What’s With Vizio Remote Controls?
OK, rant time. What is with Vizio and their remote controls?
I’ve had a 32″ Vizio for about a year. Until recently I’ve been very happy with it but my recent experience with the remote has me wondering about the company and quality. My remote suddenly stopped working. None of the buttons would get a response from the TV. Put in new batteries, no change. Tried using my wife’s remote, no change.
So, naturally I turned to Google and started some heavy googling of the problem. Turns out there are plenty of posts out there about Vizio remote controls mysteriously not working. A common problem seems to be the control working intermittently, some days it works, some days it doesn’t.
Suggestions for fixing the problem include;
- Remove the batteries for 24 hours, then try again (supposedly this ‘resets’ the control)
- Remove the batteries from the control and unplug the TV for 30 minutes (again, supposedly resets both)
- Replace the batteries (duh!)
- Clear obstructions from in front of the screen (another duh!)
- Place a strip of blue painter’s tape over the IR sensor on the front of the receiver. The painter’s tape filters the stray IR from the TV and allows the remote signal to get through. (Way above my head, I don’t get it but some say this works).
- Remove sources of IR interference. There’s a good article here that goes into detail about possible sources of interference. (None of which applied to me).
I’ve tried the suggestions and still the remote seems to work only when it decides it wants to, which makes me think the real problem is a defective receiver in the TV.
Anyways, finding so many of these complaints around the internet with no solution offered by Vizio doesn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling about the Vizio brand…. if you are considering buying one, buyer beware!
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:24 am
OK, got a clue here about why the Vizio remote control stops working. Thing is, it doesn't make sense.
I have some Bose speakers that I hook up to my laptop; there are three speakers, two tweeters and one floor woofer. When I connect these up to the laptop and power on the speakers, the Vizio remote stops working. Disconnect the speakers and turn off the power, and the Vizio remote starts working again.
Makes no sense, the remote is infrared, the speakers are wired. I don't understand why the remote stops working, but fact is that it does.
October 16th, 2010 at 12:49 am
Sat down after 5 years of excellent service on my 50" Visio and…. the remote just decides not to control the volume or mute? Menu from remote is also not accesible. Tried my bedroom Visio remote it doesn't work either but the Viso in the bedroom still works fine. Definatly in the TV itself. Tried a factory reset from the TV controls, still noting. Left the tv unplugged for an hour. Still no remote volume control??? What the hell!
December 29th, 2010 at 3:49 am
After about 1 1/2 years of having no problems with the remote for my 37" Visio LCD, it stopped working. Changed batteries, made sure no obstruction, etc…. Didn't drop or throw the remote… While I can turn on the TV with the Comcast remote, it's a pain to do menu or input type changes. Any suggestions or thoughts are appreciated.
April 25th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
omg my remote stop working about a week ago now i have for some reason my tv is on a the screen were u input the computer and i need the remote to get it off i unpluged it for about a day and took the batt. out the remote i havent tried to cut it back on but i want to know do you guy think if you buy a new remote that it could exit out of that menu i still want my tv this is so messed up help please
April 28th, 2011 at 7:37 am
The problem is definitely a design defect in the VR-1 series remote. It will appear to work (red light flashes and everything) but it simply does not do anything. A programmed AT&T Uverse remote works just fine with the TV, and a DirecTV universal remote controls the TV just fine.
Wal-Mart does have a Vizio universal remote for sale, but I don't know if it has the TV-specific buttons that the VR-1 has.
May 16th, 2011 at 11:48 am
After 5 months with no problems on our 42" Vizio (SV422XVT), the remote (VUR10) simply died. We baby our electronics and this remote never had a bump or anything. I tried replacing the batteries, re-pairing the device, nothing would work. When I contacted Vizio they had me do the same instructions as the manual, with no change. Then they made me send all my ownership documents to them and are sending a replacement remote in the mail. I'm concerned how it seamed as if the remote failing is a normal occurence. After my warranty runs out, those remotes will be expensive and the VIA functions can't be accessed without that remote, there are no alternatives!
May 17th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
We have a 55 inch LED Vizio, only 5 months old. Suddenly our remote quit working, just froze up, could not turn the tv off, access anything, or even back out of it. I called Vizio, and they will send a replacement, and to speed it up, said they would send the replacement label to my email. Well I waited a few hours called back, and was then told, I was informed wrong, it will take up to 48 hrs, for them to send the label to my email, then I can ship the remote to them, so it sounds like it will be at least a week and a half, before I can access anything on this tv. I am so pissed, I told them that was poor customer service, with a warrenty. I offered my debit card for them to ship immediately, it's a charge of 59.99, to which they told me..they don't accept debit cards. I said the money would come right off of that, and then you can do a reversal of funds once you receive the bad remote. They said they don't work that way, credit card or nothing. So, after this wait, our next tv, will not be a vizio. We are purchasing another tv this summer for downstairs, I am looking at other brands. I will also be checking their warranties prior to purchase. When making this big of a purchase, it shouldn't be such a hassle to get something fixed. Seems this company is not about making the customer happy or even trying to work at resolving the issue as quickly as possible.
