TV Network Control

TV Network Control links your Android TV box to the TV it’s plugged into over your property’s local network, so the box can turn the TV on/off (and, on some brands, set its volume) directly — without relying on HDMI-CEC. It’s a fallback and an upgrade for the small number of rooms where CEC doesn’t behave, or where you want more control than CEC gives you.

Why you might need this

Most TVs and boxes already sync power over HDMI-CEC – the box wakes the TV at check-in and puts it to standby at check-out, all over the HDMI cable, no setup required. That’s still the right default for most rooms.

CEC isn’t universal, though. A few things that can get in the way:

• Some TVs implement CEC poorly, or ignore it if the wrong HDMI input is selected.
• An HDMI switch, splitter or soundbar sitting between the box and the TV can break the CEC chain entirely.
• CEC volume is a brand decision, not something we control – some TVs simply refuse to let a connected box change their own speaker volume, even though they correctly turn on and off.

When CEC power sync isn’t reliable in a room, TV Network Control gives the box a second way to reach the TV: over the property’s Wi-Fi/LAN instead of the HDMI cable.

What it does

Once a TV is linked, the box mirrors its own power state to the TV over the local network every time it wakes or goes to standby – at check-in, at check-out, or when you use the Turn on / Turn off buttons from the dashboard. On a TV whose brand supports it, you can also set (and reset) its actual volume the same way.

Today this works with:

• Roku TVs – power on/off.
• Samsung TVs – power on/off, plus real volume control (see below).

More brands will be added over time.

Linking a TV

1. Go to Android TV in your BetterSTR dashboard, open Edit on the device, and find the TV Network Control card (under Advanced Settings).
2. Switch on Sync power with a TV on this property’s network.
3. Click Scan for TVs. This can take up to a minute – the box has to check in with the server before it runs the scan.
4. Pick your TV from the results and click Attach (or Pair – see the Samsung note below).
5. Save.

Setting a safe volume for the linked TV

On a brand with real volume control (Samsung today), a second option appears in Advanced Settings › Audio: Set safe volume on the linked TV. Turn it on and choose a level, and the box resets the TV to that volume on every new guest check-in – the same idea as the box’s own safe-volume reset, just applied to the TV’s real speaker volume instead of the box’s digital output.

You can also push a volume change (or an on/off) to the TV right now, at any time, from the dashboard: click the speaker icon next to a selected device, or open it from the Connected Devices screen in the left-hand menu, which lists every TV linked across all your devices in one place.

Good to know

• Same network required. The box and the TV need to be on the same property Wi-Fi/LAN – this doesn’t work over the internet, and isn’t needed to: it’s a local, in-room connection.
• Roku has no volume API. Roku’s own control protocol only supports pressing volume up/down/mute, with no way to read or set an exact level, so the safe-volume and live-volume-slider features only appear for a linked Roku once we support a brand that can. Power sync still works fine on Roku either way.
• This is separate from CEC. Turning on TV Network Control doesn’t switch CEC off – if a room already has working CEC and a linked TV, both may end up sending the TV the same on/off command, which is harmless.
• Changes take a minute or two. Like most Android TV settings, the box picks up a new link, or a safe-volume change, on its next check-in rather than instantly.