No Samsung TV connectivity via bluetooth or universal remote

[warthog]

I have Wiim Pro Plus outputting via line out to an integrated amp. I use the Wiim mainly for music but would also like to use it for my TV. I want to use my 2018 Samsung Q9FN (flagship) TV's remote for volume when my TV is connected to the amp via Wiim.

I have tried 2 things, both unsuccessfully:

a. I tried connecting my TV to the Wiim Pro Plus via bluetooth. After enabling bluetooth in the Wiim app, the Wiim device appears in the TV's bluetooth scan but does not pair. I have tried pairing like 20 times. The Wiim has no problem pairing immediately to my phone. The TV has no problem pairing to headphones or soundbars I have hooked it up to via bluetooth in the past. I could always get a cheap bluetooth device and plug that into the RCA line in of the Wiim and pair the TV to that instead but it seems crazy that I would have to do that.

b. If I connect the TV optical out to the Wiim, the audio comes through fine. With the Samsung TV there is a Universal Remote option in the settings with a large database.**The Smsung Universal Remote does IR and Bbluetooth**. I can select a "home theatre" via the TV's universal remote database. In there, I can select the amp brand I own (Marantz) and control the volume of the *amp* using the TV's remote control. This is not ideal. Ideally I would be able to associate the Wiim with the Universal Remote and control the Wiim volume level and leave the amp volume level static -- with some devices I have been able to "hack" the database by choosing a related device even if the main brand does not appear. In this case, Arylic appears but neither optiions seem to allow controlling the volume of the line out of the Wiim. Does someone have a list of compaible brands, such as Arylic, that might work? Any other suggestions are very welcome.

 

[Brantome]

Re b., can’t you control the volume of the TV’s optical output, or is that fixed and leave the WiiM’s volume static?

 

[warthog]

Re b., can’t you control the volume of the TV’s optical output, or is that fixed and leave the WiiM’s volume static?

Hi @Brantome , thanks for replying and your interest in helping. The TV optical out volume is fixed, I think this is the case for most TVs. So my options for solution b) are to control the volume via the Wiim Pro Plus or via the amp (the TV does allow me to control the amp volume). But controlling volume via the amp is not ideal as when the TV is switched off whatever volume I had it on is where the amp volume stays, then when I play music if the amp volume is low then even when the Wiim volume is at max I have to physically go to the amp and turn it up. This might not sound like a big deal but it's actually all wired into a closet in another room.

Regarding option a) and the inability to pair via bluetooth I have opened a ticket with Wiim and another one with Samsung although I doubt I will hear anything useful from Samsung. FYI I have tried unplugging the TV for 15 minutes and plugging it back in, as well as power cycling the Wiim Pro Plus, but that didn't help with the Bluetooth issue.

 

[Wiimer]

Hi @Brantome , thanks for replying and your interest in helping. The TV optical out volume is fixed, I think this is the case for most TVs. So my options for solution b) are to control the volume via the Wiim Pro Plus or via the amp (the TV does allow me to control the amp volume). But controlling volume via the amp is not ideal as when the TV is switched off whatever volume I had it on is where the amp volume stays, then when I play music if the amp volume is low then even when the Wiim volume is at max I have to physically go to the amp and turn it up. This might not sound like a big deal but it's actually all wired into a closet in another room.

Regarding option a) and the inability to pair via bluetooth I have opened a ticket with Wiim and another one with Samsung although I doubt I will hear anything useful from Samsung. FYI I have tried unplugging the TV for 15 minutes and plugging it back in, as well as power cycling the Wiim Pro Plus, but that didn't help with the Bluetooth issue.

What is the distance between the TV and the WiiM?
Can you put my WiiM in close proximity to your TV but still not pair with Bluetooth?

My TV doesn't have Bluetooth, so I tried connecting the projector's Bluetooth output to the WiiM's Bluetooth input. Nothing went wrong, and it paired in about 5 seconds.

The WiiM remote is Bluetooth, not IR, so I don't think you can control the volume of the WiiM with the TV remote.

 

[warthog]

Hi @Wiimer, thanks for your reply. The TV is the flagship Samsung from 2018 which has a pretty cool "One Connect" box that connects to the TV via a single fibre optic cable and all the peripherals plug into the one connect box. It's in the closet in the other room. However, that's also where the Wiim Pro Plus is, and I *believe* the Bluetooth connection from the TV comes out of the one connect box. If that's the case they are right next to each other so the connection shouldn't be an issue. I'm not certain though so I will try putting the Wiim pro plus next to the TV screen and see what happens just in case. The Wiim remote is in the same room as the TV and that connected to the Wiim pro plus in the other room without issue. The TV remote is IR and Bluetooth so option b) is feasible if there is a compatible device that someone knows of in the TV database of devices. Thanks again for your reply and I will post again with results of experiment of the Wiim close to the screen.

