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rvia100
Avid Contributor I
July 12, 2018
Answered

Switching back to TV audio

  • July 12, 2018
  • 12 replies
  • 11360 views
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
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    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.

    12 replies

    Keith N
    Keith N
    Sonos Staff
    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.
    Building community is like building a garden. You build the frame, till the ground, plant the seeds, feed the plants & sometimes you gotta pull the weeds.
    rvia100Author
    Avid Contributor I
    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.
    Dalziel
    Lyricist III
    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.
    Beam (optical), Amazon Fire TV 3
    MikeV
    MikeV
    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.
    The S in IOT stands for Security.
      Dalziel
      Lyricist III
      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.
      Beam (optical), Amazon Fire TV 3
      Ryan S
      Ryan S
      Retired Sonos Staff
      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."
      Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
      Dalziel
      Lyricist III
      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"
      Beam (optical), Amazon Fire TV 3
      Dalziel
      Lyricist III
      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.
      Beam (optical), Amazon Fire TV 3
        Davev
        Contributor I
        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
          MikeVAnswer
          September 4, 2018
          Try "Alexa, switch to TV on [room name]" where [room name] is the room name of your Playbar, Playbase, or Beam.
          The S in IOT stands for Security.
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