Controlling Zvox soundbar with Ignite remote

[philipgarson]

Just upgraded to Ignite and the new remote won't control our Zvox soundbase which requires an IR input. The Tech tried to program both the old Shaw Bluesky remote and the new Ignite remote to control the new Ignite box and the Zvox Soundbase but was unable to get either to control the Zvox Soundbase once it was paired with the Ignite box. Has anyone found a way to do this?

[rstra]

@philipgarson  Can you connect the soundbar to the HDMI-Arc port on the TV? Then you won’t need to do any audio programming on the Ignite remote.

[philipgarson]

Thanks for the suggestion but the soundbar (about 5 years old) doesn't have an HDMI port. I have found a lower tech solution though. I connected the soundbar using RCA cables to the headphone port on the TV, set the soundbar volume to a high setting and set the TV volume output to variable and now we can control the speaker volume by varying the volume going to it. Seems to work OK, I guess in theory the sound quality should be poorer using analog RCA cable rather than the optical digital cable but don't notice any difference. The soundbar has an auto off feature if it detects no audio input for a certain period so we don't have to turn it off. Have to check if it will auto on when an audio signal returns. We have noticed the picture quality is improved. The Tech commented our cable TV signal was weak and we notice more vibrant colours with the new system. Thanks again.

Doug

[philipgarson]

Contacted the Zvox help and they solved the problem. They sent me the set up instructions for both the XR11 and XR15 remotes to pair them with the Zvox soundbase. With the TV off, put the remote in setup mode and input the code 33913, reconnected the soundbase to the TV with the optical cable and works fine. Not sure why the Aaron Rogers Tech wasn't aware of this, he tried programing in thru the Ignite cable box which did not work for either remote. Hopefully he will see this thread for future installs.