Alexa, Echo Dot, FireTV and Samsung TV

[barthelemy]

Hi All,

 

I have an old (2011 - UE32D5500 - It does not have WIFI) Samsung Smart TV connected via Ethernet cable to a wifi extender, which is connected to my router. The TV is seen by home network and receive an IP adress, all good I can watch videos from my NAS on it. What I'm trying to do now is to make the TV recognizable by Alexa but it does not seem to be happening, I scan for devices in Alexa but the TV is not appearing in the list of devices.

 

For example, SmartThings app on my phone is recognizing the TV, I added the Smartthing skill to Alexa but it still did not recognized my TV.

 

I have the FireTV stick connected on my TV and at least, I can navigate via voice control (I have the Echo Dot) on the FireTV.

 

However, what I would like to achieve is to turn the TV on and off with Alexa voice control :

 

1) I'm surprised I cannot do it with the FireTV and the voice control as the FireTV remote is able to switch on my TV with teh home button via the HDMI CEC. If I can control my FireTV with Alexa voice controls via the Echo Dot, why I would not be able to switch on the FireTV and TV via the voice control of the echo dot ?

 

2) I read a lot since 2 days and it looks like the main issue of turning off and on hte TV via the Alexa Echo dot is that these old Samsung TVs do not include Wake on LAN function (the ability to turn on the TV via the network by sending a command "wake up" to the TV). I have obviously one first issue is that Alexa does not recognize the TV, any clues on this ? and then anybody with the slightest case similar to mine with the WAke On LAN thinggy ? like maybe a solution

I hope I'm posting in the correct section of this forum

Thanks for any help

[jwlv]

TVs are usually not recognized devices in the Alexa app. Devices in this case usually refer to smartplugs, smart light bulbs, smart doorlocks, smart alarm/security systems, smart cameras. I have never seen a smart TV listed as a device in the Alexa app.

Whether your device is a TV, Blu-ray player, or something else, if it's not listed in the Alexa app under devices, you will most likely need to use an Alexa Skill to be able to control it by voice. If a skill is not available, that would indicate the manufacturer of the device is not supporting it for voice control. There are other ways to do it yourself, such as using IFTTT, Logitech Harmony, Samsung SmartThings, RMBridge, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc. Some of the latter items would involve some tech savvy and coding experience.

You mentioned that you already have SmartThings. And I assume that you already looked for an Alexa Skill for your TV and did not find one. Your next step would be to talk to the people at the SmartThings forum to see how they did it. I do not own or use SmartThings, but I do hear that there are some brilliant things that the SmartThings forum are doing with their devices. A Google search should help you locate the SmartThings forum quickly.

[renegade600]

not too sure what you are talking about regarding turning the tv on/off but I have a smartplug to do it for me. 

[scottrods]

I have an even older Toshiba TV (2010) and before all the latest TV's started coming with "Alexa Enabled", I bought and controlled all my Entertainment stuff with a Logitech Harmony Hub... by voice, using the stuff the Hub could connect to out of the box, then using YONOMI skills, I got it to be able to select and turn on multiple items at once. ie: "Alexa, turn on Apple TV", or "Alexa, Watch A Movie"... even "Alexa, Turn on Playstation" and she would turn on all items needed and set the TV and other stuff to the right mode or input as required... Nicely done at the time. So much has changed since then, but older stuff still works better if you use something like the Harmony hub and YONOMI

[barthelemy]

not too sure what you are talking about regarding turning the tv on/off but I have a smartplug to do it for me.

Ok so what you mean is that I can use a smart plug with letting my TV always on and swtiching it off and on via the smart plug ?

Thanks all for your answers,

My goal would be to avoid to buy any other hardware to make it happen. My thinking is that I have a fireTV stick connected on HDMI (with CEC enabled on TV and FireTV stick) , currently my FireTV stick is perfectly controlled via Alexa (Echo dot), I can go and navigate on my fireTV stick with voice control, I can even switch on my TV with the FireTV stick remote "home" button (which means somehow that my FireTV stick is able to wake up my old Smart TV via HDMI-CEC) but then, why the FireTV stick would not be able to wake up the TV with voice control ? I have tried and when my TV is switched off, I ask Alexa to launch "pepa pig on Netflix", she is answering she is doing it but the TV stays off...

