Sound Bar specific volume control help request

General
1

I am doing a lot smart home control via NR. The most frustrating problem I have is the inability to have definite volume control of my sound bar. I generally use a hoarmony hub/remote. The remote can do volume up and down. I can also do that via node red, but as anyone who has experience with harmony knows, it is just sending IR commands to the equipment and so can’t know the actual volume setting unless the device can be sent a specific volume number.

Does anyone know of a sound bar that can be sent a specific volume number either via IR or any other method that Node-Red, Hubitat, zigbee2mqtt, mqtt or homebridge? I list the other 4 as I already have working interfaces to them.

2

If your soundbar isn't connected to your network via Wifi or LAN, then chances are pretty slim to get any information from it.

For my part, I am using a Yamaha AV-receiver at home that has a web interface and supports UPNP. Both giving you control capabilities via Node-RED. Unfortunately, I can't give any advice on sound bars.

3

The sonos beam with the excellent https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-sonos-plus give you this kind of control. And much more.

4

I knew my current sound bar did not have this capable of this. I am looking for replacement options. So far I am seeing the idea of a Yamaha av receiver or the Sonos beam.

Anyone have any lower cost options? (You get what you pay for)

5

Depends on your preference. :grinning:

Personally, I've never been a fan of the sound bars or those sound systems with small satellite speakers, relying on a subwoofer.
I'd always go for the AV-receiver option and get some decent speakers, at least for Front and Center, if you have the money. Nice offline solution without cloud stuff. :nerd_face:
Sonos is quite expensive and I don't like their business model. You're always dependent on them regarding updates, etc.

6

Question about the Sonos integration you mentioned:

Does it work by communicating to a cloud service that in turn communicates back to the Sonos device or does it communicate directly to the beam etc?

I wouldn't be surprised if the initial connection requires the cloud, but wondered about ongoing communication.

7

I understand the reservations you cover. I even agree the setup you describe would be superior to a random sound bar. Because of space constraints and the general aesthetics of the location, a sound bar is acceptable, though imperfect.

Ideally I would love to find a sound bar that like your AV-receiver has local control capability without any cloud dependency. I suspect, however, it is such a niche use case that no one makes such a device.

8

All local. No cloud involved.

9

Thanks for the quick answer

10

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