Sky+ remote & home theatre systems

[gymno]

Hi folks.
I'm seeking some advice on behalf of my dad.

He's become increasingly bothered over how high he has to have the TV volume these days.
I've suggested buying a 2.1 HT system & wall mounting the speakers at head height either side of his seating area.

Despite having no interest in surround sound, he does agree this would be a good solution, especially after learning it could be tweaked in favour of high frequencies / clarity, which is what he craves.

He's tried using the TV remote & a universal one before, but unfortunately due to limited sight & other cognitive disabilities can't manage these.
He does however know the sky remote well enough to use vol+, vol-, up, down & select.

So that's my mission:
A) Find a 2.1 HT system under £300 where the volume can be controlled by a sky remote, or:
B) Some other solution.

It's day 2 of my mission & i did find this site: How To Program SKY Plus Remote to Control AV Amplifier or Receiver but it does seem quite old.

ANY advice whatsoever would be much appreciated.

[Scubbie]

I am not familiar enough with the various HTs out there to be able to say which specific model would answer his needs. Tweaking the higher tones could be the sticky point.

However it is worth considering first whether such a system would link in with the TV using the HDMI CEC specification to allow the TV's volume control to actually adjust the HT's. This would mean that the Sky remote would just need to be programmed for the TV.

There are various individual names for this feature. Samsung call it 'Anynet+'. Panasonic call it 'Viera Link'.

[gymno]

However it is worth considering first whether such a system would link in with the TV using the HDMI CEC specification to allow the TV's volume control to actually adjust the HT's. This would mean that the Sky remote would just need to be programmed for the TV.

I've read of CEC HDMI specs yet wasn't aware of this^.

Thankyou Scubbie, i shall investigate further, although it is a Toshiba WLT66 from years ago so i'm not too confident...

As for tweaking higher tones, i merely explained that a HT could offer an EQ rather than the crude treble / bass adjustments that his TV has.
Either way, it'll be a clearer, more defined sound & i could set it up for a bias to the highs.

The sound will also be coming from 1m away instead of 6m which is the main thing.

BTW, i also considered a HIFI (placed within arms reach for volume control) as a possibility but disregarded that idea straightaway, based on how bad they seem to be with anything other than music.

Will consider anything

[dholdi]

I programed my Onkyo amplifier remote to control tv, sky, bluray etc, maybe that's an option ?

Sorry, just reread it and realised your dad needs to stay with the Sky remote.

The anynet ( or similar ) system may well be the way forward then, however that may involve a new tv.

[gymno]

Thanks dholdi.

I've tried & tried with the other remotes.
It's no go.

The agenda is to shift the audio from the TV (approx 16 feet away) to where he's sat.

How we do that is down to the advice we receive.

[dholdi]

What about something along these lines ?

The Voice Clarifying TV Speaker - Hammacher Schlemmer

Seems to be unavailable at most places but someone must do something similar.

[seawright]

This works with my Sony micro Hi-Fi. where after pressing TV I can use the up and down arrows to control the volume: How To Program SKY Plus Remote to Control AV Amplifier or Receiver. I haven't tried setting "Punch Through" though as I still require the volume buttons to control my TV.

[seawright]

Have tried "Punch through" and it does work if loss of access to the TV's own volume control is not a problem. It can be removed using "select" with "Button 2" held until double flash occurs. I have latest rev. RCU. Don't know whether this functionality is the same in earlier versions.

[gymno]

it does work if loss of access to the TV's own volume control is not a problem.

That's actually preferable as we intend to put the tv's volume on 0 & leave it that way.

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that the only way to get this right, is to print a list of every code known to man & take the remote in stores to test.

With that in mind (& i'm sorry to be a pain), but could you confirm that the 2 stage method above is the only way to get vol+ & vol- controlling the hifi?
Ie: won't the same sony code work by programming in the standard way, like for a tv?

Also, after following the 'punch through' procedure, presumably standard functionality is retained when in sky mode but what happens after pressing 'tv'?
Is the code entered in stage 1 above then active, or the tv code previously entered where vol+ & vol- control the tv's volume & 'help' changes av input etc?

Phew!
Cheers.

[seawright]

Assuming that you are not replacing the TV then you will already have the correct TV code so you will only require the list of codes for the AV equipment manufacturer's product that you intend to buy.

In TV mode with "Punch through" enabled:

• Vol +/- controls AV Volume
• Mute does nothing (guess it should control AV mute)
• Left button controls AV on/off
• Up & Down button controls TV volume
• Right button controls TV mute
• Help button does nothing (no exact match for my TV)

Hope this helps.

If you wanted to prevent the remote controlling anything on the TV you could always enter 999 as the TV code.
If you have a Hi-Fi system at home, even if it's not connected to your Sky box or TV, try programming your RCU to investigate the possibilities.