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Sonos Beam, Amazon Fire TV 4K, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung TV

  • 28 December 2018
  • 1 reply
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M
Hi everyone, I hope someone can help me here... cause I've been losing my mind with this issue ever since I got my Beam a couple months back.

Background information... I own a 40 inch Samsung UHD 4K Smart TV, a Sonos Beam, and an Amazon Fire TV 4K stick.

I'm trying to create as much of a remote free experience as possible.

From my understanding, and my experience, just simply having a Sonos Beam will only allow you to adjust the volume and turn your TV on/off using Alexa (when it comes to TV controlling, not music). So from here I did some research and found out that purchasing an Amazon Fire TV 4K stick will bridge this gap into a more remote free experience... I'm struggling.

Things I have completed word for word like a strict baker...

- Connected my Sonos Beam with my Samsung TV (audio output is through Beam), used ARC HDMI
- Enabled Amazon Alexa under Voice Settings in Sonos App. Signed in with my Amazon account
- Added Sonos as a Smart Skill (and enabled) on Alexa App, and added my Beam as a device
- Added Fire TV as a device on Alexa App

- Restarted Sonos App, restarted Alexa App, and factory reset Sonos Beam

Alexa does turn down the volume when I say her name (so she is recognizes and initiating the command sequence), but she doesn't follow through with commands well at all... example:

I say: Play The Office on Netflix
Alexa: Getting The Office from Fire TV
....Nothing happens.

Alexa does not seem to have a problem with the music aspect... If I ask her to play John Mayer on Spotify she can do just that... It's the TV control that I am frustrated with.

The whole reason I got this Fire TV was to make this whole Sonos/Alexa experience better, but I have had nothing but difficulties with it. I keep investing money into this ecosystem that continues to fail for some reason. If there is anyone out there who could help me or give me suggestions of what to try, please! I'm all ears!

With more suggestions/tips more information that I have remember here may arise, so I am sorry if I missed something!

Thanks a bunch!

Michael
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Best answer by UKMedia 28 December 2018, 10:12

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UKMedia
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Hi Michael

Lots of new devices, before we go much further can you just ask 'Alexa, Discover Devices'. As an aside, Factory Resetting a Sonos device should be the absolutely last option - although I know it's attractive when the frustration level rise. :)

If this doesn't solve the issue, here are my standard Alexa troubleshooting steps:

Sorry for the long post but this type of issue is normally down to one of three things:

1/ Duplicate device names - Alexa prefers that names for Devices, Groups and Scenes are unique,
1.1/ Please open up the Alexa App>Smart Home and make a note of any duplicate device names;
1.2/ You can then change them in the source app. e.g. Use the Sonos App to change the name of Sonos players. (I personally use the naming standard Room Name + Device type. e.g. Kitchen Sonos, Kitchen Echo Dot, Lounge Sonos, etc)
1.3/ Once you have changed any duplicate names then please open the Alexa App on a Browser (https://alexa.amazon.co.uk or https://alexa.amazon.com)>Smart Home>Devices and select 'Forget All' followed by 'Discover'. NOTE: This will remove ALL Actions from ALL Alexa Routines! (Only the Browser version has this functionality.)

2/ Some form of Account Linking or Authorisation has not completed successfully. There are a number of causes for this and it's best to try these steps 1 at a time and test before moving on to the next step if the problem persists:
2.1/ Open the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable' followed by 'Enable';
2.2/ Ensure that you don't have multiple Amazon accounts logged into different Apps on your device, as this can confuse the Amazon Authorisation. If yes, then please log out of the other accounts and then complete step 2.1 again;
2.3/ If the problem still persists, please logout of all Amazon accounts then select the Alexa App>Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and 'Disable. Now power down all Sonos devices for 10 secs, allowing for any wired devices to boot before booting the remaining Sonos players. Now log back into the Alexa App>Skills>Sonos and 'Enable'

3/ If the problem persists then an entire reset of the Authorisation & Account Linking process is required:
3.1/ In the Alexa app, select Skills>Your Skills>Sonos and then 'Disable';
3.2 In the Alexa app (Browser version), select 'Smart Home>Devices'. Now select 'Forget All' at the bottom of the screen;
3.3/ In the Sonos app (Android or iOS), select Settings>Room Settings and for each of the Sonos One's sign into 'Voice Services' and select 'Remove Amazon Alexa from this Room';
3.4/ If you have any wired Sonos devices, please power down for 10 secs and then switch on and wait for it to boot;
3.5/ Now power down all other Sonos Players for 10 secs then switch them back on and wait for them to boot;
3.6/ In the Sonos app, Select Manage>Add a player or sub' and add the Sonos One's again. This will complete the set-up process again;
3.7/ In the Alexa app, select Skills>Your Skills and ensure the Sonos skill is 'Enabled', if not please 'Enable';
3.8/ In the Alexa app , select Smart Home>Devices>Discover. Ensure that your Sonos One's are displayed correctly and not shown as 'Off Line'.
3.9/ Also check one last time that there are no devices with the same name. Remember, if there is a need to rename any then you'll need to select 'Discover' again.

Let us know how you get on.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
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