 

[warthog]

@Wiimer, further to my previous post, the TV does see the Wiim Pro Plus, it is just unable to "pair and connect". I will try the experiment next to the screen instead of the one connect box anyway and let you all know how that goes.

 

[Wiimer]

Hi @Wiimer, thanks for your reply. The TV is the flagship Samsung from 2018 which has a pretty cool "One Connect" box that connects to the TV via a single fibre optic cable and all the peripherals plug into the one connect box. It's in the closet in the other room. However, that's also where the Wiim Pro Plus is, and I *believe* the Bluetooth connection from the TV comes out of the one connect box. If that's the case they are right next to each other so the connection shouldn't be an issue. I'm not certain though so I will try putting the Wiim pro plus next to the TV screen and see what happens just in case. The Wiim remote is in the same room as the TV and that connected to the Wiim pro plus in the other room without issue. The TV remote is IR and Bluetooth so option b) is feasible if there is a compatible device that someone knows of in the TV database of devices. Thanks again for your reply and I will post again with results of experiment of the Wiim close to the screen.

Hi, @warthog.

Sorry, I didn't understand your TV at all.
As you say, if the Connect Box is packed with all the features, I don't think putting the WiiM near the TV will be the solution.

It's a pity that it's hard to find a Samsung TV in my country and I can't help you on anything.

 

[warthog]

So with the latest Wiim Pro Plus update, the TV is now connecting via Bluetooth to the Wiim device. It does not indicate a fix in the general release notes but it is working now. I had opened a ticket with Wiim support so this seems to have had an effect, although zero communication from the customer service team except for some generic "thanks for your enquiry we are looking into it". Still, the issue has been solved, thanks all for your help and interest.

 

[Brantome]

So with the latest Wiim Pro Plus update, the TV is now connecting via Bluetooth to the Wiim device. It does not indicate a fix in the general release notes but it is working now. I had opened a ticket with Wiim support so this seems to have had an effect, although zero communication from the customer service team except for some generic "thanks for your enquiry we are looking into it". Still, the issue has been solved, thanks all for your help and interest.

The standard response when you raise a ticket is "While our team reads all the submissions, due to the volume of tickets, we will only reply to tickets that require additional assistance to resolve the issue. For feedback or submissions about known issues, we will take note and resolve it in an update. If you would like a reply from us, please reply to this ticket to let us know."

So I guess they didn't need any more info from you, but took note and resolved it in an update as indicated

 

[ianlukescott]

I have the same problem. Would a separate HDMI to optical converter box work? So connecting the TV's Hdmi out to the wiim's optical in. Would that allow you to change the volume on the TV? Such a frustrating issue, and ideally I didn't want to have to settle for the Bluetooth solution

 

[michal.kormanik]

Hey @warthog ,
I maybe missed what exactly they fixed. You managed to connect TV to Wiim Pro Plus as sound output or as controller? I have right now similar issue. I have new Samsung TV with their universal remote and connected it to Wiim Pro Plus with Optical audio cable but as we know, optical has fixed output so no sound level control. I was wondering if I can pair Samsung remote with Wiim Pro Plus and control it with that so for volume increase I can eliminate need to have second remote.
So my question is. Did you managed to connect remote to Wiim and control it's volume with it or you went with connecting it as sound output (I would like to not do that because of sound quality loss)?

Thank you!

 

[Mr Ee]

Hey @warthog ,
I maybe missed what exactly they fixed. You managed to connect TV to Wiim Pro Plus as sound output or as controller? I have right now similar issue. I have new Samsung TV with their universal remote and connected it to Wiim Pro Plus with Optical audio cable but as we know, optical has fixed output so no sound level control. I was wondering if I can pair Samsung remote with Wiim Pro Plus and control it with that so for volume increase I can eliminate need to have second remote.
So my question is. Did you managed to connect remote to Wiim and control it's volume with it or you went with connecting it as sound output (I would like to not do that because of sound quality loss)?

Thank you!

I imagine your tv remote is infrared.
The wiim uses bluetooth.

 

[warthog]

@Mr Ee the Samsung remotes are all Bluetooth now and have been for a while as far as I know, mine is at least and it's from 2018!

@michal.kormanik Originally I paired the Samsung Bluetooth out to the Wiim Bluetooth in and that works, but the sound - lip sync lag was impossible to correct in any workable way for me. So I found a workaround that involved slightly more expense but I'm happy with it...

I bought an Android TV box (I should have bought another shield TV but I got a Xiaomi mi box, which is okay but like most Android TV boxes it doesn't have a simple solution to change refresh rate on TV apps, while the shield does have this built in, this is the biggest understated selling point of the shields). Android TV box connected to TV hdmi in. Android tv box optical out connected to wiim pro plus optical in. The Android tv box will let me regulate the volume control of its optical out, whereas the Samsung did not.

