Echo Announcing TV Programs

[Protius]

Hey Folks,

Wondering if anybody has heard of this before:

Bought my father-in-law an Echo Dot for Christmas. He loved it at fist but is now he's telling me that by moving it closer to his Samsung TV it now announces the channel he's on, the program that's on and how long the program is.

My advice of moving it away from the tv wasn't too well received even though I thought it a clear and simple solution to a new problem.

So...is this a feature we can turn off? If so how?

Thanks for anybody willing to chime in and verify that the old man hasn't just completely lost his marbles and this does happen to other people. Otherwise it might be time to check his meds. ;-)

[coyote]

Hmmm. Absent him triggering it somehow, that means his Dot is receiving push notifications.

I'm not aware of Echo being able to do that at this time.

[Protius]

Thanks for the reply.

The way he describes it it's almost like it's listening to the TV and then reporting on which show it is. Which...on the surface would be pretty darn cool I think but it seems to aggravate him instead. Kinda like the SoundHound app does with music.

Guess I'll move mine to my tv this evening and see what she does...I'm at a loss on how to help him and of course he's 3 states away and since I work with computers it's suddenly My problem. Ah...family...

[strayfish]

I'll move mine next to the TV too, see if it's replicated here.

[mike27oct]

I have a Dot plugged into stereo audio and is also very close to TV.  But, if TV sound is on, sound of Dot is not affected since the stereo input is from TV, not Dot.  If I have Dot selected to listen to on stereo. then TV sound is off and no problem.  What your Dad claims is very strange, and no one here has ever mentioned this issue until you.

[jwlv]

Could the Dot have been triggered by a news channel talking about the Echo or a commercial for the Echo?

[StevenR]

Some Samsung TVs have a Voice Guide feature which reads out the menus. Could this have been somehow turned on and either playing the audio via Bluetooth to the Echo or even just have a voice which sounds similar?

[strayfish]

Update: mine's been right next to the TV all evening and there's not been a peep.

[Protius]

Thanks for all the input folks...really appreciate it.

My Echo and DOT hung out all evening watching tv together and neither one had anything to say and I have a new Samsung TV for them to enjoy. They both seemed unimpressed.

I am interested in finding out more about the Voice Guide feature...perhaps that's the culprit.

Of course...I'm still not ruling out that he's off his meds... Love Ya Dad! (Just in case we come up in a Google search...)

[strayfish]

Couldn't be that a close neighbour (through the wall maybe) has inadvertently blue-tooth paired something of theirs with it? They might be wondering why they can't get their speaker to say anything when it's supposed to!

[mike27oct]

Good point.  I recently noticed an unintended BT device was authorized on one of my Dots!  It was my new next door neighbors' iPhone!  After getting over my panic, I realized I could just delete him from the BT list.  I will check it again once in a while to see if he got reconnected and go from there.

[strayfish]

Good point.  I recently noticed an unintended BT device was authorized on one of my Dots!  It was my new next door neighbors' iPhone!  After getting over my panic, I realized I could just delete him from the BT list.  I will check it again once in a while to see if he got reconnected and go from there.

That was what made me think of it but I couldn't recall who'd brought it up

[mike27oct]

If in doubt, just blame me! 

[k9kids]

Have him unplug the Dot and see if the issue goes away.

[strayfish]

If in doubt, just blame me! 

From now on, you'll be my favourite go-to culprit