E9 no response on Homekit

[tvguy]

Anyone else having homekit connectivity issues? I am good until the TV turns on at which point I get no response from the home app and it essentially breaks. Frustrating.

Any ideas?

[mrwigster]

+1 for this issue—though I have the opposite problem on my C9, I can do everything when the TV is on, including turn it off, however, when it's off it then states "No Response" within the Home app on my iPhone or iPad.

[Jespertheend]

I was having the same issue as mrwigster. It would say no response when the tv was off. And then it just magically fixed itself. I had to reset the tv settings because of a different issue though, and now it’s not working anymore

I’m hoping it magically fixes itself again.

[Derek Austin]

@mrwigster 

On 8/9/2019 at 1:49 AM, mrwigster said:

+1 for this issue—though I have the opposite problem on my C9, I can do everything when the TV is on, including turn it off, however, when it's off it then states "No Response" within the Home app on my iPhone or iPad.

Likewise. TV disappears after turning it off. 

[Jespertheend]

Hmm interesting, homekit not working when the tv is off makes sense to me. The tv is off so some sort of connection is closed probably. But having it not working when it’s off but not when on is a bit strange.

 

in other news, my tv fixed itself and now I can turn it on from homekit as well. I happened to be messing around with my soundbar when it started working but I’m not sure if that’s what triggered it.

[robertapple1]

On 8/7/2019 at 4:34 PM, tvguy said:

Anyone else having homekit connectivity issues? I am good until the TV turns on at which point I get no response from the home app and it essentially breaks. Frustrating.

Any ideas?

I have a problem as well. I am unable to connect my LG OLED 55C9 to Homekit. Every time I scan the QR code generated by my TV with the Homekit app I get a message in the Homekit app that adding LG OLED to Homekit has failed. Airplay works fine; I tried with the  TV connected wired and through (the same) WiFi network, no result. With other iPhone no result either.

Some Airplay features work, others not:

MacBook Pro:  ScreenMirror works, playing films from iTunes works, playing films directly from QuickTime and selecting Airplay to LG TV DOESN'T work.

iPhone: Airplay works with all features

Edited September 1, 2019 by robertapple1
adde fotot

[tvguy]

That happened to me and factory default reset on the LG fixed it. You might try it.

[robertapple1]

41 minutes ago, tvguy said:

That happened to me and factory default reset on the LG fixed it. You might try it.

Tx; I already tried it (and had to re-configure al image settings as well), but unfortunately no result.....

[chris4prez]

On 8/8/2019 at 11:49 AM, mrwigster said:

+1 for this issue—though I have the opposite problem on my C9, I can do everything when the TV is on, including turn it off, however, when it's off it then states "No Response" within the Home app on my iPhone or iPad.

I am having the same issue.  I have a LG C9 65in and an LG C9 55in and both at times show not responding in HomeKit, as well as, when I use Siri to turn them on, they will turn on but it may say "I tried but some devices didn't respond, however it will still turn on.".  This especially happens when the TV may be off for a period of time.  Once the TV is on the state is always reflected correctly in Homekit and I can issue input changes or off requests to siri with no issues.  I've tried resetting the TVs and my Apple Homekit home with no resolution.  Hopefully this is an issue that can be resolved by updated FW for the TVs and/or the coming iOS13. (I'm more apt to think this is an issue on the TV side.)

[robertapple1]

A conversation with Apple helped me realise the problem. The Apple guy asked: is bluetooth (BT) on? Of course it was, but then it hit me: Airplay control works with BT. And therein lies the problem.

When I bought the TV it automatically recognised my settop-box/decoder (Ballard Rural Telephone Cooperation is how it is called on my TV; it is provided by T-Mobile Netherlands). This set-up makes it possible to use the LG Magic Remote as a universal RC to control my settop box. This feature uses BT.......

After disconnecting the LG Magic Remote from the settop box, the Homekit app on my iPhone recognised my LG TV and added it as an accessory. Succes at last. BUT, after setting up my LG Magic Remote again to control my settop box, the Homekit app didn't get a respons from the LG TV anymore.

My conclusion is, that there is a Bluetooth protocol interference at play here, that I as a user cannot fix. My opinion is that LG needs to contact Apple to streamline each others usage of BT protocols, and come up with a firmware update.

At the moment I choose in favour of using my settop box with the LG Magic Remote, as the functionality of the HomeKit controls of the TV is limited, but I would love to be able to use both.

[Jespertheend]

@robertapple1 ah hmm interesting. I always thought the tv homekit integration used the local (wifi) network for communicating.

[robertapple1]

15 minutes ago, Jespertheend said:

@robertapple1 ah hmm interesting. I always thought the tv homekit integration used the local (wifi) network for communicating.

That is true. But still it looks like both, or at least they interfere. When connecting the LG to Homekit, a brief message appears on the right upper side of the screen, stating that "Switching on using BT" is turned on in the TV and wil use extra energy.  A fact is, when I disconnect my LG Magic Remote from my decoder/settop-box, the LG TV is visible and can be operated using Homekit

 

[mija]

@robertapple1 here also from the Netherlands. I don't use a settop box and I to have this problem. For now I connect the TV via Homebridge to Homekit and that works flawless. 

