Troubleshooting Unexpected Volume Control on Smart TV and Soundbar

[DaveC426913]

I know this is so vague as to be unanswerable - at least no answer better than I might come up with through a bit of experimentation - but it's late and I'm lazy.

After having my new Smart TV with soundbar for several months now, it has spontaneously started doing something different.

The new TV has its own remote, but we often switch back to plain ol' TV (called HDMI 2 by my smart TV menu). So we still use the original TV remote for normal cable TV.

Just in the last day or two, changing the volume on either remote now changes the smart TV sound bar volume as well as the TV volume. ie. I now get sound out of both - whereas I did not before. One lags behind the other by a fraction of a second, so everything has an echo.

If I turn up the sound on the Smart remote, I see the sound bar level go up, and the TV level (on-screen) go up as well. And this happens regardless of which remote I use.

I've tried muting the TV using the original remote and/or with the new remote. This works - until I go to change the volume again, then it's right back to changing both.

I guess if I start sifting though the menu option, maybe I'll find a checkbox setting that actually says 'control volume to TV and sound bar', but that seems unlikely.

Thoughts?

 

[stoomart]

Check your TV menu options for audio, I know my TV let's me choose the output and disable the internal speakers.

 

[phinds]

since "smart TV" implies internet connectivity, that implies the possibility that what's happened is that the internal software has been upgraded automagically and the update caused the change in audio characteristics you are seeing. What you DO about it, I don't know but I like stoomart's suggestion.

 

[DaveC426913]

Check your TV menu options for audio, I know my TV let's me choose the output and disable the internal speakers.

Holy Jeez. That's exactly what there is.

I am so used to software offering the exact options I never want and never offering the options I do want, it's made me hyper-cynical. And averse to even bothering to try without assistance.

 

[jim hardy]

I am so used to software offering the exact options I never want and never offering the options I do want, it's made me hyper-cynical.

You mean I'm not the only one ?