topic Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working in TV & Streaming

Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

MikeV — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 22:03:11 GMT

My Bell remote with voice commands does not work AT ALL! I have the newest model of streamer box and remote.

I received a new box and remote to try and fix the problem..and still no luck. I am brand new to Bell, from Rogers, and I am very disappointed. Their voice remote works flawlessly.

No matter what I say...there is no response. Occasionally, if I stand right next to the box (inches away) it might pick up a word.

Am I the only one having this problem? My technician told me that all the boxes do not work. Is this true? Very upsetting.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

AlexS — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 19:03:55 GMT

What actions have you tried so far besides switching the position of the remote? Is there something else in front of or next to your dvr that might have blocked or interfered with the signal? “My technician told me that all the boxes do not work.” Wdym by “all the boxes”? I’m with the older box but the remote indeed only works on the dvr besides on/off and volume control.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

MikeV — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 19:56:03 GMT

What I mean is, the voice command feature does not work at all. One of the main features that Fibe TV is sold on is that they have voice command. The voice command feature does not work at all and two separate techs told me that this feature does not work and it is a common issue. I think it is odd that Bell sold me this box under the idea that I would have voice control, but it does not function. Can anyone on the forum confirm for me that the voice command on their Fibe streaming box works?

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

AlexS — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 23:30:51 GMT

Looks like the Android system has lots of bugs. https://forum.bell.ca/t5/TV/Fibe-TV-box-issues/td-p/7575
Have you tried to check the update?

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

MikeV — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 01:03:07 GMT

I have had many of the same issues that are posted in that thread. My biggest issue is with the voice commands not working.
Please…if anyone reading this post has a remote and their voice commands work, even 80% of the time, please chime in and let me know. I’m still in shock that they advertise a product that has voice remote capability, but it doesn’t actually work. Even worse, when you call Bell…they have no answers as to why and state “they don’t work for anyone.” It’s fraudulent advertising. Any Bell employees in the community that can speak to this?
(note: Bell users may not be familiar with voice command remote controls, but If you have never used it, it is a game changer. Rogers tv voice commands work flawlessly)

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

auntlang — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 23:19:51 GMT

Do you press and hold the Google button while you talk? Don't do that. Just press and release the google button and then say a command such as "tune to CTV" there is no need to say "Hey Google" first. Be sure to hold the top part of the rmote marked mic close to your mouth when you speak. Hope this solves your problem.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

MikeV — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 00:52:42 GMT

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I’ve tried this and it still doesn’t work. It only works standing directly next to the box and only about 20% of the time even then.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

auntlang — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 01:13:20 GMT

Hi, I may have a solution to this problem. Question: When you press a button on your remote, does the LED light on the remote blink green? It should never be green. The LED should always blink red when a button is pressed. To fix this, you will need to unpair your remote then pair it again. In the Home Menu, scroll to "Device Settings" then scroll to "Remote" then scroll to "Unpair". If the unpairing was successful, you will be prompted to press the Pause/Play Button and the Home Button together until the remote light blinks red. If this doesn't work, reboot your tv box and try the above instructions again.... This remote's LED light should always blink red when a button is pressed, and when the Google Button is pressed it will blink red but will hold until you've said your command. Also, as you probably already know, you should to be signed into your Google account on your tv, otherwise the google mic will not work. Hope this helps. Please let me know. I just got this new service on Nov 1st and am really loving it, but somehow my remote started to glow green and I figured it out. (Only because I have a second box and tv in another room and the remote light LED was red and Google Assistant worked perfectly.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

MikeV — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 03:51:55 GMT

Thank you for the response. It seems that you are correct. However, no matter what I do, my button light goes back to green the minute I move more than 3 feet away from my receiver. Very frustrating.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

auntlang — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 12:37:23 GMT

Then I think you should ask bell for a new set.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

Nikki — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 18:57:57 GMT

I am new to Bell, picked up 4 new VIP7802 and 3 of my receivers work well with Google Assistant. However, the LG UN7300AUD in our bedroom seems to be interfering with the Bell receiver and Voice remote. If I am a few feet away from the receiver, the remote will switch to IR (green) instead of Bluetooth (red). Google Assistant will not work without Bluetooth and the receiver shows the remote is unpaired. I originally thought I had a defective receiver, but when I take it to another TV, everything works fine including Google Assistant.

I have tried moving the receiver to another location in the bedroom further away from the TV, but it doesn't help. Still testing to see if I can find a solution. Disappointed with these new receivers, seems rushed to market and there is no documentation to be found. Even the techs tell me their system has many glitches.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

AlexS — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 23:20:40 GMT

What documentations are you looking for?

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

auntlang — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 23:23:17 GMT

Hi Nikki, I am really loving this VIP7802 service. I have it on 2 TVs and am not having any problems. To reslove this do the following: In the Home Menu, scroll to "Device Settings" then scroll to "Remote Settings" then scroll to "Reset". If the unpairing was successful, you will be prompted to press the Pause/Play Button and the Home Button together until the remote light blinks red. If this doesn't work, reboot your tv box and try the above instructions again.... This remote's LED light should always blink reddish/orange when a button is pressed. You are correct with the technicians not knowing how to maneuver through this new service.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

Nikki — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:35:52 GMT

Hi AlexS,

I think I have stumbled my way through most of it now, but it would have been simpler if there was documentation to explain the LED colours on the 7802, I believe green is good connection, amber is poor and red is a problem. I am still unsure what the slow blink cycle indicates when the 7802 is on standby - system update? It even took me a bit to figure out that green on the remote is IR and red is BT.

