How do I unmute my BT YouView box when I have programmed the remote to control my TV?

RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
edited 19 December 2021, 4:07PM in Community
I’m just setting up an extra YouView box, a DTRT2110, having been badly let down by Channel 4 not putting Friday’s Countdown on catchup in a timely way (again!)

It’s there now, but the pot of tea we drink while watching it has long since gone cold 😢

And I’ve just programmed the remote to operate the LG TV the YouView box will be sitting under. And had no trouble doing that.

After which, the Vol+, Vol- and Mute buttons on the remote now operate the TV functions, not the YouView box functions. Great.

However, I did it with the YouView box muted, and now the remote won’t unmute the YouView box, or if it will, I don’t know how.

TalkTalk yes, I knew in 2013, but that trick doesn’t seem to work for BT.
I guess there ought to be a way, though; anybody know what it might be? 

Solutions that involve resetting the remote, or using another YouView remote (which is how I’ve got out of it for now) will not be accepted 😛

Wiring this box in turns out to be a major faff, despite there being Ethernet points all over our ‘smart home’; the remote end, usually the major issue needing a long wire or PLAs is well taken care of here, but the distribution board in the cupboard where the 12 cables emerge under the router is a bit academic, as all 3 spare ports on the router are already taken, and there is no room for my Ethernet switch anywhere (unless I hang it on the wall!)

So we have a TP-Link nanorouter coming tomorrow to make the YouView box WiFi 😀

And all because the lady loves Milk Tray Countdown, and streaming is still not where it ought to be 😢
‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris

Comments

  • LukеLukе Member Posts: 84 ✭✭
    Roy said:
    And I’ve just programmed the remote to operate the LG TV the YouView box will be sitting under. And had no trouble doing that.

    After which, the Vol+, Vol- and Mute buttons on the remote now operate the TV functions, not the YouView box functions. Great.

    However, I did it with the YouView box muted, and now the remote won’t unmute the YouView box, or if it will, I don’t know how.

    TalkTalk yes, I knew in 2013, but that trick doesn’t seem to work for BT.
    I guess there ought to be a way, though; anybody know what it might be? 
    Have you attempted to hold down the AD button while using the volume control buttons?  That works for re-adjusting the volume but I don't know if it will unmute.

  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
    edited 19 December 2021, 10:52PM
    Lukе said:
    Roy said:
    And I’ve just programmed the remote to operate the LG TV…..
    Have you attempted to hold down the AD button while using the volume control buttons?  That works for re-adjusting the volume but I don't know if it will unmute.

    Thanks for the suggestion, @Luke, but no, it doesn’t control Mute, alas - nothing at all happens.

    It didn’t control volume either, but thinking about it, maybe that’s because I had Surround set, where volume is fixed at 100%,  instead of Stereo, where you can vary it.
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • Stevef_fr8ysStevef_fr8ys Member, Super User Posts: 772 ✭✭
    Maybe switch to Stereo so you can adjust the volume which will override the mute then switch back?
  • Stevef_fr8ysStevef_fr8ys Member, Super User Posts: 772 ✭✭
    Off topic Roy, but does your LG TV have Prime?
    If so does it cope with HDR content via Prime through your surround sound?
    I have to force my surround sound to accept the sound by changing AV input, then back to the original AV input.

    It's the only application / device that has HDR content that this happens with.
  • redchizredchiz Member, Super User Posts: 5,476 ✭✭✭
    Hi @Stevef_fr8ys I have an LG TV with a soundbar, no issues at all with HDR/surround sound content playing automatically as it should. Are you connected via optical, or ARC?
  • Stevef_fr8ysStevef_fr8ys Member, Super User Posts: 772 ✭✭
    Via ARC.
    It's very strange, as once forced the content plays fine. But if I pause the programme or film the sound again goes unless I toggle between AV inputs and as said it only affects the Prime App.

    I know my Receiver is 8 years old, but in all other respects it works, so don't know if it's the App, TV or Receiver causing the issue.
    I've changed the HDMI cables to 8k ones as it was reported on another forum that older HDMI cables had issues with HDR, but it made no difference.
    I've also tried changing default AV, but reverted to the standard AV4.
  • redchizredchiz Member, Super User Posts: 5,476 ✭✭✭
    edited 20 December 2021, 2:38PM
    Strange indeed. I have just tested mine by pausing in case I had missed something, but the sound and output indicator remain unchanged.
  • LukеLukе Member Posts: 84 ✭✭
    edited 20 December 2021, 7:10PM
    Maybe switch to Stereo so you can adjust the volume which will override the mute then switch back?
    And if that doesn't work then attach a USB keyboard (cable or wi-fi but not bluetooth) and press the # key.


  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
    Maybe switch to Stereo so you can adjust the volume which will override the mute then switch back?
    @Stevef_fr8ys

    I will try this later on today.

    But really, I was expecting there would be a BT equivalent of the TalkTalk ‘AD plus Mute means YouView Mute’ 😢
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
    edited 21 December 2021, 10:04AM
    Off topic Roy, but does your LG TV have Prime?
    If so does it cope with HDR content via Prime through your surround sound?
    I have to force my surround sound to accept the sound by changing AV input, then back to the original AV input.

