Live TV Paused on Power Up

Channels Apple TV
#1

I'm not really sure if this is a Channels issue or not, but you all are pretty smart :slight_smile:
I use the Logitech Harmony hub and Amazon Echo to control our TV, sound bar and Apple TV 4. I have an activity in Harmony set up called 'Watch TV' that does the follow on start:

  1. turn on sound bar
  2. turn of TV
  3. turn on Apple TV (technically I believe it wakes the ATV)

and on end it does:

  1. Turn off sound bar
  2. turn off TV
  3. turn off Apple TV (technically I believe it puts the ATV to sleep)

In the Alexa app I have a routine called TV that calls the 'Watch TV' activity on Harmony, so it runs the start sequence when we say "Alexa, turn on TV" and the end sequence with "Alexa, Turn Off TV".

This has been working flawlessly for a long time, and the last 18 months or so with the Channels app. We typically have the Channels App running when we turn thing off so it is running when we turn them back on.

But, in the last month I have noticed that whenever we turn things on, live TV on the Channels app is paused. If I tell Alexa to 'play TV" or if I hit the play button on one of the remotes live TV plays and all is normal again.

Any thoughts on what may have changed? The only live TV app that we use is Channels, so it is hard to say if something similar happens with other apps since they aren't live full time.

#2

I don't usually turn off my ATV with a channel running, but when I do, it turns back on playing the same Channel. I don't know if your IR remote could cause an issue.

I use the Apple TV remote, which uses Bluetooth. I hit the TV button on the remote and simultaneously does:

  1. Turn on Apple TV
  2. Turn on TV
  3. Turn on Soundbar

And turns all off simultaneously when I hold down the TV button and click Sleep.
So, pretty much the same thing as the Harmony, except done through HDMI-CEC.
Test it out just to see if the issue persists with another remote or could be related to the IR commands your Harmony is sending out.

#3

Thanks! I’ll try the Apple remote and the Samsung remote in the morning just in case. What puzzles me is that it all has been working for months. we’ve used Alexa to turn on and off the TV, etc all that time and the Channels app would start playing live TV every time. It’s only in the last month or so that it is paused when we turn it on. Plus, ít is paused at the time that we turn it on, not at some point in the past.

#4

just to be sure, I just did the power off and power on sequence again to verify. It does indeed come back on playing the channel it was on before, without pause.

I think your remote must be sending a pause signal or, if it is communicating via IR, the ATV is misinterpreting one of the signals.

#5

It also works fine if I put the ATV to sleep with the Apple remote and wake it back up with that.

Just for fun I created an activity in Harmony to only turn on the ATV, and when I use that the TV and sound bar don't come on. Not sure why it wouldn't be the same as turning it on from the apple remote?

Anyway... When I have more time I am going to play with Harmony to see what has changed. It was working for months and suddenly this happened with nothing changing on my end. The ATV is set to automatically update TVos and apps, but the Harmony software is a manual update, and I haven't done that in a while, so it seems unlikely that it is something related to Harmony. But, I'n mot ruling it out.