Somehow, I would like to have the voice control command for Alexa that would correspond to pushing the "home" button on the FireTV stick remote ? Somehow I do not think I would need alexa to recognize my TV as she recognizes ny fireTV stick and this one is able via the remote to wake my TV up.

I looked at IFFFT , it looks like an app only, how would it help me ? How much does it cost ?

Otherwise, the smartplug solution would look the least expensive, the TPlink Kazaa seems to have good review and it is pretty cheap, is it a good choice ?

Hope this is clearer 

[barthelemy]

In fact, I just read a smart plug won't be able to turn my TV on and off :

Q: Can I use Smart Plug/Switch on my TV so that Alexa/Google Assistant/Home Kit can turn on/off the TV with voice? A: No, most TVs go into standby mode when you turn them off. Since the smart plug shuts off all power once the TV is turned off it would need to be manually turned on after power is restored

So not a solution for me

[scottrods]

If your firebrick turns one the TV with HDMI or CEC... Ask Alexa "turn on Fire TV" and see if that will bring up the TV as well... I had to resort to the single command to get mine turned on .... not sure what was doing it, as I have all the other hardware. Harmony Hub Systems go on sale quite a lot, so you might reconsider if you can't find the right command to turn on the Tube...

[barthelemy]

If your firebrick turns one the TV with HDMI or CEC... Ask Alexa "turn on Fire TV" and see if that will bring up the TV as well... I had to resort to the single command to get mine turned on .... not sure what was doing it, as I have all the other hardware. Harmony Hub Systems go on sale quite a lot, so you might reconsider if you can't find the right command to turn on the Tube...

So I have tried to do just what you said "Alexa, turn the FireTV on" and it is a constant answer of "I do not know any device called fireTV", which is rather strange as she does recognise the fireTV as sometimes, when asking to play something, she is saying "Do you want me to play this on spotify or on the FireTV ?" and also, in the Alex app on my phone, my FireTV is recognised as a device and linked to my Echo dot.

And she does not answer this because my FireTV would be off as she is also answering this when TV is on and the FireTV is on. So clearly, she does not recognise as voice command "FireTV", could it really be a problem of name ?

I also tried to say "Alexa, go Home" when everything is switched off (like replicating the push of the home button) and it does not work. If everything is on and I says "Alexa, go Home", she will navigate to the home page of the fireTV.

I read a post on Amazon forum about this and it seems I'm not the only one who is having the issue (or trying the same thing) :

https://www.amazonforum.com/forums/devices/fire-tv/505685-cant-turn-on-off-t-v-with-echo-spot


Thanks anyway for any help

For the harmony hub, how it would solve my problem ? how do you connect it on the TV and how do you make it switch on the TV ?

[renegade600]

In fact, I just read a smart plug won't be able to turn my TV on and off :

Q: Can I use Smart Plug/Switch on my TV so that Alexa/Google Assistant/Home Kit can turn on/off the TV with voice? A: No, most TVs go into standby mode when you turn them off. Since the smart plug shuts off all power once the TV is turned off it would need to be manually turned on after power is restored

So not a solution for me

in that case I need to take the smartplugs off on all of my tvs since they are not supposed to work.   wow, I could have sworn they have been working for years. 

for the tv to work with smartplugs, once you add the smartplug, you still have to turn the tv on manually the first time.  from there you should be able to turn the tv on/off with a smart plug

[barthelemy]

In fact, I just read a smart plug won't be able to turn my TV on and off :

Q: Can I use Smart Plug/Switch on my TV so that Alexa/Google Assistant/Home Kit can turn on/off the TV with voice? A: No, most TVs go into standby mode when you turn them off. Since the smart plug shuts off all power once the TV is turned off it would need to be manually turned on after power is restored

So not a solution for me

in that case I need to take the smartplugs off on all of my tvs since they are not supposed to work.   wow, I could have sworn they have been working for years. 

for the tv to work with smartplugs, once you add the smartplug, you still have to turn the tv on manually the first time.  from there you should be able to turn the tv on/off with a smart plug

OK Interesting but more I read more people are confirming that it does not work with a TV that goes in standby mode as soon as you switch power, turning on the smart plug is just providing power to the TV (Red light of standby mode) but does not act as the remote control button of putting the the TV out of the standby mode.

