Last follow up. I bought a 2nd rev 1 Voice Remote Pro (retail, SKU RCS01R) online direct from Roku (8/6/2024). The model delivered is an RC917, like the first rev 1 VRP I bought in Dec 2023.
I paired this new VRP model RC917 with our Roku Ultra 4660X. I did not need to enter "Setup remote for TV control". After the remote as paired to our Ultra, it automatically controlled the power on our Samsung UN65H7150AF TV, and power and volume on our Samsung HW-M550/ZA Soundbar. No other changes needed!
So, that leaves me with several questions. Roku Community and Support, please answer if you can:
Thanks!
On your new remote point the remote at your cellphone camera and press both tv power button and the volume buttons, at different times. Do you see flashes from the front of the Roku remote? Or nothing? Flashes means it controlling your tv by IR. No flashes mean it's controlling the tv by wifi, in other words hdmi-cec. The Roku is picking up the wifi commands and then emitting cec over the hdmi cable to control the Samsung devices. With cec you don't need to program the tv brand, since all tv brands accept the same cec signal for say volume up as each other. It's not magic it knew your tv brand. 🙂
Tivoburkee Thanks for the response!
I pointed the new remote at my phone camera and pressed the remote power button, and saw the blinking IR transmitter at the top of the remote (in the live camera image on my iPhone). I pressed the remote volume up and volume down buttons and also saw the blinking IR transmitter on my phone.
I was standing next to the side of the TV, about 3 feet away with the TV off. I was pointing the remote at my face, so that the remote was not pointed at the Roku Ultra, TV, or soundbar.
Neither the TV nor soundbar turned on.
From the same location, when I press the "back" button on the remote, I see no blinking IR transmitter, but the TV turns on with the Roku home screen displayed.
I moved to the front of the TV, started streaming, and with the Roku remote, turned the volume up, then pressed the mute button. The soundbar was silent.
I then went back to the side of the TV, pointed the remote at my face/camera and pressed the volume up button. IR transmitter is blinking, but still no sound. I did that because I can't see the soundbar display from the side of the TV. Since I cannot tell, visually, whether the soundbar is responding to remote button presses when standing at the side of the TV, I needed a scenario that I could verify with sound.
It seems that some RC917 buttons use wifi/wireless, e.g., the back button, and some use IR, e.g., power, volume and mute. But, that's not too surprising as all my Roku remotes are configured in Roku settings to use IR not CEC.
This Samsung TV does support CEC. But, the soundbar is connected to the TV via optical audio (TOSLINK) cable. I would have to connect the soundbar to the TV via HDMI cable to support CEC between the TV and soundbar.
So, your Samsung tv and Samsung soundbar respond to the same code. You're adding a new remote to older Roku, which was already programmed for Samsung devices. So, the new remote during pairing was loaded with Samsung tv code like your other remotes that control the same Roku.
Samsung tv codes aren't all exactly alike, there are older Samsung codes preset in oem & universal remotes with an old protocol, which doesn't give you repeating volume commands when used on updated Samsung tv's. You have to press it constantly to get it to move the volume up & down. Maybe the 4k+ remote is programmed for an older Samsung code, which the soundbar doesn't respond to?
Tivoburkee Thanks for the reply!
Tivoburkee wrote:So, your Samsung tv and Samsung soundbar respond to the same code. You're adding a new remote to older Roku, which was already programmed for Samsung devices. So, the new remote during pairing was loaded with Samsung tv code like your other remotes that control the same Roku.
That certainly seems to be the case. It is interesting that both new rev 1 VRP RC917 remotes loaded the correct codes during pairing, but the rev 1 VRP RC795 remote did not.
Tivoburkee wrote:Samsung tv codes aren't all exactly alike, there are older Samsung codes preset in oem & universal remotes with an old protocol, which doesn't give you repeating volume commands when used on updated Samsung tv's. You have to press it constantly to get it to move the volume up & down.
I never really paid attention to this. I tried it now with the Gaming Remote RC193 and both VRP RC917 remotes. When I press and hold the volume up or volume down buttons, the soundbar volume continues to increase or decrease, respectively. I don't know if that is a repeating volume command, but the old Gaming Remote RC193 supports that protocol, as do the newer rev 1 VRP RC917 remotes.
Tivoburkee wrote:Maybe the 4k+ remote is programmed for an older Samsung code, which the soundbar doesn't respond to?
Right - the Express 4K's rev 1 VRP RC795 doesn't seem to have or be able to find the codes to control my Samsung soundbar. That is, after forgetting the RC795, pairing the RC795 to the Ultra (but not entering TV control setup), the volume controls on the RC795 do not control the soundbar. When I press the volume buttons on the RC795, the red LED in the TV's IR receiver isn't blinking, either. So, it seems that pairing the RC795 won't loaded it with the codes for my Samsung TV or soundbar.
Also, the RC795 takes me right into TV control setup. If I continue with TV control setup, it will iterate 8 codes, then fail out. That is, I am prompted to confirm my TV brand (it recognizes that I have a Samsung TV), asks me if music is playing, then tries codes 1 through 8, asking if I still hear musing playing, and whether I want to continue. After code 8, I get the "Unable to set up remote. We couldn't set up your Roku remote to work with your SAMSUNG TV. Try again or set it up later. To learn more, visit go.roku.com/remotehelp" message.
Lesson Learned: When replacing older Roku remotes, buy a retail Roku remote instead of buying a Roku Express that includes a remote that you think you want. Apparently, not all rev 1 Voice Remote Pro models are equal. The retail rev 1 VRP RC917 seems to support more TV and soundbar codes than the rev 1 VRP RC795 that comes with the Roku Express 4K.
