a 6-7 metre jack to phonos lead, but I certainly could do that.

In TV mode, the EETV remote is definitely changing the amp volume as I can see it on the Marantz display, and nothing shows on the TV screen.

I think the only thing left to explain is why the EETV remote (in TV mode) directly adjusts volume on the Marantz, but won’t mute it.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:55:44 GMT

@imacken

Has the Marantz got a mute function at all, either on its remote (if it has one), or as a button on the amp?

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

imacken — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:57:56 GMT

@Midnight_Voice

Yes it does.

Re: EETV Mini box won't switch off TV with certain settings

Midnight_Voice — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:15:45 GMT

@imacken

That’s another theory gone west then…. 😢