Apple TV Remote Control Problem with Old Philips TV

[KingOfPain]

I'm not sure this is the correct place for this question, but since we have lots of people with diverse technical knowledge, I'm hoping someone might know what is going wrong here.

When I replaced my old Fire TV with an Apple TV, I was elated that the remote control could also change the volume of my old Philips TV as well as turn it on and off automatically. I don't know which exact TV I have, but it was one of the early Full HD ones, so it's quite old. The Apple TV is a 2nd generation 4K one.

As mentioned, I was able to control the TV with the Apple remote initially, but after a tvOS upgrade (I unfortunately forgot which one) the ability to automatically turn the TV on and off stopped working. The tvOS claims that my TV isn't supported or that I have to enable a feature that I haven't managed to find anywhere in my TV menus.
After the upgrade to tvOS 17 the ability to control the volume with the Apple remote was also lost.
I tried a new HDMI 2.0 cable yesterday (nothing fancy, only Amazon Basics) as I bought the older HDMI cable together with my 1st generation Fire TV. I had little hope, and I didn't make any difference.

Here is the weird part:
I have a trick to enable this feature buy starting the Xbox Series S that is connected to a different HDMI port, then switching to that port, switching back to the port the Apple TV is connected to, and tvOS will happily report that I can turn my TV on and off and that the volume is controlled via IR.
After a reboot of the Apple TV I have to repeat these steps, because tvOS again thinks it won't work with my TV. That also means I have to do this after every tvOS upgrade.

Could this be a bug in tvOS that it doesn't (any longer) know how to enable that feature on my TV, but the Xbox does it correctly? The Xbox definitely has some effect here, because I tried switching to that HDMI port without turning on the Xbox and it didn't work.
Or is there something I could do with a different HDMI cable or maybe in the TV settings?

At the moment I'm glad I have a work-around, but it's getting a bit annoying, especially if I don't notice that there has been another tvOS upgrade and think the Apple TV will turn off the TV automatically, and come back hours later and notice that the TV is still on.

 

[Cmaier]

How many devices do you have plugged into your tv by hdmi? Does it work if you unplug everything else from the tv and leave it unplugged?

 

[Herdfan]

Look for something in the settings related to CEC or Easylink as Philips calls it.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I've had situations where my Apple TV remote stopped controlling my TV power and volume. I don't know what caused the issues but resetting the remote fixed it.

1. Press and hold the TV/Control Center button
   
   and the Volume Down button
   
   at the same time. Hold the buttons down for about 5 seconds, or until the status light on your Apple TV turns off and on again.
2. Release the buttons. Then wait 5 to 10 seconds for a Connection Lost notification to appear on your TV screen.
3. Wait while your remote restarts. When the Connected notification appears, you can use your remote.

 

[KingOfPain]

Thanks for the suggestions. I still cannot find any CEC or EasyLink setting in the TV menus.
According to some guide on the internet it should be under Home > Setup > Installation > Preferences.
My old 37PFL9632D/10 doesn‘t have a Home button, but under Menu I can find Installation > Preferences, which unfortunately only contains the items Location, Teletext, and Volume bar.

Cliff seems to be right on the money. Unplugging the Xbox HDMI cable helped (the third and last HDMI channel goes to my old DVD player, which apparently doesn’t interfere with the Apple TV).

I‘m still not totally sure how to solve this problem efficiently without having to unplug or boot and switch to the Xbox.
At least I‘m one step further that the actual culprit seems to be the Xbox, not the Apple TV.

 

[Cmaier]

Thanks for the suggestions. I still cannot find any CEC or EasyLink setting in the TV menus.
According to some guide on the internet it should be under Home > Setup > Installation > Preferences.
My old 37PFL9632D/10 doesn‘t have a Home button, but under Menu I can find Installation > Preferences, which unfortunately only contains the items Location, Teletext, and Volume bar.

Cliff seems to be right on the money. Unplugging the Xbox HDMI cable helped (the third and last HDMI channel goes to my old DVD player, which apparently doesn’t interfere with the Apple TV).

I‘m still not totally sure how to solve this problem efficiently without having to unplug or boot and switch to the Xbox.
At least I‘m one step further that the actual culprit seems to be the Xbox, not the Apple TV.

Ah! ok. CEC is limited to 3 inputs (by the spec). Sometimes a source causes problems and the limit is reduced. Does it work if you unplug the DVD but plug in the apple tv and the xbox?

 

[KingOfPain]

Ah! ok. CEC is limited to 3 inputs (by the spec). Sometimes a source causes problems and the limit is reduced. Does it work if you unplug the DVD but plug in the apple tv and the xbox?

Thanks Cliff, you are two for two now!
I unplugged the HDMI cable of the DVD player and turned off the power strip for half a minute to make sure everything is in a clean state. After I turned the power back on, the Apple TV immediately recognized that it is able to control the TV.
Just to be sure, I restarted the Apple TV and it still worked.

I hardly use that DVD player anymore anyway and this seems to solve one of my gripes with the Apple TV. Many thanks!
I didn‘t know that this could be caused by more then two HDMI devices. I had more than two connected before, but the Fire TV didn‘t have that feature (at least not that I know off), so I never noticed it.

 

[Cmaier]

Thanks Cliff, you are two for two now!
I unplugged the HDMI cable of the DVD player and turned off the power strip for half a minute to make sure everything is in a clean state. After I turned the power back on, the Apple TV immediately recognized that it is able to control the TV.
Just to be sure, I restarted the Apple TV and it still worked.

I hardly use that DVD player anymore anyway and this seems to solve one of my gripes with the Apple TV. Many thanks!
I didn‘t know that this could be caused by more then two HDMI devices. I had more than two connected before, but the Fire TV didn‘t have that feature (at least not that I know off), so I never noticed it.

Glad I could help! CEC is a “world of hurt.” When I got my ”home theater’ set up, the guy who did the installation told me to avoid it, for that reason (among others). The “workaround” if you need more inputs is to use a separate HDMI switcher (which may or may not work properly with CEC, so…)

 

[Herdfan]

Glad I could help! CEC is a “world of hurt.” When I got my ”home theater’ set up, the guy who did the installation told me to avoid it, for that reason (among others). The “workaround” if you need more inputs is to use a separate HDMI switcher (which may or may not work properly with CEC, so…)

At least on my Sony I can turn it OFF.

I do use it on the bedroom Samsung as I only have 2 inputs, a DirecTV box and Roku. It works very well switching back and forth between the two inputs as expected.

The Sony not so much. When I had it hooked up and on the DirecTV input, it would recognize me pressing a button on the Roku remote and switch inputs. But not the reverse. But I got my URC MX-890 programmed now, so I turned it off.

Great concept though.