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Contributor I
May 30, 2019
Answered

HDMI ARC, Beam, and Google Assistant

  • May 30, 2019
  • 25 replies
  • 13413 views
I'm pretty sure I have the Beam connected to the HDMI ARC port and I am still unable to turn the TV on or off using voice commands.
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      Best answer by Ken_Griffiths
      nmwhit06,

      Go into your Google Home App (main Home Page) and find the Sonos entry for the TV... it will be called something like “Sonos TV Control for Dining Room”, or similar, where 'Dining Room' is the Sonos Room Name for the Beam. It will have a TV icon to help you identify it.

      You can either rename it to “TV” or give it the nickname of “TV” ... then try controlling the TV with “Hey Google Turn on my TV” etc.

      Before renaming the device, please ensure you have no other devices called TV, otherwise you will be best giving it another name like “Sony TV” or “Samsung TV” etc. just as examples.

      Hope that fixes your TV control.

      25 replies

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      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      July 3, 2019
      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
      Perhaps call one device 'TV' and the other 'Sony TV', then use that chosen name in your utterances so that the correct actions required, are then applied using the corresponding installed device/card installed in the Google Assistant App.

      Hope that makes sense.
      Montgomery
      Contributor I
      July 24, 2019
      Hi all, thanks for your ideas so far. I am having a similar problem but the above fixes have not helped.

      For context, I am trying to use the Sonos Beam (with Google Assistant) to turn on/off a Vizio E48-D0 TV. The Sonos Beam is connected to the TV via the HDMI ARC input and the sound works just fine. However, the Google Assistant will not turn the tv off or on. I've tried renaming the "Sonos TV Control for Living Room" to TV and the Vizio TV to just Vizio (in order to distinguish them), but that has not worked. Any suggestions?
      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      July 24, 2019
      Hi all, thanks for your ideas so far. I am having a similar problem but the above fixes have not helped.

      For context, I am trying to use the Sonos Beam (with Google Assistant) to turn on/off a Vizio E48-D0 TV. The Sonos Beam is connected to the TV via the HDMI ARC input and the sound works just fine. However, the Google Assistant will not turn the tv off or on. I've tried renaming the "Sonos TV Control for Living Room" to TV and the Vizio TV to just Vizio (in order to distinguish them), but that has not worked. Any suggestions?
      Have you enabled CEC control within the TV system settings. I found an example from a Visio TV Manual online.. (see screenshot), but not sure if it will look exactly the same on your particular model.

      Hope that helps to get things sorted.
      Montgomery
      Contributor I
      July 24, 2019

      Hi all, thanks for your ideas so far. I am having a similar problem but the above fixes have not helped.

      For context, I am trying to use the Sonos Beam (with Google Assistant) to turn on/off a Vizio E48-D0 TV. The Sonos Beam is connected to the TV via the HDMI ARC input and the sound works just fine. However, the Google Assistant will not turn the tv off or on. I've tried renaming the "Sonos TV Control for Living Room" to TV and the Vizio TV to just Vizio (in order to distinguish them), but that has not worked. Any suggestions?      Have you enabled CEC control within the TV system settings. I found an example from a Visio TV Manual online.. (see screenshot), but not sure if it will look exactly the same on your particular model.

      Hope that helps to get things sorted.

      Thanks, I have tried that but unfortunately it did not work. The Vizio has three CEC settings: Enable, ARC only, and Disable. I tried both Enable and ARC only.
      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      July 24, 2019
      Montgomery, when you change the CEC setting you may need to power off BOTH devices completely and disconnect and reconnect the HDMI cable to set up the handshake. Make sure you are using a correct HDMI Cable, as some older versions may not support CEC. So enable CEC and then try that and see if it works.

      If it still fails, my next suggestion would be to try a completely different HDMI cable.
      James B
      Contributor I
      August 20, 2019
      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
      I have this exact issue - did you find a solution to this? Or does anyone have any other suggestions?
      Thanks
      dfin
      Contributor I
      December 2, 2019

      Hey Everyone, 

      I have a similar issue, except my beam turns on the tv well. The issue is that it rather than keeping the Input selected as the previous HDMI input which my cable box is plugged into. It sets the TV Input to view the HDMI ARC port which is only exporting Audio. So I have to pick up the TV Remote just to change video inputs every time I turn the TV on with a voice command.

      Anybody else experience this issue?

      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      December 3, 2019

      Hey Everyone, 

      I have a similar issue, except my beam turns on the tv well. The issue is that it rather than keeping the Input selected as the previous HDMI input which my cable box is plugged into. It sets the TV Input to view the HDMI ARC port which is only exporting Audio. So I have to pick up the TV Remote just to change video inputs every time I turn the TV on with a voice command.

      Anybody else experience this issue?

      That sounds just like the issue with some Samsung TV’s. If I recall correctly it’s referred to online as 'Auto-detect HDMI’. Perhaps try searching for that term on google with your particular TV make/model.

      In some Samsung TV’s this was a huge problem as it could not be switched off, but in some later models Samsung added a setting to switch off the feature.

      Obviously I do not know if you are using a Samsung TV, or what model it maybe, but regardless of that fact, I would check with your TV manufacturers support desk to see how you can perhaps turn off the ‘Auto-Detect HDMI’ feature.

      flybock
      Lyricist II
      January 31, 2020

      Thanks Ken_Griffiths, your instructions partially worked for my Samsung QLED 2019 model. I can now switch the TV on by issuing voice commands. However, to turn off the TV by GA or GH commands, the source must be set to the Beam. If another HDMI input is active, e.g. my cable box, the commands to turn it off do nothing. It's like the TV does not "listen" to this type of HDMI input when not actively selected.

       

      Any ideas how to fix this? I can not find any settings that relates to this. 

      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      January 31, 2020

      Thanks Ken_Griffiths, your instructions partially worked for my Samsung QLED 2019 model. I can now switch the TV on by issuing voice commands. However, to turn off the TV by GA or GH commands, the source must be set to the Beam. If another HDMI input is active, e.g. my cable box, the commands to turn it off do nothing. It's like the TV does not "listen" to this type of HDMI input when not actively selected.

       

      Any ideas how to fix this? I can not find any settings that relates to this. 

      I suspect this is the way Samsung have implemented the HDMI-CEC standard which they call ‘anynet+‘ when the Beam first came out I seem to recall some users mentioning the issue and not sure if anyone discovered a way to resolve it. Maybe worth searching this community or perhaps speak to Samsung support about the matter.

      Some options to maybe consider, if you use a voice assistant on the Beam, is to see if there is a smarthome Alexa skill or Google device add-on to perform the TV switch on/switch off process instead and even change channel (perhaps?).. and give those the TV control, away from the Beam.

       

      In my case I have two Beams in my home, 'Bedroom' and 'Dining Room' and the one LG TV has no HDMI-CEC instruction (by design) to switch off the TV ...LG chose not to implement that on some models and so it can only be turned off by its IR remote. To get around this I have added the Logitech Harmony hub to my room and this works incredibly well, taking over (sometimes) from the remote using voice control and it will work on virtually any make/model of TV. The Hub is s bit of a learning curve, but if I can do these things,  my thoughts are that most folk will be able to do it too. I certainly would take a look at that option.

      The Hub will do the following (and more) for example (All via voice/app control).…

      1. Power on/off the TV
      2. Change TV Channel
      3. Change HDMI/Input ports
      4. Adjust/Mute volume
      5. Launch Apps
      6. Pause TV or playing Apps

      So at least that may give you some things to consider if you are not able to find a solution for your TV.

      Hope that assists.👍

       

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