What voice commands can I use with Google TV?

Google TV is Google’s smart TV platform that integrates Android TV and Google Assistant directly into select televisions. It enables the use of voice commands through the Google Assistant to search for content, control smart home devices, and more.

With Google Assistant built-in, Google TV supports a wide variety of voice commands that allow you to navigate and control the TV through natural voice interactions. Key categories of voice commands include searching for entertainment, controlling media playback, accessing apps, launching games, and controlling smart home devices.

Activating Voice Search

To activate voice search on Google TV, you need to use the microphone button on the Google TV remote. The remote that comes with Google TV devices like the Chromecast with Google TV has a microphone button near the top of the remote.

According to Google Support, to activate voice search, you simply press and hold the microphone button on the remote (source). This will open the microphone and allow you to speak your voice command or question. The Google Assistant will then process your voice input and provide a response.

For Android TV devices that have the Google Assistant, the process is the same. You press the microphone button on your Android TV remote and hold it while speaking to activate voice search and input from the Google Assistant (source).

So in summary, to use voice commands on your Google TV or Android TV, press and hold the microphone button on your remote and speak your command or question. Just make sure your remote has a working microphone button to enable voice search.

Basic Commands

Some basic voice commands you can use with Google TV include:
Turning the TV on and off – “Ok Google, turn on/off the TV”.

Adjusting the volume – “Ok Google, turn up/down the volume”. You can also set a specific volume level like “Ok Google, set the volume to 10” or “Ok Google, mute/unmute the TV”.

Changing the input or channel – “Ok Google, switch to HDMI 1/channel ABC”. You can switch to any of the inputs or channels such as cable box, streaming devices, gaming consoles etc.
(Source).

Searching

The Google Assistant voice remote gives you the ability to search for different types of content on your Google TV. For example, you can search for movies, TV shows, videos, and actors using just your voice. To search, press and hold the microphone button on your voice remote, and say “Find [movie name]” to search for movies, “Find [show name]” to search for TV shows, or “Find [actor name’s] movies” to search for an actor’s films.

According to Google’s support page on using the Google Assistant, you’ll see search results grouped into categories like movies, shows, and videos after you make a voice search query. So for example if you searched for “Die Hard”, you’d see tabs for different Die Hard films, as well as information from Wikipedia about the film franchise, and trailers for the latest installments.

YouTube

You can search for and play YouTube videos on Google TV using voice commands to the Google Assistant. Some common commands include (1):

“Play YouTube”
“Pause”
“Resume”

“Fast forward 30 seconds”

You can also use voice commands to control playback of YouTube TV, such as (2):

“Record Empire”

“Pause”
“Resume”
“Stop”

This allows you to easily find and control YouTube videos hands-free using just your voice.

(1) https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/11937611?hl=en

(2) https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/7529864?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid

Photos

You can view photos from your Google Photos library on your TV using voice commands. Simply say “Show me photos of [place name]” or “Show me photos of [object/thing]” to display relevant photos. For example, you can say “Show me photos of New York on my living room TV” or “Show me photos of dogs”.

To view a photo slideshow from Google Photos, use a command like “Play a slideshow of my photos” or “Start a slideshow”. You can also ask to view photos from a certain date or time period. Say “Show me photos from December 2020” or “Show photos from last Thanksgiving”. Your TV will then display a curated selection of photos from Google Photos based on your voice query.

Apps

You can use voice commands to open popular apps like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ on your Google TV.

To open Netflix, say: “Open Netflix.” You can also use Netflix specifically to search and control playback, such as “Search Netflix for comedies” or “Pause Netflix.” [1]

Other apps you can open by voice include:

Prime Video: “Open Prime Video”

Disney+: “Open Disney Plus”
YouTube: “Open YouTube”
Hulu: “Open Hulu”

Google Assistant can also take additional commands for some streaming services after opening the app, such as:

“Play The Witcher on Netflix”
“Search Hulu for comedies”

Games

There are a few voice controlled games available for Google TV. The service Volley (https://www.volleythat.com) offers voice-activated trivia and song quiz games that work with Google TV. Some specific games that use voice recognition commands include:

Scream Go Hero – An adventure game where you guide a character by shouting commands.
There Came an Echo – A strategy game where voice commands control units on a battlefield.

Song Quiz from Volley – A music trivia game where you answer questions by speaking song titles and artist names.

Most voice controlled games are currently limited to trivia, music, and simple adventure titles. However, the technology is improving rapidly. Google TV supports some basic voice commands like “pause,” “skip,” or volume controls while gaming. But intricate voice control mechanics are still in early development stages across the industry.

Smart Home

Using voice commands with Google TV, you can control compatible smart home devices like lights, thermostats, cameras, and more. For example, you can say “Turn on the living room lights” or “Set the thermostat to 72 degrees.”

To control these devices with your voice, you’ll need to make sure they are linked to your Google Account and in the same home. It can connect to nest devices, Philips and TP link smart bulbs, as well as many other brands.

Some useful Smart Home commands include:

“Turn the hallway lights on”

“Set the living room thermostat to 70 degrees”
“Dim the porch light to 20%”
“Show me the front door camera”

For more details, see the article on “Using Google Assistant for Your Smart Home.” Just keep in mind there are limitations, for example more complicated “routines” may not be supported.

Limitations of Voice Commands on Google TV

While the voice functionality on Google TV allows users to control and search for plenty of content and features, there are some notable limitations to what the voice assistant can currently do (Problems today with voice search on Chromecast; 5 major flaws of Voice Assistant technology):

Cannot open or control specific third-party streaming apps like Netflix or Hulu using just voice commands

Unable to search within specific apps’ content catalogs using only voice
Does not work to control other smart home devices connected to Google Home
Sometimes has trouble understanding complex or compound sentence commands

Can get confused if there is too much background noise interfering

While Google continues working to expand and improve voice capabilities, for now there remain some gaps in being able to fully control the Google TV experience hands-free. Users may still need to supplement voice commands with touches on the remote.