TV & Home Theater

[BrianLee53]

(Sorry this post is so long, but I want to give all the details of my problem in better hopes of finding a solution).

I just purchased a Toshiba 55 inch Fire TV Edition, model 55LF621U19.  I've had it in place at home for about 3 days now, and am continuing to have intermittent problems with it not responding to voice commands given via Alexa over my Amazon Echo device. 

Note that voice commands given via Alexa on the Toshiba hand-held remote work just fine - no issues there.  The problem is only with communication between the TV and my home Echo device.  I know everything is set up properly for them to work together, because they do work together at times, but literally only about half the time.

And the way it doesn't work varies, too.  Whenever the TV will not respond to a voice command via my home Echo device, I've noted three different modes of non-operation so far.  And I've gotten all these different failure modes multiple times each.  

In the first mode of non-operation to a voice command, my Echo device will pause about 3 seconds, then finally say: "doesn't support that."  It doesn't say who or what doesn't support what, it literally just says "doesn't support that." 

For the second mode of non-operation to a voice command on my Echo device, the TV will not respond, and Alexa will say: "Sorry, I'm having trouble communicating with Fire TV right now."  When it says that, I willl immediately use my hand-held remote to check the wi-fi network signal strength on the TV.  The TV always indicates wi-fi signal strength as either "Good" or "Very Good" and always indicates "No issues found with local network."

For the third mode of non-operation to a voice command on my Echo device, the TV will not respond, and neither does Alexa respond (other than the normal light ring activity on the Echo device). It's as if Alexa gave the command to the TV, and the TV responded to Alexa, but nothing changed on the TV in response to the command I gave it.

Again, these problems are intermittent; sometimes (about half the time) it all works perfectly, even over the home Echo device.

When the failures occur, they come randomly; doesn't seem to matter the time of day or night.  It will not respond one minute, then will work just fine a few seconds later, then will not respond again a minute after that.  Ambient noise level in the room doesn't matter - it occurs when there is a little noise in the room, or the room is absolutely silent, so it's not a problem with my Alexa not understanding what I'm saying to it. All the voice commands that I'm giving it when it does not work are exactly the same as the commands that I give when it does work (mute, change channel, etc.)

I've verified that the TV and my Echo device both have the latest version of software/firmware installed.

Right now, I don't even know for sure if it's a TV problem or an Amazon/Alexa/Echo problem.

It's no small task to take down, repackage and return the TV to the Best Buy store to exchange it and try another one, but I'm just about out of other options unless someone has some other solution.  But I'm pretty sure I don't want a brand new TV that only works about half the time!

Thanks for any suggestions offered.

[Mariah-BBY Retired: Social Media Specialist]

Good Morning, BrianLee53 –

Welcome to our community! It’s amazing what technology can do. I’m happy to hear that you got an Toshiba Fire Edition TV. It’s disappointing to hear that the skills may not be reacting like they should each time.

We’d need to determine if the issue with your TV or smart speaker. That would be the first step. Does your speaker regularly respond to other prompts without an issue? Have your tried to connect a different speaker to TV to determine which issue it is? However, this sounds like an issue that Amazon maybe able to assist you further with. Have you checked out their device troubleshooting guides?

I’d recommend starting with these two: Echo Device Doesn’t Connect to Wi-Fi and Reset Your Echo Device.  For the TV troubleshooting they have a lot that may be beneficial here.

Also, prior to boxing your TV up for an exchange I’d give Amazon a call to see if they can confirm this issue as defective or walk you through some additional troubleshooting. That may save you some time too.

Kindly,

[BrianLee53]

Hi Mariah.  Thank you for your reply about my issue.

But yes, I had already tried your suggestions as part of my initial troubleshooting.  My Echo devices did respond correctly to all other non-TV related commands, and I did try a different Echo device, with the same results.  

I ended up returning that TV to the store and getting another one (same model).  That seems to have resolved my problems.  The new one seems to be working just fine.

Thank you.

[Mariah-BBY Retired: Social Media Specialist]

Hi, BrianLee53,

Thanks for sharing an update with us! I’m happy to hear that exchanging your TV resolved the issue. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us in the future, we’re always happy to see how we may be able to help.

Respectfully,