Home wakes up my AV processor

[sleevemedia]

I have multiple nVidia Shields on my network, and an Anthem AVM 70 AV processor. When I open the Google Home app on Android, my AVM 70 powers on by itself, and because it has trigger outputs, further parts of my home theater also turn on and sit there sucking AC power until I shut off the processor. I installed the Android app PCAPdroid on my phone and captured a network traffic exchange between my phone and AVM 70, at least part of it, as it seems I cannot packet capture the multicast message that causes devices on the network to respond.

It appears that when the Home app is opened, it asks devices on the network that can stream content to respond with device name, device details, and now playing information. For my Shields, this causes them to appear in my list of devices that Home can see. The Shields remain in standby, which is good because almost all of them have HDMI CEC power control enabled. For the AVM 70, once it turns itself on, it responds Hi, I'm an AVM 70, I'm made by Paradigm in Mississauga, Ontario.

I have a case open with Paradigm, and they cannot recreate the issue. They've got me on the same firmware as in their test labs. I suggested that maybe they need other streaming devices on the test network, but the conversation has not progressed.

So I was hoping to catch Home app product team attention and find out what, if anything, could be done about this. My ideal solution would be to leave my AVM 70 alone, something the Home app developers and PMs control. I don't really want to throw this on Paradigm, and they don't seem too interested in it because I'm the only customer talking to them about this specific situation.

[danielbrown8998]

Disable HDMI CEC on the AVM 70

Since your NVIDIA Shields remain in standby, but the AVM 70 powers on, check if HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) is triggering it.
Try disabling it under AVM 70 Settings > General > HDMI CEC.

Check Google Home Device Integration

Open Google Home app > AVM 70 > Settings, and look for any “Linked services” or streaming integrations that could be waking it up.
Block Specific Network Traffic to AVM 70

Since PCAPdroid detected a network request triggering the power-on event, you might be able to block specific discovery packets from reaching the AVM 70.
If your router allows firewall rules, try blocking mDNS (Multicast DNS) or SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) for the AVM 70.

 Check for Firmware Updates from Paradigm

Since Paradigm couldn’t reproduce the issue, your setup (other networked devices, router settings, or Google Home integration) may be different.
However, it’s still worth checking their support page for firmware updates that may improve network behavior:
Paradigm Firmware Updates.

Engage Google Support Directly

Since this issue seems tied to the Google Home app’s behavior, raising it with Google may help.
You can report the issue via Google Nest Help or in the Google Home Help Community.

[iColin]

That’s a really frustrating issue, and I totally get why you’d want the Google Home app to leave your AVM 70 alone. It seems like Home is sending out a multicast query for streaming-capable devices, and the AVM 70 is interpreting it as a wake command—probably a design quirk rather than a bug per se. Since Paradigm can’t recreate the issue, I wonder if it’s something specific to your network setup, like how your nVidia Shields and other devices respond to the same request.

One potential workaround (if you haven’t tried it already) would be checking if the AVM 70 has any network settings related to "Power On by Network" or "Wake on LAN" that can be disabled. Some AV receivers have settings like "Network Standby", which may affect this behavior. You could also try segmenting your network (VLANs) to isolate the AVM 70 from these discovery packets—though that’s more of a band-aid than a fix.

Ultimately, the Home app team probably needs to offer more granular control over which devices are discovered or probed. A simple toggle for "Ignore this device" would be helpful for situations like this. Maybe worth opening a thread on the Google Nest Community forums to see if others are experiencing something similar?

I ran into a similar issue when optimizing my PC setup. I was trying to figure out if my GPU and CPU were a good match, and a bottleneck calculator helped me identify what was causing performance hiccups. Would be nice if there were a similar tool for smart home setups—something that could analyze network behavior and pinpoint what’s triggering unintended device wake-ups.

Hope this gets some traction with the Home app team. You’re definitely not alone in wanting better control over networked AV devices!