June 1st, 2011 at 7:20 pm
man! this is really disappointing. i bought my tv about 2 months ago. the remote stopped working about 1 month ago. at first i didn't mind but today it did this one "iget on photo mode" trick and it made me freak out then i took my dad's remote from his VIZIO tv which doesn't even look like my remote and P@w got it to work or at least get it out of the photo mode. I haven't had any luck finding a successful solution for the remote problem but i'm thinking of going with the universal remote. i mean if the one my dad has worked i can only hope for the universal to do too.
June 8th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Just found this thread. My remote stopped working. Thing is both the Harmony remote and the TVs remote don't work, that is unless it's about 6 inches away from the IR receiver on the TV. So I know it's not the remote or batteries. Has to be the reciever on the TV. Guess I get to find out about how good the Costco return policy is.
June 13th, 2011 at 5:48 pm
My remote to my 47 inch stopped working. It has a keyboard and I could get it to work by opening the keyboard for a while. Now it completely doesn't work. The remote to my 37 inch can control the 47 inch. I know it is not the receiver for me. Disappointed because the remote to the 37 inch is beginning to break!
June 26th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
same problem with vizio blueray remote and their universal remotes.
July 1st, 2011 at 10:41 am
I was considering the purchase of a new Visio. I have purchased 4 for my comapany and have the same problem with one of them. Needless to say, I will not be buying any more Visio TV's. This makes my decision a lot easier.
July 1st, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Wow..not only are the remote controls not working (tv remote, and television-controls on the cable remote), but the only way to power down the television is to unplug it. For some reason the manual control on the side of the television isn't working either. What is going on? My poor parents just bought this television less than three months ago and now it looks like it may need to be returned.
July 9th, 2011 at 7:27 am
We bought new TV 2 months ago. 3 weeks ago remote quit working. Only will turn TV on. One of the DirecTV remotes will do everything with the exception of having the "v" button to access the internet widgets. Another DirecTV will only allow us to stop, start, backup or go forward with the DVR. I don't understnad why all DirecTV remotes are not equal & why only part of the Vizio remote functions will operate the TV/DVR I have gone through all of the steps listed above & I still do not have one complete remote! AARRRGH!
July 17th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
I found that my up/down channel button didn't work, then I tried just using the physical buttons on the TV, they don't work either. I can only change the channel by typing the numbers in on the remote. This is disappointing because I don't know all the digital channels and sub channels.
July 19th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
VUR10 Bluetooth remote stopped working. I can control most functions with a universal IR remote, but can't control streaming applications (Netflix/blockbuster). I don't want to buy a new remote only to learn the problem is with the Bluetooth receiver in the tv. Any diagnostic suggestions? Thanks.
July 27th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Just want those of you out there to know that I was able to fix my remote problem using the blue tape over the IR sensor on the front of the tv. Apparently that was the problem for me, as it's working fine now ~ See above half way down under "suggestions for fixing the problem include;" Also, I didn't have any blue painter's tape handy, so I cut a strip of colored blue on a plastic bag from a head of lettuce. So glad it worked! but this shows that it was the IR sensor that was the problem for my remote ~ Good luck
August 8th, 2011 at 6:45 am
Ditto
August 8th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
This link to Vizio may help:
http://vizio.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id….
August 21st, 2011 at 9:36 am
The Vizio website gave me a fix:
1. remove the batteries.
2. press every button once.
3. replace the batteries
Hard to believe, but this worked for me.
August 25th, 2011 at 9:33 am
52" Vizio. Did all the usual, replace batteries, etc. Tried another remote, no. When I click one of the buttons on the lefthand side of the TV (menu, volume, channel), the remote works fine for a while. So I don't think it's a remote problem, it's an IR receiver issue. Something locks up on that side. Totally have to replace this POS to Costco.
August 26th, 2011 at 6:13 am
This worked for me!! Thanks!!
August 29th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
My vizio remote was able to power on the tv but then wouldn't do anything other than power on the current input device. I tried new batteries but that didn't help so I searched for the instructions on how to repair the remote to the TV using bluetooth and this seemed to work – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdfR7Ko22Ck – unless it was just a coincidence
August 31st, 2011 at 4:38 pm
I just had the remote quit working on my Vizio 55" Razor TV The bmanual controls were froze up as well I unplugged the unit after about a 2 min reboot when I plugged it back in all works again!
