Dear Big Picture Big Sound,

I have a VIZIO 70-inch Ultra HD LED TV (UDHTV) and a Boston Acoustics soundbar. My TV remote won't control the soundbar. It turns it on but that is it. I had the sound bar on a Sharp Aquos TV and it worked great. It's connected via digital optic cable. My old Aquos worked perfect. When I changed volume on the TV remote, it just worked. This one nothing. This sound bar is built in to the TV stand. What am I doing wrong? Please help.

You didn't mention the model number of your soundbar and that's actually very important because Boston Acoustics makes many different soundbar models. But generally speaking, for your VIZIO TV remote to operate the volume on the soundbar, you have to teach the soundbar the TV remote's volume up and down codes.

If you have the Boston Acoustics TVee 30 sound bar, the instructions are:

If you have the Boston Acoustics TVee One "sound base" (which goes directly under the TV's stand) then the instructions are a little different:

Boston Acoustics' TVOne sound base sits underneath your TV and can be controlled by your TV's remote with some simple programming.

If you have that TVee One sound base, and you've already taught it the Sharp TV remote commands, you will probably need to clear these commands before you reprogram the soundbar from the VIZIO remote. Here's how to do that:

Unlearning commands on the Boston Acoustics TVee One:

If your sound bar is not one of the above models, your best bet is to look on the back or bottom of the soundbar for the model number and then you should be able to find the manual on the internet with instructions on how to program the volume commands for your specific soundbar and TV, cable box or satellite remote. Good luck!

Here are a couple of manuals for Boston Acoustics soundbars, which may be helpful.