Sonos Beam turns on TV but not off

J
i have sonos beam connected to Samsung mu7070 HDMI (arc) & sky q to HDMI 1. Alexa will turn the TV on but not off. can anybody shine any light on my anguish? Thanks.
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20 replies

melvimbe
This is a common issue with the Samsung TVs, I have the same issue myself. Apparently, Samsung decided that it should ignore the CEC command to turn off the TV unless it comes from the HDMI input it's currently on. In other words, you'd have to switch the input to the one used by the Beam, then the off command will work. Of course, that's not really useful.

It also seems that Samsung TVs don't like the commands to switch tv inputs. Alexa will tell you that it's not supported on this TV.

All that said, there some general steps you can try, like cold booting the tv and unplugging the tv, and redoing the setup. The doc below talks about this.

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/enabling-cec-on-your-tv-for-beam-6810049

There really isn't much that Sonos can do about the issue, besides talk to Samsung and see if they can get them to update their firmware or something of that nature.
Danny
J
Funny, I’m having the exact opposite problem with my TCL R6. I can turn it off with Alexa but not on.
W
Badge +1
excellent reply - same issue has been driving me nuts!
melvimbe
@waps69, if you change your tv input to the one that the beam is connected to, does the voice command to turn off the TV work then?
Danny
W
Badge +1
i hqve enabled Anynet+ but can't see an option to change TV input?
W
Badge +1
The Beam will turn TV ON no problem
melvimbe
I should have clarified. Use the tv remote to switch inputs to where sonos is connected, then try to turn the tv off with your voice.
Danny
W
Badge +1
oh do you mean change the source?
melvimbe
Yes
Danny
W
Badge +1
ok that did the trick - am i to now leave it as that source? Thanks muchly
melvimbe
No. You'll haveto switch the source to view any content. This was just an exercise to show that the beam is sending the command properly, but your tv is only listening when you set Sonos as the source. Unfortunately, there is nothing Sonos can do about that.
Danny
W
Badge +1
makes sense now - thanks for helps
Ken_Griffiths
I have a similar issue with the LG 28MT48S TV, it turns 'on' with CEC, but not 'off'... I contacted LG and the support person I spoke to had a word with their tech engineers and they said it was designed that way, so that only the TV IR remote turned off the TV... any attached peripheral CEC 'off' commands are ignored. This allows a user to switch 'off' say an attached DVD Player with its own remote, but the TV remains 'on', in case the user then wishes to watch another video source, like a TV channel etc.

I managed to get around this issue however with a Logitech Harmony Hub and it’s Alexa Skill... which offers TV control over infra-red and allows a user to voice control a few more TV features, including changing channels, source inputs etc.
E
Hi All, I believe I have found a workaround for Samsung TVs which solves the “turn off” command with Alexa on Samsung TVs.

First of all you need to install the Samsung app SmartThings and then add your TV as a Device. Then you need to add the SmartThings skill in the Alexa app and discover devices. For detailed steps on how to do that please check here:

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-smart-tv-alexa-how-to,news-29557.html

After you do that you need to rename your TV in the Alexa app to something simple like Samsung TV for example. Then if you say “Alexa turn off Samsung TV” TV turns off. To turn TV on you must use the name your TV is recognized with the Sonos Beam so avoid naming both devices as TV since this will not work. All other functions like adjusting volume work fine as before.

In essence what this trick does is that it overrides the issue with the Samsung CEC for turning off the Tv. On the other hand the SmartThings skill has the issue that it cannot turn on the TV by voice command so this is solved by the Sonos Beam feature.

In my case I have used “TV” as the name for the TV with Sonos Beam and “Samsung TV” for the SmartThings TV. So to turn tv on I say “Alexa, turn TV on” and to turn off “Alexa, turn Samsung TV off”. It works perfectly fine and the good thing is the SmartThings will enable in the future other capabilities like changing channels or source.

Hope this helps.
H
Finally!! Thank you!!
A
Hi All, I believe I have found a workaround for Samsung TVs which solves the “turn off” command with Alexa on Samsung TVs.