August 31st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
I also had a brand new 52" Vizio, within 6 months we had problems with the remote. Now it never works. Back to Costco – this company should go out of business.
September 1st, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Same problem here,. I've only used my remote once, ONCE, to turn the tv on, then I only used the DirecTV remote, but once we had cable and had to use the TV remote, the channel button didn't change, I'm highly upset
September 6th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Our remote channel up & down button quit working two days ago. Everything else works but that. Very much an inconvenience & now more so since I've found all these other vizio remote complaints. It's bad enough we have to dish out so much for their product only to have a vital part of it quit working.
September 9th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
pretty stupid idea… but, i tried what bush said & it now works.
vizio must correct this error with their remotes.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Unbelievable! It actually worked! My remote has a slide-out keyboard and the remote would only work when the keyboard was slid open. This even corrected that issue. So Far Anyway! I'm relieved the remote is currently working however I will never agian buy a visio product.
September 12th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
I would have never believed this! After reading all the problems with the remotes, I thought blue painters tape how in the heck will that fix anything! I have tried everything else so I guess I will try it (no one was watching)! I placed a small piece of BLUE PAINTERS tape over the IR Sensor hit the on button and WHALA the TV came on!!!!!! HURHAY!!! Took of the tape and still works!!! I will have to send this to Myth Busters……… : ) GOOD LUCK!!!
September 12th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Thats better than the Obama fix! His fix is give your TV to someone else because you have too much already!
September 12th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Not so fast, just tried to change some menu settings and you guessed it stopped working in the middle of making the changes. The worst thing the blue tape will not help either……. : (
September 15th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Taking the batteries out and pressing al buttons worked for me
September 21st, 2011 at 9:30 pm
I am ready to EXORCISE this fricking thing. Called the company last nite…told me to remove the batteries and press EACH BUTTON TWICE. Then hung up on me and when i called back I was told that no one was available…to call back during regular business hours. THen i extracted the remote from my trembling white knuckles…wrapped duct tape around my head so i wouldn't get brain matter on my 47" when my frickin head explodes and I'm calling back in the moring. Good luck.
September 23rd, 2011 at 3:52 pm
We just received our Vizio today and the remote was completely dead. Called Vizio support and the rep said to hold down the P, Q, and space buttons for 15 seconds and then take the batteries out and put them back in. Fixed!!!
September 25th, 2011 at 8:28 am
Same problem here.. Sometimes it works when the remote is used in the open position (revealing the keyboard).. However, lately, it doesn't seem to work at all. Banging on it sometimes does the trick.. Cheap quality..
September 28th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
So here's what worked for me when ALL functionality on my Vizion Bluetooth remote suddenly stopes working: Unplug the tv for 5 minutes. While the tv is unplugged, remove the remote batteries and press every button on the remote 2x. Put the batteries back in the remote. When the 5 minutes are up, plug the tv back into
September 29th, 2011 at 2:02 am
As I expected, this was a short lived fix. It seemed to correct the issue each time the remote quit working over these last few weeks but now even this little trick is not working. This is a serious problem. I have a 55" razor with a built in Wi-Fi. Even if I were to get a universal remote control to operate the TV I would not have the ability to access the Wi-Fi without the Vizio remote control.
The difference between an issue and a problem is that issues can be resolved. I'd say what Vizio has is a problem and we ought to consider filing a class action lawsuit to satisfy this PROBLEM.
September 29th, 2011 at 6:39 am
I contact Vizio… Try this
1. take batteries out of remote,
2. Push every button once on the remote.
3. Put batteries back in remote.
4. Turn on t.v. This worked for me!!!
This resets the remote!!
October 3rd, 2011 at 1:36 pm
I tried all of that and my remote still doesn't work. Since I was 2 months out of the warranty they told me I have to pay for a new remote. WTF.!!!!! What is to say that this will not happen again with the new remote too.?? Vizio has a serious problem here with their remotes and they need to address that ASAP.!!!!
October 3rd, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Have had problems with my Vizio 46" tv remote (purchased about a year ago). Tried SueBee's idea and it worked – for about 5 min. I then removed the Wii electronic eye from the top of my tv just in case it was the problem. IT WORKED!! At least for now, it hasn't missed for a couple of days now. Perhaps other electronic devices interfere with the Vizio remote? Try putting them away till you want to use them.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Don't buy a VIZIO. Had the VUR10 remote, stopped working after a few months. Got a replacement from VIZIO (after a LOT of paperwork) and that stopped working too. Then had to BUY one for $75. Now that one won't work and Vizio has no solution except to buy another one
October 21st, 2011 at 2:55 am
Weird! I had my Vizio for about 5 yrs now and control still in perfect condition until i was in the middle of lowering the volume and it just stopped! nothing worked. I changed the batteries and it worked again but i think it was only because i got closer to the tv. Now i realize that the control does work really close to tv but only works farther from the tv on the sides (straight from the middle wont work for some reason!) its driving me nuts since i just lay in bed and watch tv perfectly aligned only to have to wave my hand way to the side to lower volume or change the channel…will try these fixes tomorrow…
October 23rd, 2011 at 2:31 am
Strange but true – this worked for me as well!
