New guy here.. I recently purchased a sound bar and receiver and can't figure out how to simultaneously control the volume on both of them.
The set up: A Samsung HWC451 2.1CH 280W soundbar and a Samsung HW-C700 AV receiver. The sound bar has two optical-in cables, one coming from my Samsung LED TV and one from a Sony Bluray player. I also have two 61/2" 120w SpeakerCraft in-ceiling speakers connected to the receiver.
Problem: When I play a movie on the Bluray player, the rear speakers can only be controlled through the receivers remote while the soundbar is only controlled with the tv remote. If I mute the soundbar, you can still hear the rear speakers playing from the receiver. I'd like to be able to control the volume on both with one controller.
The Bluray player has an HDMI out cable going into the receiver and the receiver has an HDMI out cable going to the TV.
I know you can't connect the soundbar to the receiver so I was counting on the sounbars volume being controlled through the HDMI connected from the TV to the receiver. But that's not happening.
I'm going to be purchasing a universal remote, possibly the Logitech 1100. Will a universal remote take care of this?
These sound bars are self powered which means you can not use them in a surround environment being powered by a receiver. The only way this may be possible is if you run the BD and TV to the receiver and then run a cable from the pre-out of the receiver to the sound bar.
You are best off just using 7 speakers (front left, center and right, 2 side surround and 2 rear surround) and losing the sound bar. Got another TV in the bedroom or other room? Use the sound bar with that.