First of all you need to install the Samsung app SmartThings and then add your TV as a Device. Then you need to add the SmartThings skill in the Alexa app and discover devices. For detailed steps on how to do that please check here:

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-smart-tv-alexa-how-to,news-29557.html

After you do that you need to rename your TV in the Alexa app to something simple like Samsung TV for example. Then if you say “Alexa turn off Samsung TV” TV turns off. To turn TV on you must use the name your TV is recognized with the Sonos Beam so avoid naming both devices as TV since this will not work. All other functions like adjusting volume work fine as before.

In essence what this trick does is that it overrides the issue with the Samsung CEC for turning off the Tv. On the other hand the SmartThings skill has the issue that it cannot turn on the TV by voice command so this is solved by the Sonos Beam feature.

In my case I have used “TV” as the name for the TV with Sonos Beam and “Samsung TV” for the SmartThings TV. So to turn tv on I say “Alexa, turn TV on” and to turn off “Alexa, turn Samsung TV off”. It works perfectly fine and the good thing is the SmartThings will enable in the future other capabilities like changing channels or source.

Hope this helps.


Brilliant. Thank you.
M

In addition to this, once you've done this name your TV in the Alexa app TV (with capitals) and your Samsung added TV (the one listed as discovered with the smart-things skill) "Tv"

 

So they are now both named the same, and for some reason Alexa interprets both devices when you Say; Alexa turn on TV or Alexa turn off TV.

J

I knew I’d be disappointed when I searched “Sonos Beam turns TV on” and Google autocompleted with “but not off”.

HDMI-CEC is the devil. Once again, good intentions without agreement by manufacturers leads to fingerpointing and confusion. I almost returned the TV we received as a wedding gift because it kept turning off when my amplifier selected our TiVo as the input source. The salesman at the store told me to disable HDMI-CEC and that was the end of it.

I’m going to try to find the Optical to HDMI adapter that came with the beam. If I can’t get the TV to turn off by voice, we’ll be fine using the remote. 

M

I knew I’d be disappointed when I searched “Sonos Beam turns TV on” and Google autocompleted with “but not off”.

HDMI-CEC is the devil. Once again, good intentions without agreement by manufacturers leads to fingerpointing and confusion. I almost returned the TV we received as a wedding gift because it kept turning off when my amplifier selected our TiVo as the input source. The salesman at the store told me to disable HDMI-CEC and that was the end of it.

I’m going to try to find the Optical to HDMI adapter that came with the beam. If I can’t get the TV to turn off by voice, we’ll be fine using the remote. 

Have you actually read the above? The issue is solvable if it’s a recent Samsung tv. There’s no point in swapping to the hdmi to optical adapter.

C

I am having this same issue. Beam is connected to HDMI 4/ARC of my Samsung QLED TV while the Fire Stick 4k is connected to HDMI 2.

Beam’s Alexa implementation turns the TV on, either via TV, Living Room TV, or Fire TV, with the two latter being actual devices in the Alexa phone app and “TV” presumably a default term that Alexa associates with a TV. However, in doing so, it switches the source to HDMI 2 from HDMI 4 and then the TV can no longer be turned off by communicating with Alexa through Beam due to the issues above.

Here are my questions:

  1. Has anyone been able to add the Samsung TV through the Smarthings app under a name like “Samsung,” remove the “tv” device that is automatically created alongside the speaker by Sonos whenever you set up a Beam or an Amp (the latter being really annoying since there’s no TV in my outdoor pool area),  then get Alexa to turn on the “Samsung” device created through SmartThings? I haven’t been able to do this either for some reason, not even through an the different mic on my Ecobee thermostat (though still have yet to try an echo dot).
  2. Has anyone had luck changing the TV source be switched using the method described in bullet one? I am fine using a different input device but I want to know it can be done and if anyone’s done it. 
  3. Does beam send TV commands only via the HDMI arc cable or does it also send them via the wifi? If the latter, could I just connect through the optical and remove the control from Beam?
  4. and finally, if I go to optical, does it make sense to return the beam for another product? Do either of the other two bars sound better?

Thank you!

 

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