If you have Google Home, you can forget your remote! Google Home lets you turn on your TV using voice control. That's not all, as you can also use it to search for a particular TV show, adjust the volume, and many more things.
In this article, we are going to show you how to turn on your TV using Google Home. But first we'll show you how to connect your TV and Google Home if you've never done it before.
Connect Google Home and your TV
If you want to connect these two devices, you must meet two criteria. First, you must have a Google Chromecast. Second, you need to make sure your TV supports Consumer Electronics Control (CEC). You can check it in your TV specs, but nowadays most smart TVs support CEC. Oh, and you also need the Google Home app on your smartphone, of course.
If you have a smart TV produced by one of the following brands, it probably supports CEC: Samsung, Sony, Sharp, AOC, Panasonic, Philips, Toshiba, Insignia, Mitsubishi and LG TV. However, if you've never controlled your smart TV through a third-party device, your CEC may be disabled by default. Therefore, you must first find it in the settings and activate it.
Before you start, plug Chromecast into your TV and connect your smartphone and Google Home to the same Wi-Fi. Otherwise, they won't be able to recognize each other. Here's how to connect Google Home and your smart TV:
- Turn on your TV and go to the Chromecast screen.
- Open the Google Home app on your smartphone.
- Tap the plus sign.
- Tap Set up device.
- The app will now search for a new device.
- When the app recognizes Chromecast, tap Next to confirm.
- Check if the code of your smartphone and your TV match.
- If they match, tap Accept.
- The app will now walk you through the steps to connect your Chromecast to your Wi-Fi.
- Finally, link your Chromecast to your Google account.
Here! You are now ready to learn how to control your TV remotely using Google Home.
How to turn on the TV with Google Home?
Using our voices to control our devices is nothing new. For a long time, we can ask Google to play our favorite song or TV show. However, Google Home recently introduced the ability to turn on your TV, without asking to play anything in particular.
If you have successfully connected all the devices, all you have to do is say: "OK Google, turn on my TV!" or "OK Google, turn on my TV!" Google Home is so intuitive that you can use any phrase, just like asking a real person to turn on the TV for you.
When it comes to turning off your TV, the situation is a bit different. You'd think that if you can turn your TV on with Google Home, you can use the same method to turn it off, but that's not always the case. Some models do not support this command and it all depends on the TV you have.
However, you may as well try. Just say something like, "OK Google, turn off my TV!" or “OK Google, turn off my TV!” and wait to see what happens.
Advice: If you have two TVs or two Chromecasts, you may need to rename them to avoid confusion. Open the Google Home app and change their names to something like Living Room TV and Bedroom TV. Instead of saying "Google, turn on my TV", you have to say "Google, turn on the living room TV", because that's the only way for Google to know which TV you want to turn on.
Other orders
The fun doesn't stop once you turn on your TV. You can also use Google Home to control the TV with your voice. Basically, you are managing the Chromecast device which is now plugged into your TV. Here are some useful commands:
- OK Google, pause! – You can use this command if your phone is ringing and you don't have time to pause the broadcast manually. This will immediately stop your movie or TV show.
- OK Google, play! – Use this command when you want to resume the movie you paused.
- OK Google, turn up the sound!
- OK Google, turn down the volume!
You can also ask it to open a specific app, such as Netflix or YouTube, and play a particular movie or TV show.
Enjoy
Google Home gives you a unique experience of watching movies at home. Once comfortably seated in your chair, you won't have to move a bit. You don't have to reach for your remote because your Google Assistant can do it all for you. All you have to do is relax and enjoy.
Have you ever tried Google Home with other devices? Do you know any other tips or tricks to use with Google Home? Let us know in the comments section below.
