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Answered

Switching back to TV audio

  • July 12, 2018
  • 12 replies
  • 11183 views

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  • Avid Contributor I
  • 21 replies
I have a Sonos play bar and 2 Sonos Ones for the rear channels. If I say "Alexa, play Billy Joel" while I'm watching TV, it switches and starts playing music. That's great. Now I want to return to the optical input of the Play Bar and start listening to the TV audio again. What do I say to switch it back? The only way I have found is to get out my phone and go through the app to switch it back.
Thanks,
Rob

Best answer by MikeV

Try "Alexa, switch to TV on [room name]" where [room name] is the room name of your Playbar, Playbase, or Beam.
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12 replies

Keith N
  • Sonos Staff
  • 4604 replies
  • July 12, 2018
Hi there, rvia100. Thanks for posting. At the moment, there is no voice command that will change the Sonos input back to TV. In the meantime, I am happy to forward this topic as a feature request to the team.

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  • Author
  • Avid Contributor I
  • 21 replies
  • July 12, 2018
Please do. "Alexa, switch the Living Room sound (or Sonos system) to the optical (or HDMI, RCA) input, would be very helpful.

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  • Lyricist III
  • 10 replies
  • July 17, 2018
Would be great to have this feature. It is frustrating being able to switch to music with voice if you then need to find and walk over to your phone to switch back to TV. After one day with the Beam I am happy overall but disappointed this is not supported.

MikeV
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  • 3350 replies
  • July 17, 2018
Definitely agree on this... if you can switch away from TV with voice commands, you should be able to switch back with voice commands as well.

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  • Lyricist III
  • 10 replies
  • July 17, 2018
I can sort of workaround this by saying "Alexa, Watch Fire TV" which does switch back to the TV input without needing the app although I still need to pick up the TV remote to switch back to terrestrial TV. Not as clean as being able to say something like "Alexa, Select TV" and not helpful for folks that don't have Fire TV but handy for me.

Ryan S
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  • Retired Sonos Staff
  • 12372 replies
  • July 17, 2018
Hi everyone,

There's a command that's now available which should have your Beam switch to using the TV audio input.

Just ask: "Alexa, switch to TV."

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  • Lyricist III
  • 10 replies
  • July 17, 2018
Hi everyone,

There's a command that's now available which should have your Beam switch to using the TV audio input.

Just ask: "Alexa, switch to TV."


That did not work for me. After switching to Radio on my Beam (connected with Optical) I tried asking "Alexa, switch to TV."

but Alexa replies "I couldn't find a device or group named in [username]'s profile"

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  • Lyricist III
  • 10 replies
  • July 20, 2018
Hi everyone,

There's a command that's now available which should have your Beam switch to using the TV audio input.

Just ask: "Alexa, switch to TV."


That did not work for me. After switching to Radio on my Beam (connected with Optical) I tried asking "Alexa, switch to TV."

but Alexa replies "I couldn't find a device or group named in [username]'s profile"


I saw similar, try "Alexa, switch {room name} to TV" which works for me.

  • Contributor I
  • 6 replies
  • September 4, 2018
I have a Sonos play bar and 2 Sonos Ones for the rear channels. If I say "Alexa, play Billy Joel" while I'm watching TV, it switches and starts playing music. That's great. Now I want to return to the optical input of the Play Bar and start listening to the TV audio again. What do I say to switch it back? The only way I have found is to get out my phone and go through the app to switch it back.
Thanks,
Rob
Ryan this doesn't work for me , TV turns on and off with alex. if i switch to music and then try to go back to Tv sound no voice command works, so have to get phone out and do it manually on the app. this clearly needs work and maybe a clear list of phrases and what alexa should be able to do

MikeV
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  • 3350 replies
  • Answer
  • September 4, 2018
Try "Alexa, switch to TV on [room name]" where [room name] is the room name of your Playbar, Playbase, or Beam.

  • Contributor I
  • 6 replies
  • September 5, 2018
Wow that worked switch to tv on living room. Why don’t sonos have some sort of list of commands.

Same EXACT issue!! No way to return to TV audio after using voice commands if you have activated Alexa to play music. My setup is a Play Bar and two Ones in a 5.1 setup.