# Help w/RC71 - need it to control volume on Denon Receiver



## TexansFan14 (Aug 31, 2013)

I got a DirecTV Genie/miniGenies setup awhile ago, and I've got an issue with my Main TV, the one the "master" Genie DVR is hooked up to. I've got an old Denon AVR-1082 Surround Sound receiver hooked up it. What I don't have is the RC71 remote controlling the volume on my Receiver.

I've spent quite a bit of time on the internet and on this forum; most of the stuff I've found hasn't been exactly what I'm looking for (most people have no problem getting volume up/down to work but complain because they can't get the RC71 to turn off their Receiver; that doesn't bug me, I just want volume up/down/mute to work).

Details: Brand new batteries in the remote, I did a "mute+select 987" reset followed by a "hold mute+enter 4 seconds" autopair with the Genie and it's successfully in RF mode, which I believe is a requirement based on the reading I've done.

At that point, I go into the Menu, navigate to Settings | Remote, select "Program Remote". The dialog box that comes up says "Select a Device to set up" but the only option that shows up is "Program TV". I don't have another option for "Program Audio Device". And there I'm stuck. How do I get it to show "Program Audio Device" so I can then put in the code for my Denon?

I tried switching to IR mode - and got stuck there at one point (every time I tried to go through the various hokey pokey steps on the remote I found on the internet, I'd get a quick flash of a red LED at the top; wound up have to change batteries in it and reset the DVR itself before I could get it to pair RF again).

Side note: what makes this particularly maddening is that all of my other Remotes paired to my miniGenie boxes on my other TVs show "Program Audio Device" just fine - and yes, they're in RF mode too - but naturally all of those are just using the TV speakers and don't need to.

A couple of other notes:
1) My main Genie DVR (the one I can't get the remote setup for my Denon on) is hooked up to a Projector, so there is no TV programmed into it; the Genie controls everything. Might that be causing the issue? Does a TV HAVE to be set up before the "Program Audio Device" option shows up?

2) This a very minor side issue - one of my miniGenie/RC71 remote combinations is constantly losing pairing or something (about every other time I turn the set on I have to go through the mute+enter tango to pair them again to RF mode). Is this a thing with these guys?

All things considered, I'm about ready to give up and go back to the old caveman DirecTV remote if I can't get this to work - it's bad enough the remote designers decided the "Previous Channel" button ought to be RIGHT above the "skip forward 30 seconds" button (essentially turning it into a "lose 20+ minutes of your pause delayed football game instantly" button)...


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## TexansFan14 (Aug 31, 2013)

Quick follow-up: now it's just mocking me. After posting that I thought "maybe it DOES require you to put in a TV" so I picked one of the Epson projectors in setup as the "TV" (my 8350 wasn't in there, but one of the other ones actually did bring up the menu on it). At that point presto - the "Setup Audio Device" option showed up. So I quickly selected my Denon AVR1082 model. It apparently only has one code to try for that model. It finished its voodoo and It had me try hitting the "off" button and it did indeed turn off the receiver (which apparently is something a lot of people HAVEN'T been able to get the RC71 to do).

Unfortunately, that happy glow I had wore off pretty quick. That was the only time the remote gave evidence of communicating with my Denon. I turned the receiver back on (with my Denon remote) and tried volume up, volume down and mute - nuthin'.

Gngngngngngnnnnnnnnnn.....


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

TexansFan14 said:


> .
> 
> A couple of other notes:
> 1) My main Genie DVR (the one I can't get the remote setup for my Denon on) is hooked up to a Projector, so there is no TV programmed into it; the Genie controls everything. Might that be causing the issue? Does a TV HAVE to be set up before the "Program Audio Device" option shows up?


as you have discovered, a TV code is needed. even if you dont use it.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

TexansFan14 said:


> It finished its voodoo and It had me try hitting the "off" button and it did indeed turn off the receiver (which apparently is something a lot of people HAVEN'T been able to get the RC71 to do).


That is the only tome the OFF button will tune off an audio device. once it goes back to normal operation the power will flip back to TV


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

TexansFan14 said:


> Unfortunately, that happy glow I had wore off pretty quick. That was the only time the remote gave evidence of communicating with my Denon. I turned the receiver back on (with my Denon remote) and tried volume up, volume down and mute - nuthin'.


You need to go back to the remote control menu and change the VOL lock to "audio device"

you are almost there


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## TexansFan14 (Aug 31, 2013)

peds48 said:


> You need to go back to the remote control menu and change the VOL lock to "audio device"
> 
> you are almost there


That did it! Thank you very, very much.

Still strikes me as odd that you have to set up a TV set before you can set up your audio preferences (and why it wouldn't automatically assume that "ok, this guy just added an audio receiver to his stack, so he obviously wants to drive sound through it")...

The funny thing is I have a Harmony 1100 remote. But I hate it (too big for one handed operation, and in a dark theater room, that touchscreen lighting up blinds you, etc) - I just use it to turn everything on and off; to keep my DirecTV and HTPC stacks in sync.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

TexansFan14 said:


> That did it! Thank you very, very much.
> 
> Still strikes me as odd that you have to set up a TV set before you can set up your audio preferences


DirecTV remotes has always been this way. at least the "white" DirecTV branded remotes


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