Remotes

[generdude]

My brand new remote works on all the buttons except for power and volume. I have gone thru the set up procedure many times. Each code asks if I still hear music and each time I do hear music. I have tried controlling the volume each time just in case I'm supposed to do that. Finally I get the message that the remote cannot be set up to control the Samsung tv at this time.

[RokuArjiemar]

Hello! @generdude,

Thanks for posting in the Roku Community!

We appreciate you contacting us about setting up your Roku Voice remote to control the Power and volume of your TV. We're pleased to assist. 

After your Roku device is activated and set up, you can access the settings menu at any time to set up your voice remote to control your TV. If your Roku device is connected to an AVR or soundbar, we recommend temporarily connecting it directly to your TV during setup to successfully detect the brand of your TV.

1. Press the Home button on your Roku Voice remote 
2. Scroll and select Settings
3. Select Remotes & devices
4. Select Remote
5. Choose your voice remote from the list and select Set up remote for TV control
6. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the process

When information is gathered via HDMI, often only the brand of the device connected directly to your Roku device can be detected. For this reason, we recommend you always connect your Roku device directly to your TV during setup. If you plan to set up your Roku device for surround sound, temporarily connect your Roku device directly to your TV and complete the setup before making any connections to the AVR or soundbar.

As described above, your Roku device plays music to help during the setup process. If you do not hear the music or it does not mute correctly, review the troubleshooting steps for setting up your Roku voice remote to control the power and volume on your ....

Your Roku voice remote cannot directly control other devices connected to your TV. But through a technology called HDMI-CEC, it can indirectly control the volume for external devices like an AVR or a soundbar. For this to work, all your devices must be connected via HDMI^®, and all devices must support HDMI-CEC and have this feature enabled. To learn if your TV, AVR or soundbar supports this technology refer to the documentation for each device. Be aware that manufacturers may refer to HDMI-CEC by a different name.

Thanks,
Arjiemar

[makaiguy · Accepted solution]

Voice Remotes are hybrids.  They communicate with their linked Roku via WiFi direct, but can send TV power, volume, and mute commands to TVs via infrared (IR) the same as most TV remotes.

The standard way to set up a Voice Remote is to get it to find the set of IR commands that works with your set. This requires a pretty extensive group of IR command sets.

But some TVs support controlling a variety of functions by standard commands sent to them over the HDMI connection between the Roku and the TV instead of, or addition to, by IR commands from a remote.  This is known as CEC (Consumer Electronic Control).   The TV may support all or a subset of these functions.  If supported by your TV for power, volume, and mute commands, this Voice Remote feature is, in my opinion, superior to standard IR control because the Voice Remote controls via Wifi and doesn't need to be pointed at the Roku to work.  (Roku non-Voice remotes have no power., volume, or mute buttons and so can't control these functions).

I have no confirmation of this, but I suspect that for TVs that do accept CEC commands for power, volume, and mute, Roku may have simplified their IR control command library by removing those IR code sets, relying on the user to set up CEC use instead.

CEC may not be enabled by default on your TV so you may need to enable it.  Unfortunately many TV manufacturers label their CEC support features with their own proprietary names.  For your Samsung, CEC is called Anytime+.  (See this Wikipedia link for other manufacturers' CEC terminology.)

To see if your CEC-enabled TV supports these CEC functions, use Roku menu path Settings / Remotes devices / Remotes / (select your currently active remote) / Set up remote for TV control / CEC setup and follow the prompts.

[generdude]

My SAMSUNG 49KS8000F made in 2016 has a One Connect Box This is where HDMI plugs in; the HDMI doesn't have a place on the tv itself. (The box is like a hub for computer peripherals.)

I also tried the CEC instructions but that didn't work either.