HDMI ARC, Beam, and Google Assistant

Some TVs aren't programmed to recognize the on/off command. Or, like Samsung, will only accept the CEC off command from the current HDMI input.

Totally get that, but it was working when I was using Alexa.

I have the same problem with my Beam. Turning the TV on/off worked great with Alexa but once I switched over to Google Assistant it won't work. Any suggestions?

Wow, that worked perfectly! Thanks Ken_Griffiths!

I went into the Google Home app, then to Account on the bottom right, then to Settings, then to Assistant, then to Home Control. Then I scrolled down and found Sonos Home Control TV Living Room and clicked on it and changed the nickname to TV. Now whenever I say "OK Google, turn the TV on (or off)" it works!

This really should be explained better in the setup. This is in no way easy to find, even for me who is familiar with this stuff. Glad it's working now!

I second that nmwhit06, thanks Ken_Griffiths! It worked perfectly.

I can't think of any reason why it needs to default to be called a Sonos controller. You have to rename it to include "TV" in it's name, because otherwise the Google Assistant doesn't seem to be have been provided with information to understand that it's attached to your television. The configuration in the Android Google Home app is extremely limited versus other devices, there is no option to apply a Nickname, so you do have to alter the assigned name.

There is also no explanation as to why there is both a controller icon and a speaker icon added by the Beam. The speaker icon seems particularly pointless as it isn't possible to assign it to a speaker group.

I had the same issue.

It turns out the HDMI cable that comes with the Beam is bad quality.
I replaced it with one of my HDMIs, and HDMI-ARC worked right away.

I wish I had known this before. I wasted 1h troubleshooting everything.

I can't think of any reason why it needs to default to be called a Sonos controller. You have to rename it to include "TV" in it's name, because otherwise the Google Assistant doesn't seem to be have been provided with information to understand that it's attached to your television. The configuration in the Android Google Home app is extremely limited versus other devices, there is no option to apply a Nickname, so you do have to alter the assigned name.

There is also no explanation as to why there is both a controller icon and a speaker icon added by the Beam. The speaker icon seems particularly pointless as it isn't possible to assign it to a speaker group.
Just for your info you can assign a nickname to the Sonos Home Control TV device.. just goto GH App “Settings/More Settings” select the Assistant Tab and then ‘Home Control’. Find the TV device in the list and select it to assign it a nickname.

The Home Control TV device is for GA control of the HDMI-CEC commands to turn the TV on and off etc. The other device shown, is the actual speaker for playing audio to using GA and currently it can be assigned to 'rooms' in the Google Home. It’s quite possible that some further development work will allow it to be assigned to the Google Groups, but it’s not yet clear if that will happen.

I know some users are hoping such speaker devices can be chosen as a default speaker for google home devices. It’s not clear that will happen either, but I do hear (have seen reported) that in the latest GA App a user can now select a default Sonos speaker for a Sonos One, or Beam, device with the voice services installed.

It’s clearly a work in progress and perhaps we will see more functionality with each new update.

So I have got the above working, the challenge I now have is, because my TV is a Sony Android TV there is duplicate TV devices on Google Home & it will let me turn it on and off but not do any of the more advanced android tv controls like launch apps or switch HDMI source via the google assistant, any help on this? I feel so close to that seamless experience between sonos, Google Assistant/Home & Android TV