I play music on the wiim over ethernet and regulate and the volume there with amazon alexa. So in don't need to be fishing for my phone constantly (my amp is in another room). An issue I had which has recently been resolved with a firmware update on the Wiim was that movie volume on the Wiim (even with the Android TV box volume on max) had to be much higher than music volume to hear it so when I changed over to music it would be really loud. Now wiim has a per source volume level which is great. So I have lower volume on the Wiim for ethernet (streaming music) and higher volume on the Wiim for optical in.
Rest of my set up is I use the 12v trigger on the Wiim pro plus to turn on my integrated amp which does not have a 12v input so I bought https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/diy-...v-230v-slave-power-supply-device-p-10661.html and it works to turn on the amp at the actual plug source or cut the power at the plug source. The amp defaults to last settings so this works for me also.

Im now quite happy with this set up, if I had to choose I would like a per source equalizer and to separate left and right channel equalization, but minor requests, I'm very happy overall with the setup now.

 

[michal.kormanik]

@warthog Thank you for a reply! Interesting solution. I didn't think of that. I unfortunately have Google Chromecast 4K which doesn't have optical or jack for that matter (weirdly Samsung decided that my TV model wouldn't get Jack) so only way would be thru some multi USB C reduction, but possible indeed.

I was exploring also other solutions, one was using Line In with small USB-A soundcard from TV but I bought one that started humming when no signal is passing so that was a no go.

Your solution is interesting indeed but i want to use Xbox Cloud Gaming in the future and for that sound output needs to be connected to TV.

I hate this mess right now. But I thought Optical cannot control sound because of some limitation, not because Samsung limitation. Interesting!

 

[michal.kormanik]

UPDATE
Hey ,
I communicated with Wiim support and got answer that with either Samsung Universal remote or Chromecast's it won't be possible to connect them in any way to Wiim beacuse of universal remotes using IR for control external devices regardless their connection thru Bluetooth and as we know Wiim uses Bluetooth.

So basically stuck with multiple remotes :/.

Thanks!

 

[warthog]

UPDATE
Hey ,
I communicated with Wiim support and got answer that with either Samsung Universal remote or Chromecast's it won't be possible to connect them in any way to Wiim beacuse of universal remotes using IR for control external devices regardless their connection thru Bluetooth and as we know Wiim uses Bluetooth.

So basically stuck with multiple remotes :/.

Thanks!

Hey Michael,
This is partially incorrect, at least with my Samsung remote (Samsung One Remote). So how it works is you pair the TV with the Wiim device. You set the Wiim device at whatever volume you want. Finally the TV remote volume controls the Bluetooth out volume from the TV, which regulates the sound just fine. It's the same if you pair some headphones or whatever. The problem for me was the Bluetooth lag which made the sync between the sound and the TV image off by a considerable margin. The TV has a lag control to compensate for this, but at least in my case the lag was not always the same every time I turned the TV on, resulting in endless fidgeting to try to get that to work and it never did.

With the solution I ended up with (Android Box), I only use the remote of the Android box to turn on the TV, for navigation of apps on the Android box, and for the volume of the Android box. One remote only.

 

[trigovina]

Hey Michael,
This is partially incorrect, at least with my Samsung remote (Samsung One Remote). So how it works is you pair the TV with the Wiim device. You set the Wiim device at whatever volume you want. Finally the TV remote volume controls the Bluetooth out volume from the TV, which regulates the sound just fine. It's the same if you pair some headphones or whatever. The problem for me was the Bluetooth lag which made the sync between the sound and the TV image off by a considerable margin. The TV has a lag control to compensate for this, but at least in my case the lag was not always the same every time I turned the TV on, resulting in endless fidgeting to try to get that to work and it never did.

With the solution I ended up with (Android Box), I only use the remote of the Android box to turn on the TV, for navigation of apps on the Android box, and for the volume of the Android box. One remote only.

I also have been using TV Box but when i close tv box and just want to use my tv, i can't adjust the volume with the remote of tv box.
My TV Box Hometics Box R4 K Plus with BT Remote. MY TV has only Optical out.
TV to wiim pro plus is connected with optical cable. TV box to Tv is connected with HDMI cable.
My tv box remote is also universal and can be paired with multi sound-tv and avr brands. But there is no wiim choise.
I want to use wiim pro plus with my tv box remote. Only volume +- is enough
Come on wiim, solve our problem..

 

[warthog]

I also have been using TV Box but when i close tv box and just want to use my tv, i can't adjust the volume with the remote of tv box.
My TV Box Hometics Box R4 K Plus with BT Remote. MY TV has only Optical out.
TV to wiim pro plus is connected with optical cable. TV box to Tv is connected with HDMI cable.
My tv box remote is also universal and can be paired with multi sound-tv and avr brands. But there is no wiim choise.
I want to use wiim pro plus with my tv box remote. Only volume +- is enough
Come on wiim, solve our problem..

I think the issue is not something for Wiim to solve, but for the TV/TV box people to solve. I think right now you have 2 options. Option A, you get a universal remote control that will control the TV box and the TV. Option B, you run everything through the TV box, and turn TV on/off using HDMI CEC with the TV box remote. I am using Option B.