“Alexa, Switch to TV”

I have the exact same issue. The only way I can switch audio back through the TV is with the SONOS app. However, not everyone in my family has a smart phone and if I can’t figure out a solution that doesn’t involve the Sonos app then I will definitely have to return the Beam.

You may have seen this in the other threads, but you may want to try specifying the room name with the command. "Alexa, switch to tv on [room name]".

There is also the work around of turning the tv off and then back on again. That should trigger the autoplay on the beam, assuming you have the beam set to automatically turn to tv when the tv is turned on.

I'm a little perplexed as to why this is such a big issue. I've had a playbar for around 3 years now, and could count on one hand the number of times I've had to switch the playbar's input to tv through the Sonos app. 99% of the time, if I want to listen to music, the tv is off (or turned off). Then I turn the tv on when I want to listen to the tv. That's my natural habit. Perhaps the addition of voice control on the beam changes that natural habit? Even then I think I would purposely turn off the tv as I don't really want to see the images without matching audio.

Danny your own habits don’t necessarily reflect other Sonos users habits. A lot of people, such as myself, enjoy having the tv on with just video and music playing through the speaker, such as during sporting events, etc.

Targeting the specific room doesn’t work either, and I even saw a response from a Sonos mod on one thread that said you actually shouldn’t have to target the “Switch to TV” command to a specific room.

Clearly this issue is a problem for a lot of users.

Yes, the command doesn’t work even if I target a specific room. And yes, I too will have TV on at times while music is playing.

The "switch to TV" command is very new and still being worked on with Alexa. It's not a CEC based command, but one sent through Alexa to your player, so don't worry too much about that command and your current setup. However, there are some things that help.

You can try "Alexa, switch to TV." "Alexa, switch the [room name] to TV." and "Alexa, switch to TV in [room name]." All of those commands should do the same thing.

I've found that sometimes changing name of the room helps, like switching the Beam from being called Living Room to TV in the Sonos app, or changing it to Beam. In general, the command should work, and if it isn't, you might just have to try a few different times. It'll get better as it's used more, as that's how Alexa voice commands work.

Thank you, Ryan. I switched the name in the Sonos app to TV and now it works!

Great to hear!

Yes. I also made sure the switch was showing in the Alexa app as well.

Ryan S wrote:

The "switch to TV" command is very new and still being worked on with Alexa. It's not a CEC based command, but one sent through Alexa to your player, so don't worry too much about that command and your current setup. However, there are some things that help.

You can try "Alexa, switch to TV." "Alexa, switch the [room name] to TV." and "Alexa, switch to TV in [room name]." All of those commands should do the same thing.

I've found that sometimes changing name of the room helps, like switching the Beam from being called Living Room to TV in the Sonos app, or changing it to Beam. In general, the command should work, and if it isn't, you might just have to try a few different times. It'll get better as it's used more, as that's how Alexa voice commands work.

I was having issues with this Ryan and this is what I have discovered recently...

This Beam/Alexa command below will usually always work for a user...

“Alexa, Switch to tv on (Room Name)” ... so if your TV is in the Lounge for example it’s ... “Alexa, Switch to tv on Lounge”.

Also note, you must use the word 'on' in the instruction and not 'in the'. That is proving to be quite significant.

Also note, once you have issued the above Alexa instruction to your Beam, you will then (strangely?) find afterwards, that you can go onto use the more simple instruction, like this... 'Alexa, Switch to TV', at least until you switch off your TV, then a user has to revert back to using “Alexa, Switch to tv on (Room Name)”. So it appears you have to use this instruction on the first outing, every time.

I am currently trying to raise this issue with Sonos Support and looking to see if other users in the community are finding that the above is actually the case for some Beam users.

Ken

TrentKMitchell wrote:

Thank you, Ryan. I switched the name in the Sonos app to TV and now it works!

TrentKMitchell wrote:

Thank you, Ryan. I switched the name in the Sonos app to TV and now it works!

you just changed the group name to TV? I tried that and it still won't switch from pandora to TV.

I'm having the same problem. I'm sick of the same response from Sonos, "It's not a CEC based command", no s*** Sherlock. I'm not trying send a command to the TV I want the Beam to switch it's source not the TV!!!

