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Contributor I
July 15, 2018
Answered

Sonos Beam Tv Control On and Off

Would anybody know why I can turn ON my tv using the Beam with Alexa but can’t turn it back off using the voice commands?
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Ryan S
Ryan SAnswer
Retired Sonos Staff
July 16, 2018
Would anybody know why I can turn ON my tv using the Beam with Alexa but can’t turn it back off using the voice commands?
Some TVs only accept certain CEC commands, so make sure OFF is one that your TV will take. Also, you may need to go into your TV's settings to tell it to allow being turned off by HDMI devices. What type of TV do you have? A model number would help the most with this.

For example, you'd be looking for Simplink - Auto Power Sync or Auto Power with an LG. For Panasonic Vierra TVs it's called - Auto Power / Power On Link / Power Off line. And on Sharp Roku TV or TCL Roku TV, look for 1-touch play.

Hi, yes.... I had the same problem too when trying to switch back from Music Audio....

‘TV’
‘TV SOURCE’
‘Switch to TV’


The command "Alexa, switch to TV" should do the trick. If that's not working, try "Alexa, switch to TV on [room name]"
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

40 replies

Lyricist I
August 3, 2018
Same issue here on LG 55EF950V, All commands are working except for “Off”. All suggestions on here have been tried but to no avail. I have had to resort to get the TV remote control out from its cave now just for switching the TV off. Not ideal when this has been working perfectly fine with Apple TV until Beam was connected via ARC.
Ryan S
Retired Sonos Staff
August 6, 2018
The command to turn the TV off should be: "Alexa, turn off the TV" or "Alexa, turn off the [room name] TV".

There are some things I've seen work for some TV's, like renaming your Beam to TV or just another name. Also, there are some TVs that you need to turn on a specific setting within them for enabling other devices to turn them off. In a few cases, it helps to use a cable with your other device that doesn't support CEC. To see if it's another device taking over, you could try unplugging that device from the TV, and see if Off and On work from Beam (make sure you're using a different input on the TV, not the HDMI for Beam).

Also, some TV manufacturers don't have off supported or have limited support for it on some models. It may be best to contact the manufacturer and ask if CEC (Simplink for LG) supports turning the TV off from another device.
Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
October 14, 2018
Hi, I have a LG 42UB820T TV. I have turned on Simplink and the Auto Power options. I can turn on the Tv using Alexa but cannot turn it off using Alexa.

I noticed when I turned on Simplink, the HDMI connection I use for my Apple TV showed as being a Simplink device (the green Simplink symbol was disabled on the HDMI connection on the input list), but the HDMI-CEC connection I use for the Sonos Beam did not.

I tried including the Room in the command as suggested previously, but still no luck.

Any suggestions?


Did you manage to solve this? Having the exact same issue on an LG TV and suspect that the Beam is not detected as a Simplink-device. I have a Chromecast that is marked "Simplink" on the TV as your Apple TV while the Sonos is not.
Lyricist I
November 7, 2018
Would anybody know why I can turn ON my tv using the Beam with Alexa but can’t turn it back off using the voice commands?

If the problem still persists try using your Sonos Beam as the Source (NOT Xbox, PS, Blueray, etc). Fixed the same issue on my Samsung TV.
Lyricist I
November 14, 2018
Also have Samsung UN58MU6071 and can turn on but not off with Alexa. Tried naming the TV when I give the command as rei suggested but still doesn’t work. Can turn off with Alexa if I change the source to the beam hdmi input with the tv remote but what’s the point in that? Guess I’m stuck hitting the power button for off until Sonos or Samsung figures this out.
AjTrek1
November 15, 2018
@All

First let me say that I don't work for Sonos; nor am I affiliated with any technology licensing agency.

I have a 5-6 year old Sony TV with HDMI_ARC connected to a Beam. The issue I had with on/off is that Alexa would ask "which device do you mean as there are several devices called TV". Guess what...she was right. I had two FireTV's on other TV's. The solution was to change the name to Sony and not just TV. Now the command is "Alexa, turn on Sony" and vise-versa.

My point here is I don't think the issue is with the Beam or Alexa...well sometimes it's Alexa :8. The problem is that HDMI-ARC is a standard protocol but how it's implemented is not. Every TV manufacturer has a different name to say that theirs does more than someone else's. Think Windows 10 after the PC manufacturer adds all their "bloat ware" to the OS. Ring a bell:?

Sonos (like Microsoft) can't account for every tweak that a manufacturer may add to their set and how it implements HDMI_ARC protocol with the Beam. Obviously, my 5-6 year old Sony was an early adapter of the HDMI_ARC protocol before it became so widespread; and before manufacturers (including Sony) had a chance to tweak the code.

Bottom-line it won't be Sonos that fixes the problem it will take a consortium to set guidelines as to how HDMI_ARC can be implemented much in the same way the "Wi-Fi Alliance a non-profit organization promotes Wi-Fi technology and certifies Wi-Fi products for conformity to certain standards of interoperability". Until then it will probably be a hit or miss in terms of how HDMI_ARC is implemented in each scenario with a TV manufacturer. Some good, some not so good.

Cheers!
Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
AjTrek1
November 19, 2018
@All

Just thought I'd update this thread with a personal expereince in reference to my previous post. Wherein I discussed on/off commands with my Sony:

I have a 5-6 year old Sony TV with HDMI_ARC connected to a Beam. The issue I had with on/off is that Alexa would ask "which device do you mean as there are several devices called TV". Guess what...she was right. I had two FireTV's on other TV's. The solution was to change the name to Sony and not just TV. Now the command is "Alexa, turn on Sony" and vise-versa.

I moved some of my TV's around replacing the Sony with a Samsung of about 4 yrs. The Beam and Alexa Voice worked perfectly with the Sony; however, not so with the Samsung. The Beam will turn turn the Samsung on but not off. I can only attribute that to the Samsung implementation of AnyNet_CEC in conjunction with HDMI_ARC. Taking this further...the Samsung will go through the configuring of devices for AnyNet_CEC including the Beam. However, at the conclusion of the process the Beam is not recognized; but my GoogleFiber and AppleTV boxes are :?

IMO the above is a prime example of the idiosyncracies that are imposed upon a protocol (HDMI_ARC) when manufacturers inject their own code. Just too much garbage that degrades the user experience. To be fair Samsung's AnyNet_CEC is designed to make other device integrations more user friendly; but obiviously IMO Samsung failed with HDMI_ARC.

Cheers!
Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
Lyricist I
November 28, 2018
I've just bought a Beam this week and am experiencing this same issue where you can't turn off the TV using any variant of 'Alexa turn off the TV'. I can however turn on the TV, mute and unmute successfully. My TV is an LG 49UF680V connected via HDMI ARC with SIMPLINK on, Auto Power Sync enabled and no other devices connected which could be interfering with the CEC/SIMPLINK.
Does anyone have any additional pointers to try and resolve the turning off issue?
Lyricist I
December 29, 2018
Hi, yes.... I had the same problem too when trying to switch back from Music Audio....

‘TV’
‘TV SOURCE’
‘Switch to TV’

None seemed to work, so had to browse the app.

I’ve been impressed by the sound quality, but no remote means Alexa needs to be smarter


In case you haven’t discovered this, you can also say “Alexa, switch to TV” and it will switch audio sources and work again.
Lyricist I
May 14, 2019
Similar issue on my side with LG TV, can't wait for further updates.