[DirecTV volume UP turns Cinema 600 sound bar volume DOWN - unless I block the IR eye on the sound bar.]

Have a Sony X900H 65" TV with HDMI3 connected to a Cinema 600 sound bar.  This setup has been in use since 2021 or so.

Have a DirecTV HR44 DVR into the HDMI1 on the Sony TV.  HDMI-CEC is enabled for everything.  
For the first 3 years of this setup, everything worked as it should.  On the DirecTV remote which is programmed for the Sony TV when you hit volume up, the TV shows an indicator in the corner that the volume is increasing, and the sound through the Cinema 600 goes up.  When you hit volume down on the DirecTV remote the volume went down.

A few months ago, something changed (nothing we've done).  Now when you hit volume up on the DirecTV remote, at first you see the volume begin to go up, but then it goes down, down, down and all the way down to 0 if you keep holding it in.  If you hit the volume down, it also goes down.  The only way to turn the volume up is to get the SONY or Klipsch remote and use this volume up controls.  We instantly thought the volume toggle button on the DirecTV remote went bad since operation worked fine juggling multiple remotes.  So we had DirecTV send us a brand new remote.  I walked through the on screen pairing process where it detected the TV as Sony and pushed out the Sony IR command set to the new DirecTV remote.  To our surprise, the same issue remains even with this new remote.  Every time you try to turn the volume up with DirecTV, you see the volume initially start to go up but then it goes down.  You can pulsate volume up on DirecTV remote and it just keeps going lower and lower until its completely muted at 0.  Break out the Sony remote and you can turn it up.

 

Now what I found is if I cover the IR EYE on the sound bar, this behavior doesn't happen.  As long as the sound bar does not "see" the DirecTV's remote, the volume up button will definitely turn the volume up as long as you hold it - all the way to 100% if you can stand it!

So I have a bit of an eyesore going on.  A piece of paper colored in with a dark marker and packing tape holding it down across the sound bar.  Ugly, but it fixed the problem.

Does anyone know what could have happened between 2021 and 2024 that causes the Cinema 600 sound bar to interpret Sony Volume Up from a DirecTV remote as volume down, but Sony volume Up from a Sony remote as Volume up?  I don't really need the IR eye but it would be nice to not have a big piece of tape on it.  If I want to change inputs, I have the iPhone app or the hardware buttons on the sound bar itself.

[Cinema 600 Sound Bar Thread]

We got the Cinema 600 sound bar for Christmas and love it.  It’s connected via HDMI from a Sony X900H tv.  It works really well.

 

I like the virtual surround on so I always turn that on.  But I notice like then next day the SUR icon on the LCD is no longer lit,  DIALOG is still lit from the day before, so that setting is saved.  But why won’t it keep the surround mode?  Weird thing is that it sounds like it’s on, and I push the button and there’s a blip in the sound like it’s off then, but I push it again and there’s another blip in the sound but it sounds like it’s back on and now the ((SUR)) LED is lit.  If it was on before why wasn’t the LED on?

 

The only other thing I wish it had was more granular volume levels.  My TV skips numbers in its 0 to 100 scale and people are telling me this is because of the soundbar.  Maybe at night a 5 is too loud but if I push volume down it goes to 1, and that’s too quiet.  Maybe I wanted it at a 3 or 4.

 

Anyway other than that is awesome.  I’m curious what the surround sound speakers cost that you can wirelessly pair to it.