[Jespertheend]

31 minutes ago, robertapple1 said:

When connecting the LG to Homekit, a brief message appears on the right upper side of the screen, stating that "Switching on using BT" is turned on in the TV and wil use extra energy.

Hmm I'm not seeing that message, though when I turn off bluetooth on my phone it doesn't connect anymore, so it must be using BT then.

All is working fine for me now, not sure what's different about my setup compated to others. I do occasionally get disconnected (it happened just now) but I'm not sure what's causing it. My TV turned off out of nowhere just now, right after turning it on, I think it might be CEC. Right after it turned off homekit was reporting 'now response'. But after I started it with the remote everything worked fine again.

[chris4prez]

@robertapple1 - very interesting.  I always thought all the homekit/airplay functionality was performed over IP.  It looks like it may be a combo of both IP and bluetooth.  To test this theory, I disabled bluetooth control of the TV and I was no longer able to turn it on via homekit, but the odd thing is, I was able to turn it off, change inputs, and still airplay. Leading me to believe when the tv is in low power mode or where a user would consider the state "off" it uses bluetooth to wake it, then controls when it's consider in an "on" state are sent via IP.  This may explain why control is reliable and seen in homekit with no issues when on, but when "off" or in a low power mode showing the not responding in homekit because of bluetooth issues.

 

This also makes me wonder how bluetooth control is handled to the tv when commands are issued by say homepods.  I have multiple apple tvs and home pods around the house acting as homekit hubs, which to me thinks I would have a reliable bluetooth connection to monitor the tv state and should never see the not responding while "off".  I wonder how we can further troubleshoot this or if anyone knows how homekit handles bluetooth devices.

 

 

[Jespertheend]

5 minutes ago, chris4prez said:

This also makes me wonder how bluetooth control is handled to the tv when commands are issued by say homepods

I have AppleTV but I can't seem to turn off bluetooth so I can't test it, but I'm assuming it uses bluetooth just like your phone. So when you are away from your tv the homekit hub just sends a bluetooth message to the tv just like your phone would.

[chris4prez]

Just now, Jespertheend said:

I have AppleTV but I can't seem to turn off bluetooth so I can't test it, but I'm assuming it uses bluetooth just like your phone. So when you are away from your tv the homekit hub just sends a bluetooth message to the tv just like your phone would.

@Jespertheend - turn off bluetooth control on the LG TV under the connection options, that's what I did for testing.

[Jespertheend]

@chris4prez ah cool, I was wondering where you found that setting. I tried it and appletv seems to be using bluetooth as well. So it seems like both homekit hubs, as well as your phone using homekit, as well as the LG TV Plus app are using bluetooth to turn on the tv. Not sure what the 'Turn on via Wi-Fi' setting is for then.

[chris4prez]

3 minutes ago, Jespertheend said:

@chris4prez ah cool, I was wondering where you found that setting. I tried it and appletv seems to be using bluetooth as well. So it seems like both homekit hubs, as well as your phone using homekit, as well as the LG TV Plus app are using bluetooth to turn on the tv. Not sure what the 'Turn on via Wi-Fi' setting is for then.

Yea and the weird thing is I have a hompod and an apple tv both within 3 feet of the TV yet I still can get the not responding in Homekit which I would expect to have strong signal to the TV to monitor it's state and control from an off state. 

The control via IP is used for systems like Crestron, Control 4, SimpleControl, etc.  I've use SimpleControl flawlessly but really want to move to Homekit for control, status monitoring (know state of tv whether controlled by remote or idevices). and automations so I can reduce yearly fees and simplify setup for the WAG usage.

[robertapple1]

1 hour ago, mija said:

@robertapple1 here also from the Netherlands. I don't use a settop box and I to have this problem. For now I connect the TV via Homebridge to Homekit and that works flawless. 

Never heard of Homebridge b4 (just read about it now); it is a solution, but requires third party hardware & software. IMO that should not be necessary with a top of the line product

[robertapple1]

1 hour ago, Jespertheend said:

Hmm I'm not seeing that message, though when I turn off bluetooth on my phone it doesn't connect anymore, so it must be using BT then.

All is working fine for me now, not sure what's different about my setup compated to others. I do occasionally get disconnected (it happened just now) but I'm not sure what's causing it. My TV turned off out of nowhere just now, right after turning it on, I think it might be CEC. Right after it turned off homekit was reporting 'now response'. But after I started it with the remote everything worked fine again.

You only see that message briefly when you scan the QR-code from the TV with Homekit

[robertapple1]

1 hour ago, chris4prez said:

@robertapple1 - very interesting.  I always thought all the homekit/airplay functionality was performed over IP.  It looks like it may be a combo of both IP and bluetooth.  To test this theory, I disabled bluetooth control of the TV and I was no longer able to turn it on via homekit, but the odd thing is, I was able to turn it off, change inputs, and still airplay. Leading me to believe when the tv is in low power mode or where a user would consider the state "off" it uses bluetooth to wake it, then controls when it's consider in an "on" state are sent via IP.  This may explain why control is reliable and seen in homekit with no issues when on, but when "off" or in a low power mode showing the not responding in homekit because of bluetooth issues.

