
Don't start Sonos Control on power up
The entertainment system in my living room includes a television, a PS4 pro, a Wii U, a computer, and DIRECTV. Everything goes through my Denon AVR-X3100W. I have speakers connected for the system to work as 5.1. I also have a Sonos Connect that receives its stereo-only line input from the AVR's secondary output (Zone 2). My previous setup turned on the AVR and left Zone 2 off. This meant that all speakers were active in the living room and Sonos living room line-in was not immediately available in other rooms. If I want to hear the living room line-in in another room, I explicitly turn on Zone 2, switching the output in the living room as well. (This ensures that the audio in the living room and kitchen match each other.)
When the NEEO turns on the AVR, it starts in SURROUND mode, with all speakers available, but turns Zone 2 ON. It doesn't matter which input I've selected. When I'm in the living room, I want the default to be as it was before--with surround output. I have to go to the AVR and turn Zone 2 OFF to listen to surround audio. I don't want the power-up sequence for the AVR to include turning on Zone 2. I have not seen a step I can edit to make that change.
I'd also like a control on the NEEO remote so I can explicitly control zone output selection, but don't see a widget or button for the AVR to control Zone 2.
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I just asked it about a firmware update and it said there isn't one. It says the current version is 0.50.6-20180424-481315c-0523-151625. It did not start correctly a few hours ago or just now. I poked at it a little more. I looked at devices and saw that the AV Receiver had been updated. I updated that and the startup works now. That update should be added to the overall firmware update process. It may be that device updates don't all get checked when firmware updates are checked. We certainly don't need updates every time any firmware is updated, but we should get updates to "our" firmware.
When I had looked at it before, I could make the AV Receiver visible. I want it to remember that the device is visible and to let me quickly get to it while one of my input devices is active. That's where I saw that Zone 2 commands might exist, and seemed to be missing. Now, all I see is a list of possible inputs. The remote-control commands are missing.
I really want to be able to quickly switch between the main zone and zone 2 output. That feature is very important to me as it will let me listen to my living room media via Sonos when I'm in another room or listen to surround when I'm in my living room. I would also like to change the sound mode.
I do not see any way to actually customize the slides from the SLIDES menu for the AV Receiver. That screen functions the same way on Android and iOS. It includes two lines, one labeled "Inputs" and the other labeled "Shortcuts". In each case, the label is followed immediately by two buttons, labeled "App" and "Remote". There is also a right-justified on/off switch. The switch functions as a switch, but nothing happens. Pressing the buttons does nothing. There's an area that looks like it's intended to select and reorder something, but it doesn't do anything useful.
I do appreciate that power on works the way I want it to but there's more work to to on the Denon I've got....
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I have no idea how to create a recipe or shortcut for the AV receiver. Please note my description of the menu I see when I look at recipes for the AV Receiver. When I looked before reporting the initial problem, I did see the remote codes listed, except for the codes to manage zone 2. I cannot find them now.
I've already modified the power-off for DIRECTV to not power off that device. (If it's powered off, the buffer fill stops. This means that turning it on does not allow me to go backwards in the buffer or to pause, turn the system off, and have it restored when I power back on.) So, I'm already familiar with recipe updates.
I mentioned the need to process updates in a more user-friendly way because performing the obvious "update" operation in response to your communication didn't work. The "upgrade" function on the remote does not support those updates. I just stepped through my TV, AV Receiver, DIRECTV, Wii-U, and PlayStation 4. The TV and DIRECTV both updated. The AV Receiver and Wii-U were up to date. The PlayStation 4 doesn't have an update option. I will now add checking for driver updates to periodic maintenance, especially while the device is relatively new. Hiding driver updates from the users really isn't good support.
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Also, I don't have a Sonos recipe. Because most of my Sonos actions are while I'm out of the living room, I just use my phone instead of using the NEEO (which doesn't actually know about the Sonos). The Sonos system is fed from my living room whenever I send the AV output to Zone 2 instead of to the primary zone. I need AV Receiver recipes and shortcuts to select "Sound mode" and zone output.