I have tried the renaming tick but it doesn't work for me. Before I did it, when asking "Alexa, swith to TV" I got the response " Living Room TV doesn't support that". After renaming Living Room to TV, the resposne is now "I could find a device named [no device name given] in [my name]'s account"

Seems like another half a job by sonos. Like the audio ducking on every Sonos device when I issue a command to an Alexa device.

@jonkong, have you tried the "Alexa, switch the [room name] to TV." or "Alexa, switch to TV in/on [room name]" commands? You're correct, these aren't CEC commands, they're Alexa commands to trigger the Beam to switch to the line-in input.

When you change the name of the room, make sure that you're discovering devices after. You should see the Beam listed in the Alexa app as the name of the room in Sonos, and as an Alexa enabled device. You'll also see the HDMI input listed with the room name and TV at the end.

Ryan S wrote:

You'll also see the HDMI input listed with the room name and TV at the end.

@Ryan S What do you mean the HDMI input listed with the room name and TV at the end?
Are you saying that I should see this format "[HDMI[Number]] Living Room TV" with in the Alexa App?

jonkong wrote:

I'm having the same problem. I'm sick of the same response from Sonos, "It's not a CEC based command", no s*** Sherlock. I'm not trying send a command to the TV I want the Beam to switch it's source not the TV!!!

I have tried the renaming tick but it doesn't work for me. Before I did it, when asking "Alexa, swith to TV" I got the response " Living Room TV doesn't support that". After renaming Living Room to TV, the resposne is now "I could find a device named [no device name given] in [my name]'s account"

Seems like another half a job by sonos. Like the audio ducking on every Sonos device when I issue a command to an Alexa device.

Use the command "Alexa, switch to TV on [room name]".

That is the only command that works reliably for me.

jonkong wrote:

Ryan S wrote:

You'll also see the HDMI input listed with the room name and TV at the end.

@Ryan S What do you mean the HDMI input listed with the room name and TV at the end?
Are you saying that I should see this format "[HDMI[Number]] Living Room TV" with in the Alexa App?

I worded that a bit poorly, my apologies. In the Alexa app, under "Smart Home" you'd see the Sonos room name with "TV" at the end. That refers to the HDMI input on the Beam and is used for CEC commands. When you say something like "Alexa, turn on the TV" to the Beam, the command is issued to the device labeled "[Room Name] TV", assuming it exists.

jonkong,

I have my Beam in the 'Dining Room' ... so in my case I see two separate devices in the Alexa App Smarthome section on the 'devices tab' one is for the Alexa voice control of the Speaker and is simply called 'Dining Room' but there is a second device also installed called 'Dining Room TV'. This separate device is used for some additional TV commands.

So if I was originally watching TV and then went and played some music on the Beam, but later needed to switch back to the TV audio out ... I simply just say the following command “Alexa, Switch to TV on Dining Room'”

Obviously you just need to use whatever 'room name' your Beam is located in.

Note the word 'on' is rather important in the instruction, don’t use 'in the' in its place, as it may not work.

Also note, once you have issued the above Alexa instruction to your Beam, you will then (strangely?) find afterwards, that you can go onto use the more simple instruction, like this... 'Alexa, Switch to TV', at least until you switch off your TV, then a user has to revert back to using “Alexa, Switch to tv on (Room Name)”. So it appears you have to use this instruction on the first outing, every time.

Another thing that might help. I found that the reason the command wasn't working for me was that the room name in Sonos and consequently Alexa was being overwritten periodically by my Apple Home App. In the Home App the device was called Sonos Beam and the room name was Living room. But the Home app clearly decided to rename the Sonos room to "Sonos Beam" every so often.

Once I renamed the device in Apple Home to "Living room" the "Alexa switch to TV ON LIVING ROOM" worked. Though sometimes Alexa will say OK but not actually switch...but mostly it works.

I haven't tested the ramification now of using Apple Music to the Sonos device now that it is simply called "living room" though.

I have a problem where when I turn up the volume on the TV remote, the volume on the beam and the TV go up together causing a reverb. On the app on my phone, the named beam (living room) is switched to tv but at the moment both volumes are affected. Most of the time, turning off the TV and turning it on again helps 95 percent of the time but nog always.