drmark12pa Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 I just purchased a Sonos playbar for use as a soundbar for my master bedroom (planning on eventually adding the sub).My dilemma is that I had to basically attach the IR emitter that is connected to my TV to the Sonos playbar just to get the thing set up for volume control. Now, my problem is only the one emitter but essentially needing 2 at this location but that will take considerable effort to run another emitter to this location. The Sonos is wireless connection at this point as an Ethernet cat5 cable would also take considerable effort to run directly in.Can a single emitter be physically split/spliced into 2 for use with one on TV and one on Sonos?Is there benefit to hard wire/ethnet/cat5 connection running to the Sonos playbar?Is there a Control4 app that will directly control the volume on the Sonos?I'm only planning on using the Sonos as a soundbar as I have inwall speakers throughout the house and don't need to stream my music through the Sonos as many people do, however are there other benefits/applications people might suggest via Control4? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 If you use the sonos driver in control4 this will eliminate needing the ir altogether as it uses ip control. if you use distributed audio in the room this may cause issues with pathing as sonos will be the first path unless you separate them into different rooms (virtually) to answer the ir question yes you can split them. Recommended to not split it more than once, depending on the ir bud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItAMudLight Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 C4 Walts is correct in that you shouldn't need an IR bud for the Playbar at all. I'm doing the exact same thing in my Master Bathroom. I have a Sonos Playbar connected via the Sonos mesh and just the IR bud on my TV. It works pretty much flawlessly. It's a great setup for places where you want better sound than just the TV speakers but external speakers aren't an easy option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 So it sounds like I should take the time to do a cat5 run into the Sonos for best performance/response or can it be added wirelessly to the Control4 system? As it is now, it's wirelessly connected to my wireless network.I assume I'll need my dealer to add the Sonos into my system but will I need to purchase another driver or is the driver already built into C4 hardware/software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItAMudLight Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 You don't need a ethernet connection. It can still be connected wirelessly as mine is. The dealer will need to add the Sonos driver which used to be a paid driver but is now free since they bought Extra Vegetables. It's definitely a nice driver to have is you have any sort of Sonos. Is this the only audio endpoint in your master bedroom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 You don't need a ethernet connection. It can still be connected wirelessly as mine is. The dealer will need to add the Sonos driver which used to be a paid driver but is now free since they bought Extra Vegetables. It's definitely a nice driver to have is you have any sort of Sonos. Is this the only audio endpoint in your master bedroom?That is great news to know that it's a wireless connection! Running a cat5 would have been another undertaking of at least 2 hours. Currently, I have a set of inwall speakers in my master bedroom that are running of a Control4 8 zone amp that were all hard wired originally for just music throughout the house. Will this cause an issue? I literally will only be using the playbar for the TV as far as I can foresee at this point since I already have the inwalls speakers.... or would you recommend a different configuration for future expansion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItAMudLight Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 I think you can split the audio endpoints so that only music plays through the speakers and only the TV plays through the Playbar. This is something your dealer should know and be able to do though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 So it appears that with my Dune media player (via my A/V matrix) I get sound through the Sonos via optical cable however neither PS3 for Netflix or Directv will emit sound. I've tried every single audio configuration on both the PS3 and the Directv genie but still no sound. This appears to be an issue with my Sharp TV not passing the sound through the optical cable. So I went ahead and ordered this:http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5557&seq=1&format=2 Anyone else have any recommendations for sound solution for bedroom TV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItAMudLight Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Are the PS3 and DTV connected locally via HDMI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Are the PS3 and DTV connected locally via HDMI?The Dune, Directv, and PS3 all run through my matrix that goes through the house via HDMI to all areas. Audio is just fine on the TV itself just no audio when using Sonos playbar via optical cable. I also tried my JBL soundbar via optical cable and exactly the same result so it appears to be something with the optical out on the TV not sending the audio from the PS3 or the Directv box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItAMudLight Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 The Dune, Directv, and PS3 all run through my matrix that goes through the house via HDMI to all areas. Audio is just fine on the TV itself just no audio when using Sonos playbar via optical cable. I also tried my JBL soundbar via optical cable and exactly the same result so it appears to be something with the optical out on the TV not sending the audio from the PS3 or the Directv box.So you're just planning on using the HDMI switch to break out the audio from the HDMI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 So you're just planning on using the HDMI switch to break out the audio from the HDMI?Yes, I think that is the only option I have if I want to use a soundbar that I can figure out at this point.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItAMudLight Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Yes, I think that is the only option I have if I want to use a soundbar that I can figure out at this point....That hopefully will work. I thought you were going to be be switching the sources at the TV which would just create an issue as you'd need an IR bud for the HDMI switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 That hopefully will work. I thought you were going to be be switching the sources at the TV which would just create an issue as you'd need an IR bud for the HDMI switch. If I needed to use an IR bud, it wouldn't bother me since it's essentially only controlling the volume on the Sonos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 sharp tvs you have to enable the optical audio on this disables the speakers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drmark12pa Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 sharp tvs you have to enable the optical audio on this disables the speakersYes, if you read above I have the bar working for one source but not 2 other sources. It appears to be the digital optical out not passing certain audio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosenqui Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Yes, if you read above I have the bar working for one source but not 2 other sources. It appears to be the digital optical out not passing certain audio.That's a known issue with the Sonos Playbar - it doesn't support audio formats above Dolby Digital 5.1. You need to either dumb down the output modes on the source device or use a gadget like Dr. HDMI to give the source an EDID that leaves out Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, DTS-HD, and other hi-bitrate audio formats. More info here: https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/dts-dolby-51-on-playbar-2015-edition-6731191 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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