The 7802 signal on our HT room is on the low side, -73dbm, so the tech suggested a Pod. But as far as I can tell, the Pod does not do anything for the 7802, rssi remains the same whether the Pod is installed or not. It does however improve internet wifi signal as you would expect. The tech is not sure about this and I have not come across any references for using the Pod for FibeTV.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

Nikki — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:54:53 GMT

Hi auntlang, I wish my problem was that simple, 3 of my 4 TVs work great, generally the remotes remain paired with their receivers without any issues. It is just the one TV in our bedroom that seems to be interfering with the 7802 and remote. The TV is causing the remote to lose BT connection if I am more than 3 feet away from the 7802. I have performed a Reset over a dozen times but it will eventually lose the connection. I know the problem is not with the 7802 because I can connect it to another TV and it works fine. I even took another 7802 that is working fine in the HT system and connected it to my bedroom TV and it replicated the same problem. If I turn off the bedroom TV, the remote works fine and so do the voice commands (red LED - BT). Turn the TV back on, and the remote reverts back to IR (green LED) and no more voice commands.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

AlexS — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 01:17:24 GMT

Actually today I just contacted the live online agent for the same reason regard of the LED light and he/she didn’t find anything other than what I can see from the website. I wish the light works as those on the legacy box, otherwise we have to double check if there are recordings going on before unplugging.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

tomtom15 — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 16:05:50 GMT

I have the same problem. I have tried voice commands at least 500 times and am getting very frustrated. It just does absolutely nothing - almost as if the remote doesn't have a mic. I did get it to show CNN once when I said "Tune to CNN" but it didn't turn the channel - so I guess it works 0 - 0.2% of the time? I have tried resetting, re-pairing, different locations in the room. I've had a new remote shipped, a new box shipped and a new remote and new box shipped. It just doesn't work at all. Has anyone from Bell ever even tried this remote to see if the functionality works? Prove it - show a video please.

Other issues - the remote turns my TV back on at random, 2-30 minutes after turning off, sometime multiple times. I've had to unpair the remote from the TV to stop this. The remote is super laggy - I can't enter a channel correctly at least 50% of the time - 1500 will enter as 500 or 150. When I try to scroll more than 10 channels it will jump down 50-60 channels and then jump all over the place. Even the apps are terrible - I've had to re-verify multiple times for Crave, Netflix and Amazon - totally useless if you have to sign in from a computer every time you want to watch TV.

The technician said the hub and the box are new and have glitches - wow, he was not kidding! I was also told it doesn't work with soundbars and sometimes gets interference from Samsung TVs? Seriously Bell, who is the purchasing agent that bought this - did you even look at what Rogers offers?

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

AlexS — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 04:25:03 GMT

Try call the channel name directly without any verb at the beginning.

Actually you can still use the Bluetooth Slim Remote. Most of the buttons still work, including shortcuts, even if the system might cannot pair with it. I mentioned them here. https://forum.bell.ca/t5/TV/Upgrade-the-Legacy-4K-dvr-to-the-Cloud-One/td-p/8538 But for me, it’s my old remotes button don’t work well at first, then they miraculously work as fast as new remotes.

Actually it’s better to watch via other TV boxes. All other platforms have worse image quality than on TV screens.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

Nikki — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 11:20:34 GMT

Hi @tomtom15 , you are having the same interference problems that I am encountering on our LG. Something about these TVs are preventing the remotes from getting a stable BT connection and when this happens, the response is very laggy, voice command will not work and the remote navigation will jump around randomly. If I am a few feet away from the receiver, the remote loses BT all together and defaults to IR mode (green LED) and the remote actually works better - however voice command will not work in IR mode. This interference issue is only a problem for our bedroom TV, I also have a different LG OLED TV in the house and it works fine with the Bell remote. Unfortunately I have not found any workaround so I replaced the Bell receiver with an Amazon Fire TV Stick and it works much better, but doesn't have all the conveniences of the 7802 but that is fine for the bedroom TV. My tech stated the same thing, the Bell equipment is new and prematurely pushed to market.

Re: Voice Commands and Remote Not Working

tomtom15 — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 17:08:15 GMT

Just to update - I did disconnect and remove my soundbar and subwoofer per the technician recommendation - no improvement in remote function or quality. I can't believe Bell is selling a TV service where they say you can't have any other electronics or devices hooked up to your TV - sorry Audiophiles no Dolby Surround Sound or Subwoofers for you! Sorry kids - no XBox or gaming systems and put down that tablet, might interfere with the Bell high tech remote!

I also tried unpairing my remote and repairing. This did actually work for a few hours. I was able to get Voice Controls to work, provided I stood within 3ft of my receiver - even then it was still very laggy, took about 10sec to successfully change a channel and had accuracy of maybe 50% - this is pathetic. My normal seating position is 12-14ft from my TV in a very open room with only the Home Hub Modem, TV receiver and TV running.

The Fibe app on a 4K firestick appears to work better than the Fibe TV service itself. Sad to think that my work around might have to be to buy another firestick to watch TV because the Bell equipment is so bad.

Summary:

I can't change the channel using Voice Controls - does not work or have to unpair / repair and stand 3ft from the TV.
I can't change the channel typing in numbers - too laggy and gets channels wrong 50% of the time.
I can't change the channel using the Guide - too laggy and skips up and down past the channel I am trying to get to.
I can use the Bell Fibe app on a 4K Firestick.
I should switch to a different provider.