DISH gets voice control thanks to Alexa

So, ok. I’m still not convinced voice control is going to take off. Most of the people I know who got an Echo dot for the holidays used it a few times to ask stupid questions, then put it back in the box. Personally I use Siri to control my phone maybe three times a year and that’s it. I know the commercials make it seem really enticing and it does seem like that’s how we will do things in the future but it seems, for some reason, not to be happening.

But enough of that.

If you are an Alexa user, you’ll be glad to know that you can now control your DISH DVR using your favorite voice assistant. DISH has worked with other automation manufacturers like Control4 to make sure their hardware is the most compatible with all the popular systems. And now, you can use your voice to say things like:

“Alexa, change channel to ESPN”
“Alexa, tune to channel 130”
“Alexa, go to the History Channel”
“Alexa, find the Big Bang Theory”
“Alexa, search for Game of Thrones”
“Alexa, show me Tom Hanks movies”
“Alexa, search for comedies”
“Alexa, play This is Us”
“Alexa, skip forward”
“Alexa, rewind 30 seconds”
“Alexa, pause”
“Alexa, resume”

In fairness the searching part might be faster with voice, depending on how well Alexa understands you. My voice assistants don’t usually quite get what I want on the first try, I don’t know why.

DIRECTV has had voice search through its iOS and Android Apps for about three years, with most of the same functionality. I remember this fact occasionally but I don’t think I have actually used it in quite a while.

But I know, I’m sort of harshing on DISH’s achievements here and I shouldn’t. The fact is that if you want to control your DISH equipment using Alexa, and that works for you, I think that’s great. I’d even be a little jealous to be honest. It’s just that I don’t know why… it’s still more comfortable to type than dictate for me. Maybe that sets me apart as a hopeless “OG” but if so, so be it.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.