    It's the only application / device that has HDR content that this happens with.
    @Sarah - I’ve just replied to a posting from @Stevef_fr8ys in this thread, and am trying to reply, with Quote as above,  to another (different) one, but Vanilla wouldn’t let me - no response until I exited the thread and re-entered it, and now it is letting me post again. Using Safari on my 2016 iPad Pro on iPadOS 15.1

    I’ve has this before, but never thought to mention it. And it can happen when trying to make a second consecutive reply with Quote in the same thread to any poster in the thread, not just when it’s the same one.

    No biggie, but maybe worth other users trying to see if it affects other browsers and platforms, and letting Vanilla know.
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
    edited 21 December 2021, 10:19AM
    @Stevef_fr8ys

    Hi

    I’m not sure what I am supposed to be testing here?

    I have an LG TV, 4K, 5.1, HDR, with the Amazon Prime app to which I have a subscription, connected to an LG soundbar.

    Is it the TV Amazon Prime I should be trying? Is having HDR supposed to make a difference to the sound experience compared to watching something that hasn’t got HDR?

    Or do you want me to try to feed an Amazon Prime source through the soundbar to the TV? I can do this with a Roku Express 4K…
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
    Lukе said:
    Maybe switch to Stereo so you can adjust the volume which will override the mute then switch back?
    And if that doesn't work then attach a USB keyboard (cable or wi-fi but not bluetooth) and press the # key.
    Thanks @Luke, but ‘find another remote’ is still No 1 on the leaderboard 😛
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • Stevef_fr8ysStevef_fr8ys Member, Super User Posts: 772 ✭✭
    @Roy, i got 2 post notifications, with yours to @Sarah in the middle. Strange.

    Yes its the App i think is causing issues for me. HDR content is superior and associated with 4 and 8k content. I first had the problem with Paddington 2 and also with the This is Us series.

    My receiver should be able to decode this, and does when forced, but not on initial playback or after pause. I have to have the video playing when I toggle AV settings, but I think soundbars may be different and decode differently.
  • RoyRoy Member, Super User Posts: 17,812 ✭✭✭
    @Roy, i got 2 post notifications, with yours to @Sarah in the middle. Strange.

    Yes its the App i think is causing issues for me. HDR content is superior and associated with 4 and 8k content. I first had the problem with Paddington 2 and also with the This is Us series.

    My receiver should be able to decode this, and does when forced, but not on initial playback or after pause. I have to have the video playing when I toggle AV settings, but I think soundbars may be different and decode differently.
    Sorry, @Stevef_fr8ys, but I remain terminally confused here.

    If I play an Amazon Prime stream with HDR, then the HDR is entirely between the app and the TV screen, and never gets onto the ARC to affect the AV receiver. Unless something is truly, horribly, wrong somewhere.

    But what goes down the ARC line is the audio, and not always the audio that the Amazon Prime stream is providing, as ARC doesn’t have the bandwidth to pass uncompressed audio like Dolby Atmos, which means that the TV has to negotiate with the AV unit what it can accept, and pass it that.

    And it sounds like the AV unit is struggling, initially or when in pause, telling the TV that it can’t accept a certain encoding, but when the stream is actually running, telling the TV that it can.

    And I don’t see where 4K-capable, or even 8K-capable, cables come into this, as those considerations are for video going up the cable from the AV unit to the TV, and the oldest, crappiest HDMI cable you own would suffice for ARC.

    (You might want the better cables if you have a video /audio source plugged into the AV receiver and want to pass that up to the TV, but my guess is that such a source, if trying to pass 4K and HDR, is going to find the HDCP version on a 2013 AV amp wanting)

    All I can think at the moment is that it’s not the HDR that’s the problem here, it’s that Prime content with HDR is also using hi-spec audio, which the AV unit is failing to negotiate a suitable compromise with the TV over, given the limitations of ARC and your 8-year old AV amp.

    I suspect you’ve got yourself into the same bind that I got into trying to use a UHD BluRay player with my Yamaha YSP2500 soundbar and a Samsung JS9000; plug it into the TV, and the audio sent down ARC is compromised; plug it into the YSP2500, and the video is compromised by HDCP version considerations.

    Solved at the time by sending the audio direct to the soundbar and the video direct to the TV; but fundamentally unsolvable for hi-spec audio from a source on or plugged into the TV, as it only did ARC.

    Solved this year by getting a TV and a soundbar both of which are eARC-capable and on the latest HDCP version. (The UHD Player is still split between the two, but for different reasons now 😢)

    Or am I still misunderstanding your issue?
    ‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ Wm Morris
  • Stevef_fr8ysStevef_fr8ys Member, Super User Posts: 772 ✭✭
    @Roy, no i think you've got it spot on.

    Might be time to upgrade the amp, if i can persuade someone its really necessary, like when the next season of This is Us is due.

    Thanks both for your input.
  • redchizredchiz Member, Super User Posts: 5,476 ✭✭✭
    @Stevef_fr8ys Might it be worth trying an optical cable to see if that solves the sound issue?
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