 

This also makes me wonder how bluetooth control is handled to the tv when commands are issued by say homepods.  I have multiple apple tvs and home pods around the house acting as homekit hubs, which to me thinks I would have a reliable bluetooth connection to monitor the tv state and should never see the not responding while "off".  I wonder how we can further troubleshoot this or if anyone knows how homekit handles bluetooth devices.

 

 

As far as I know the LG Magic Remote uses BT.  Airplay 2 uses WiFi, hence it is able to stream video due to the wider bandwidth compared to Bluetooth (BT). HomeKit uses WiFi AND BT. See this webpage 

link hidden, please login to view

.  So I stand by my first assumption, that it is a CONFLICT in the BT protocol that is used for  the LG Magic Remote AND HomeKit.
This cannot be solved by us, nor should it be solved by using workaround with third party hardware using Homebridge or the likes. I hope this is picked up by LG and fixed with a firmware update (and PLZ include the Apple TV app in WebOS 😜)

[Jespertheend]

25 minutes ago, robertapple1 said:

You only see that message briefly when you scan the QR-code from the TV with Homekit

Ah right, I do remember seeing that message.

 

18 minutes ago, robertapple1 said:

So I stand by my first assumption, that it is a CONFLICT in the BT protocol that is used for  the LG Magic Remote AND HomeKit.

I tried adding a T-Mobile device from the device selector to see if the same was happening to my TV. Though my tv was still able to turn on and off through homekit. Though I don't actually have a T-Mobile top box. I suppose it is the top box itself that is interfering with the bluetooth signal, not necessarily the setting of the LG Magic Remote. Have you tried moving your top box further away from the TV?

[robertapple1]

47 minutes ago, Jespertheend said:

Ah right, I do remember seeing that message.

 

I tried adding a T-Mobile device from the device selector to see if the same was happening to my TV. Though my tv was still able to turn on and off through homekit. Though I don't actually have a T-Mobile top box. I suppose it is the top box itself that is interfering with the bluetooth signal, not necessarily the setting of the LG Magic Remote. Have you tried moving your top box further away from the TV?

Hi Jesper,

 

No, I haven't moved it. In general, a settopbox is close to the TV (it is connected with an HdMI cable), so placing it far away from the TV isn't practical. When I disconnect the settopbox from the TV (meaning I cannot use the LG Magic Remote to operate the settopbox and use it's original remote) there is NO Homekit conflict.  The problem IMO lies in the BT connection of the Magic Remote with the settopbox that is conflicting with the BT connection of Homekit

[Jespertheend]

3 minutes ago, robertapple1 said:

In general, a settopbox is close to the TV (it is connected with an HdMI cable), so placing it far away from the TV isn't practical.

That makes sense, I mentioned it more to get more of a clear picture of what exactly is causing the issue. Moving your top box away from the TV wouldn't be a good permanent solution.

Either way I think you're right in that it's a protocol issue and can probably be fixed with a software update. I don't think the remote has bluetooth though. When I point a camera at it I can see the IR led flickering when I turn on the TV. And when I hold my hand in front of the led, the TV doesn't respond to the power button any more. I think rather, when you press a button on the remote, the TV itself sends a bluetooth signal to the top box.

[robertapple1]

@JespertheendI think the LG Magic Remote uses BT and RF by default, and can be set up with IR: 

link hidden, please login to view

.

 

So interference is a possibility with BT.......

 

Hopefully an LG moderater is listening in

[mija]

Dis someone call LG already? 

[mija]

Did someone cal LG already?

[mija]

I called LG, they said: go to Apple, Apple said: go to LG..   And now...

[tvguy]

@robertapple1 Interesting idea with the bluetooth, hadn't considered that. I have a Spectrum box so may play around with unplugging it and see what happens.

Thought of a few more things for you. Have you tried adding the TV to homekit using another ios device like an iPad? May work. Another idea is sign in/out of iCloud on the device. Also make sure iCloud keychain is enabled. Homekit has always been finicky for me and finally working reliably with my homepods but it took a few software updates. The TV needs one for sure.

[robertapple1]

On 9/9/2019 at 11:19 PM, tvguy said:

@robertapple1 Interesting idea with the bluetooth, hadn't considered that. I have a Spectrum box so may play around with unplugging it and see what happens.

Thought of a few more things for you. Have you tried adding the TV to homekit using another ios device like an iPad? May work. Another idea is sign in/out of iCloud on the device. Also make sure iCloud keychain is enabled. Homekit has always been finicky for me and finally working reliably with my homepods but it took a few software updates. The TV needs one for sure.

Bit late reply, didn't have time. I tried all the solutions you describe; also iCloud keychain is enabled. I can see my LG TV now in my iPhone (I am at work); I was able to couple it to HomeKit the moment I disconnected my Settop box from the Magic Remote. After that I re-initialized the coupling of the LG Magic Remote with my settop box (because it is very handy and I want to use one remote. But ATM that I turn on the TV and my settop Box, the HomeKit app shows the TV but displays a message it cannot connect to the TV.