Hi there, I purchased HW-Q950A soundbar month ago, and I tried many times to launch Alexa by voice or multifunction button but never work. I tried to reset soundbar, uninstall/install SmartThings and Alexa app, disconnect/connect Amazon account from SmartThings not working at all. Is any step I missed?
No Alexa is built in, and it uses the built-in microphone, the same microphone that it uses to do a room calibration. What seems more of a problem is that Alexa is responding however she's not making a sound because the sound bar shuts itself off. The lights in the front indicating that she is responding comes on but no sound comes out until I manually push the power button on the remote the bar needs to go into more of a standby mode versus a complete shutdown or Alexa needs to be able to wake the bar up
This is hardly resolved by Samsung saying "oh head it doesnt work in some countries because we choose to disable it in software". I was moving to Thailand and before I left my previous country I checked what soundbar to buy, the Q950A delivered everything I wanted, good sounds, Atmos AND Alexa built in. So of course I didnt bother re-checking the specs when I got to Thailand, just went ahead and ordered one. Now find I am quite disappointed by the lack of Alexa built in. Works with is "ok" but if you are playing music through the soundbar its quite loud and then its impossible to speak to the connected Echo device, wheres if it's built in, somehow that limitation is overcome - I know because the Echo is able to detect the wake word regardless of how loud its playing. Also using a connected device means you have to direct your commands to the soundbar "Alexa play music on Samsung" rather than just "Alexa play music" - Maybe silly but for us people who are seeking voice controlled home automation, we are looking for max efficiency and cool factor, unfortunately the Q950A doesnt deliver on this and desperately needs a software update from Samsung to open up the mics in all regions... please Samsung?
This is not resolved right? and this speaker has Alexa Built-In (it's clearly a selling point in the video, if there is an issue maybe work on it rather lying to your customers, below is the official video.
I have the same problem in New Zealand. For some reason the Alexa functionality of the Q950A is disabled. If you play music using the 'works-with' you can't shut it off, as the sound coming through the sound bar means you can no longer use the Echo device. This is really bad functionality and this will be the last Samsung device I will buy unless this gets fixed. Very unhappy customer here!
I purchased our HW - 950A for our vacation home in April 2022. Set it up, including the directions to set up Alexa (built in) contained in the manual and...voila!....it worked as advertised. It was perfect, and we do know the difference between "built-in" and "works with" Alexa. So this idea that it can't work as "built in" is bogus. However, after two months at our vacation home we left and returned three months later. On our return, Alexa was no longer working, and NOTHING we've done, trying everything suggested on these forums has gotten it back up and running. We did get it to work on a "works with" basis using the Alexa app on my iphone, but that is poor compared to how it worked before. So "something is rotten in Denmark". Did Samsung take the capability of using Alexa on a "built in" basis out in a firmware update in the intervening months? If so, why? This is infuriating to have something work so well, then have it disappear. We love the soundbar, but this kind of thing makes me doubt Samsung. Anyone else have this kind of experience, where it worked, then stopped?
It’s the same issue where it worked fine but now it doesn’t anymore. Samsung simply took out this functionality. I purchased Q950A because they stated clearly that it has a build-in Alexa so I don’t have to purchase a separate Amazon device. Everything was working fine, Alexa used to take commands through build-in microphone, it gives update on weather etc etc but now all of sudden after latest firmware update the functionality no longer works, they simply took it out quietly. That’s a shame on Samsung part, selling their products stating something and removing without informing customers.
