Just got a Nvidia Shield and having some issues w/ Google Home voice commands

by ChrDav

Just bought the Nvidia Shield TV and loving it thus far. The interface and customization is top notch. I'm having some small issues however, things that worked when I was only utilizing my Chromecast Ultra w/ Google Home.

  1. It wont cast movies via Google Home voice from Google Play Movies and TV like the Chromecast did. It acknowledges the command, the screen changes showing the Google Play Movies and TV logo but then nothing happens. A few seconds later I get an error messaging from Google Home saying "I'm sorry, something went wrong. Please try again in a few moments." But the issue continues.
  2. It won't power-on the TV via my voice w/ Google Home. It will power it off just fine with a voice command. This is a minor grip.
  3. Again, another minor grip. All commands need for me to now explain to Google Home the enter device. Like for example I used to be able to simply say "Play XYZ video on YouTube" and it would come right up on the TV. Now, since getting the Shield I have to "..on Living Room TV" as the Google Home will say it needs to know which device to use. We also have a Chromecast on the upstairs Bedroom with a separate Google Home there. We never had to be specific with the commands previously. The one upstairs knew I was talking about the upstairs TV and vice versa with the downstairs TV.

Any feedback or solutions? Also looking for a way to sideload apps not available on the Google Play Store on the device. For example, NBC Sports Gold. Will I just have to cast that from my phone when I want to use it or is there a trick to get the app on the TV?
Any solutions, advice is greatly appreciated!

jmagahh

For #3, go into the Google home app, go to device settings for your living room Google home and select a default TV. Now anytime you ask it to play a video of sorts that Google home will automatically play it on that TV, unless you specify a TV. like so

fudsak

1 - I have had really limited success getting anything to play via voice commands. It depends heavily on the app's integration. Sometimes it will just open the app, sometimes it will open the app and navigate to the content (but not play), sometimes it will play it, sometimes it will error out. I would hope that Google's own service would perform this seamlessly but somehow I'm not shocked to hear it's not.

2 - I have the Gen1 Shield and hitting any button the remote wakes my TV up. I think casting from my phone always wake the Shield (and then the TV). I can't say I've tried via voice command...

At least 3 makes sense to me. Before the Shield TV, you only had one cast device - the Bedroom Chromecast. Whenever you issued a command to cast something, there was only one option - the Bedroom Chromecast. Now, when you ask Google Assistant from any device (could be Google Home, Shield TV, your phone, etc) to cast something, it has two devices to choose from (Bedroom Chromecast, Living Room TV) and you have to specify which one you want.