Vizio SmartCast Displays now down with Alexa
If you’ve been wanting to turn your Vizio SmartCast display with Alexa, you’re in luck. The little display that keeps on getting better has gotten better. While I’m talking about my M50-D1, all SmartCast displays appear to benefit.
New Alexa skills allow you to power the TV on and off with your voice, switch inputs, play/pause/rewind/ff from open applications, adjust volume, and on versions that have a TV tuner in them it appears you can change the TV channel.
What it doesn’t appear to have is to launch applications yet, but you know how skills are. Here’s a set, there’ll be more things shortly.
When I got my Vizio M50-D1 it was a very nice cast-receiving display, then they updated it and shipped out a new remote that enabled built-in apps for free, and now it works with Alexa and operates like a Chromecast Ultra.
It’s really nice when a display/TV company keeps working for you after they’ve got your money. I mean, it’s smart, but this is something I’ve seen a lot of companies suddenly claim that the old models just can’t support.
Anyway, if you’re interested in setting it up, details can be found here for how to pair your Vizio SmartCast with Alexa. Don’t be deterred by the 22-step process, it’ll take about a minute and a half as long as you have a myVIZIO account or about 4 minutes if you don’t.
Have fun!