October 24th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
10/24/2011 The blue tapped fixed the volume issue…still cannot turn the tv on/off with remote but the volume is working. Will move the cable box to the other side of the tv tomorrow to see if that interference made the problem!
October 25th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Remote on our Vizio 47" LED stopped working . . . if I slid it open, the keyboard portion of it worked, and in the open position, sometimes the rest of it worked. We watch a lot of Netflix so this has seriously reduced the usefulness of our TV since we can't get Netflix up without the VIA button. So I tried doing the Q-P-spacebar solution mentioned above, and now NOTHING works at all.
Argh.
November 3rd, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I have a 2010 TV, and sent it in for repair. I got it back and the remote didn't work. The manual said to open the keyboard and hold down 'P', 'Q' and the Space Bar for 10 seconds. Then remove the batteries for 3 seconds. It worked like a charm. Hope this helps!
November 8th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. I brought my Vizio remote from upstairs television and that works fine. Hmmmmy
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Worked like a charm. Thanks!!
December 7th, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Vizio poor remote makes me NEVER want to buy a Vizio TV again
December 10th, 2011 at 8:53 am
Remove batteries. Press every button TWICE, including keyboard. Batteries back in and mine worked again.
December 13th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
same problem remote wont work went to wal mart bought new vizio remote tried every code it just dont work and called vizio and they can find someone to fix it at my expense i have a 25 year old tv remote still works on this one is a year old and no remote it sucks and so does vizio fix ur f–king remotes its not just me
December 13th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Add another bad remote to the list , sure wish i had checked before i bought this junk
January 10th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Bought the 2nd Vizio universal remote in the last 3 mo. I t is the xru100. Both started losing programming within 1 month. Called vizio and they say they have heard of no problems. Have tried everything including changing batteries but nothing works. Can program codes in and 1 hr. later it controls nothing. Has anybody out there had similar problems?
January 16th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
55" LED VIA XST553XT w/VUR10 My remote failed after 9 months. The direct tv remote will control the TV as long as you switch to TV mode and then use the menu button to access the VIA menu. other then the keyboard everything still works. TV is still doing great.
January 16th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Another Bad remote VUR100. However I tried the P Q Spacebar command and then pressed all buttons after taking out batteries, put batteries back in and know it works. Go figure
January 17th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
It worked perfectly
January 19th, 2012 at 6:51 pm
fyi, I kept getting the message 66666 then it would read "cable 1081i" but it wouldn't work for any of the functions. After reading and trying a lot of the suggestions that I googled, I tried pushing each button twice as suggested and voila! It worked! Try it what could it hurt? Just remember to press each directional arrow twice and the volume too. My remote is 2 sided so that was a lot of buttons!
January 21st, 2012 at 4:54 pm
hi putting blue tape in the tv really works thanks a million
January 23rd, 2012 at 9:57 am
i have the problem of it not working what so ever and i can't watch tv but i looked around and most of the remote problems start after the warranty expires.
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:02 am
i have had the same problems and tried everything
January 30th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Another bad remote here. I called Vizio and was given the standard fixes that have already been mentioned. How lame is Vizio, that this is the first and only TV I've had in 40 years with a remote that failed? I've owned at least 50 TV's at home and 100's at work. Lame Vizio, lame. I'm going on to change my good reviews to negative reviews.
January 31st, 2012 at 2:45 pm
I've had my Vizio 24" TV for about 2 years now and never an issue, but all the sudden the remote won't work. It was getting worse and I thought the batteries were just dying, but replacing them hasn't helped. For a while I was having that same issue where straight on didn't work, but if I pointed the remote at the side it was fine. Also my cable remote was programmed for the Vizio and had been working all along but now appears broken as well. I tried reprogramming it so that I could at least turn my tv off from bed without getting up, but nothing! I am so annoyed. It seems like something is wrong with the TV if it's not responding to either remote….right?
February 4th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Had this Vizio for less than 2 yrs & the remote ia ALWAYS messing up! The main reason we bought the tv was to watch the Netflix from it, but you need the remote to make it work! Will not buy another Vizio!