Would be good to know what sort of TV you have. I have an old Samsung D 5500 series (UE32D5500). I'm not saying that it does not work but reading online, a lot of people cannot turn on and off their TVs with a smart plug because of this standby mode thing

I will have a look in the hidden options of my Samsung if I can turn on and off the standby mode, I read that for some it was possible maybe

[renegade600]

I have three different tvs and they all work with either a wemo plug or tp-link plug.   One tv is over 10 years old, another is 5 and one is one year old.  too lazy to get the model numbers.  oh yea, they have standby mode.   as far as I can tell, the standby mode still works

IMO, most who say it does not work, just don't know what they are doing.   if you setup the plug and plug the tv into it then give it commands it will not work.   you must setup the plug, plug in the tv, turn the tv on using remote or power button, then you can start giving it on/off commands.   I am not saying all tvs will work but I believe most will.   

[barthelemy]

I have three different tvs and they all work with either a wemo plug or tp-link plug.   One tv is over 10 years old, another is 5 and one is one year old.  too lazy to get the model numbers.  oh yea, they have standby mode.   as far as I can tell, the standby mode still works

IMO, most who say it does not work, just don't know what they are doing.   if you setup the plug and plug the tv into it then give it commands it will not work.   you must setup the plug, plug in the tv, turn the tv on using remote or power button, then you can start giving it on/off commands.   I am not saying all tvs will work but I believe most will.

I see and you may be right about people not knowing what they are doing as I saw also some comments answering them and telling them to do what you are saying. I just bought 3 TPlink Kasa smart plug and will do as you say Will get back to share my experience

Thank you

[renegade600]

one thing you can do, it does not matter what you set it up with.  you might want to set the smart plug up with a lamp to make sure it works.  then move it to the tv. 

[barthelemy]

one thing you can do, it does not matter what you set it up with.  you might want to set the smart plug up with a lamp to make sure it works.  then move it to the tv.

Yes I will try it on a lamp for sure. In fact, I'm buying 3 smart plug because some of them will be to switch some lamps on and off, thanks for the advice

[jvk of md]

Hi All,

 

I have an old (2011 - UE32D5500 - It does not have WIFI) Samsung Smart TV connected via Ethernet cable to a wifi extender, which is connected to my router. The TV is seen by home network and receive an IP adress, all good I can watch videos from my NAS on it. What I'm trying to do now is to make the TV recognizable by Alexa but it does not seem to be happening, I scan for devices in Alexa but the TV is not appearing in the list of devices.

 

For example, SmartThings app on my phone is recognizing the TV, I added the Smartthing skill to Alexa but it still did not recognized my TV.

 

I have the FireTV stick connected on my TV and at least, I can navigate via voice control (I have the Echo Dot) on the FireTV.

 

However, what I would like to achieve is to turn the TV on and off with Alexa voice control :

 

1) I'm surprised I cannot do it with the FireTV and the voice control as the FireTV remote is able to switch on my TV with teh home button via the HDMI CEC. If I can control my FireTV with Alexa voice controls via the Echo Dot, why I would not be able to switch on the FireTV and TV via the voice control of the echo dot ?

 

2) I read a lot since 2 days and it looks like the main issue of turning off and on hte TV via the Alexa Echo dot is that these old Samsung TVs do not include Wake on LAN function (the ability to turn on the TV via the network by sending a command "wake up" to the TV). I have obviously one first issue is that Alexa does not recognize the TV, any clues on this ? and then anybody with the slightest case similar to mine with the WAke On LAN thinggy ? like maybe a solution

I hope I'm posting in the correct section of this forum

Thanks for any help

Samsung doesn't use wake over lan.  Some tv's may stay in an "on mode" when power is turned off and back on as the other gentleman stated.  Another possible option is I use FIOS cable.  It's attached to my tv directly and can be turned on by fios activity, ie: if I power on fios it automatically powers on my samsung.  Fios can connect to alexa, so I say "alexa, change fios channel to 191" that causes the fios box to turn on which triggers my samsung on which triggers my yamaha surround sound on.  I use the remote to power off though.