How to Control a TV via Google-Home and Smart Life

Question

I've set up a MoesGo Smart IR unit with Smart Life for a friend to control a TV. I can now use the virtual remote control on my phone to control the TV which is quite handy when he looses the physical remote.

The Smart Life account was integrated with Google Home a while ago so that all the smart appliances he has can be voice controlled. Now that we have a Smart IR Unit we can use voice commands to:

• Turn the TV On and Off
• Change channel
• Raise and lower the volume
• Mute and Unmute sound

This was just a matter of guessing the commands, and to be honest they were fairly obvious. The problem we've got is that there a lot more we'd like to do with the TV but we are unable to guess the right commands! For a start we've like to:

• Select the video source (TV, HDMI1, HDMI2 etc)
• Press the Netflix button
• Navigate Netflix (we are happy to say "Press the up Button" if that will work)

We've tried everything we can think of but Google Home just says that it doesn't understand. I did find a web site that suggested saying "Talk to TV", and Google does appear to understand this is a valid command, but the action it takes is to turn the TV off! (I suspect it's toggling the power button)

Does anybody know what commands we can use?

Answer 1

To control the specific functions you mentioned, you may need to add custom commands or routines to your Google Home app. Here are some general steps you can take to create custom voice commands:

1. Open the Google Home app on your phone or tablet.
2. Tap on the "+" sign at the top left corner of the screen to create a new routine.
3. Give your routine a name that you'll remember, like "Watch Netflix."
4. Under "When," select "Voice Command" and enter the phrase you want to use to activate the routine, like "Watch Netflix."
5. Under "Actions," select "Add Action" and choose "Smart Home."
6. Select the device you want to control, like the MoesGo Smart IR Unit, and choose the function you want to perform, like "Select HDMI1" or "Press Netflix Button."
7. Repeat step 6 for any additional functions you want to include in the routine.
8. Tap "Save" to save your routine.

Once you've created your routine, you should be able to activate it by saying the voice command you chose, like "Watch Netflix." Google Home should then send the appropriate commands to the MoesGo Smart IR Unit to perform the functions you specified in the routine.

If you don't see the specific functions you want to control in the Google Home app, you may need to consult the documentation for the MoesGo Smart IR Unit or contact their customer support for assistance in adding these functions to your device.