"Set input to TV" voice command has stopped working - Google Assistant with Beam

Anyone else experiencing this? 

@DoctorWhat Welcome to the Sonos Community and thank you for bringing your question to the Community. Knowing that this has been working for you it may be that something has changed with the TV’s CEC functionality. Also, not every TV’s CEC functions support this type of voice control. What is the make/model of your TV?

Does the Google Assistant feature still work with turning on/off the TV, adjusting the volume of the Beam, and streaming a music service? I would first suggest a basic power re-boot off for 15 seconds from the outlet with your TV and the Beam. When everything is powered up and connected then try the voice commands again and let us know the results.

Lastly, we would also like to see an up-to-date diagnostic report.  Please use this link for submitting us the report and reply here with that number.

Hi John, thanks for the reply. 

I don’t control anything from my TV with the Sonos. I only watch things using my PlayStation4 and a projector. The Beam does not control anything else in the system.

The PS4 has an HDMI cable to the projector and an optical audio cable from the PS4 to the Beam (using the optical-converter thingy that came with the Sonos).

The Google Assistant works as usual for adjusting the volume on the Sonos (e.g. “okay google [pause] set volume to one point five”). Other Google Assistant features work through the Sonos using voice control, e.g. checking the weather, the time, ‘tell me a joke’, etc.

I rebooted yesterday with no change in behaviour. 

When I switch the input to TV using the app, the Sonos speaker operates with no problems. 

I’ve submitted the diagnostics now - confirmation number 183479091.

Please let me know if there’s anything else that you would like me to try :) 

Thank you for the follow up information and the diagnostic report number. My concern is with the provided information about your TV setup/topology. Your current TV configuration, as described, does not have anything that supports CEC functionality to the Beam with regards to your projector or PS4. The Beam needs to use the HDMI ARC connections to use a TV’s CEC functionality when the TV supports it. If it worked previously there is likely a smart device involved. If you reply with the model numbers of all connected devices we can narrow that down.

Hi John,

The only device with a microphone is the Sonos Beam. This is the only ‘smart’ device involved. It’s literally just the PS4 with an optical cable to the Beam and a HDMI to the projector. 

When I previously said ‘set input to TV on the Sonos’ it did the equivalent of pressing the ‘TV' option on the app:

It is not connected with ARC - there is nothing in the Beam controlling anything else. The voice command only switched from having an input such as Spotify to the ‘TV’ input in the back of the device. 

In other words, the Beam is essentially a passive speaker, not controlling anything else. I used to be able to make it switch from outputting Spotify to outputting what was coming from my ‘TV’ (which is actually the PS4), but this stopped recently.

This still works when I do it via the app. 

Does that clarify the problem for you?

Thank you for the follow up information. As things are working as intended from the Sonos app. I don’t have any insight into which voice control functions will work in this setup. Let’s see if anyone in the Community has experience with this type of setup, and see if they have any suggestions for you.

Can you check what voice commands can change the input selected to the Sonos please?

Is there a definitive list of “things to say to Google Assistant that can control Sonos functions” anywhere please?

Like I say, this was working, so it seems odd that it has stopped.

I think at this point it will be best if we continue troubleshooting live. I’ll reach out to you in DM to collect some support information and create a case ticket for you.

Thank you - I’ve replied to the DM.

If we find a solution I’ll be happy to share it in this thread, in case others have the same issue :)

For the reference of others that may find this thread - voice control to switch input sources on the Sonos have stopped working. They used to work, but they no longer do.

“I've checked on this with our developers and they have informed me that this particular functionality is not supported. We currently have no way to use Google Home to instruct a Beam to switch to TV input via voice command. It did work previously however // Currently the only way to enact this switch is manually via our controller app or by enabling TV auto-play in our controller app. // We're very sorry for any disappointment this reply will cause and if you have any questions regarding this feel free to send us a reply.”

I’ve asked the support people why this changed, when the functionality might return, and how we will know if/when it does.