What Is HDMI CEC?

HDMI CEC lets you control all your devices with just one remote. Introduced in HDMI 1.0 and updated in HDMI 1.3, it lets up to 15 devices communicate with each other and share settings to create a seamless home theater experience.

CEC stands for Consumer Electronics Control. Using HDMI CEC, you can combine the remote functions of all compatible devices into one remote. You can synchronize the control over playback, audio settings and menu selection across your devices using HDMI CEC.

HDMI CEC is a useful feature if you have a home theater setup. Although it can be tedious to set up, it makes switching between devices a breeze. Here’s all you need to know about what HDMI CEC is, how it works, and how to use it.

HDMI CEC Features

HDMI CEC offers the ability to control multiple devices by leveraging one remote. Rather than switching between remotes and devices, one remote can handle most of the functions provided by your TV, DVD/Blu-ray player, and audio system.

Roku is not a universal remote.A universal remote is programmed with the wireless signal patterns of hundreds of consumer products. When you use a universal remote, the remote is directly controlling the device it is communicating with.

How Does HDMI CEC Work?

HDMI CEC uses your TV’s remote to control your entire system. If you use your TV’s remote to control your DVD player, the signal is sent via the HDMI cable from your TV to the DVD player.

That's right. Whenever you use one of your remote controls, the corresponding device is effectively controlled by the other devices it's connected to (they can even turn on the device when it's both off and asleep). So, while it's a part of the HDMI wiring, CEC is a separate electrical signal from other HDMI devices.

There are a lot of features that HDMI CEC enables. Here are just a few:

Deck Control: Play, Stop, Rewind, etc.

Deck control allows you to use common playback commands with your playback devices, including Blu-ray players, camcorders, and more.

System Audio Control

One of the main annoyances in setting up a home theater system is having to calibrate the volume of all your playback devices to be roughly equal across devices. HDMI CEC eliminates this problem by imposing an audio control for your entire system. The great thing about HDMI CEC is that it lets you have one volume control for your entire system.

One Touch Play

Hi. You were just watching the final episode of your favorite TV series, right? Then you wanted to watch your favorite movie, the one that's somehow never made it to streaming services. You know, the one you have to pop in a DVD player and change the source and press play.

So, to the point. With HDMI CEC and One Touch Play, connected devices will work together to automatically switch the TV source on when you play an HDMI CEC enabled device. No more navigating input source menus.

Power On and Power Off

With a home theater system, you can use three devices at the same time! Before it was possible to power devices up and down individually, you would have to power each one up when you wanted to use it, and then power them all down when you were done.

Using HDMI CEC, the system standby feature allows you to put all of your devices in standby mode at once.

One Touch Record

Another handy feature is One Touch Record, which lets you record what’s playing on your display device to a selected recording device. No more running all your sources through a recording device and then to the display! With HDMI CEC, you can use just one remote, with no setup hassle.

Commercial Names for HDMI CEC

Different companies offer HDMI CEC under different names. Each name represents a slightly different list of features, but the core function—having a dedicated pin in the HDMI plug to automate control between devices—is present in all versions.

Pros and Cons of HDMI CEC

Pros

Here are some of the advantages HDMI CEC offers. It lets you operate your home theater system using a single remote control, for instance, and it also allows you to turn on several devices at once.

In addition, HDMI CEC works with HDMI ARC in order to decrease the number of cables necessary to connect multiple devices.

Using HDMI ARC, audio can flow in both directions, reducing the number of cables you need to connect an external source such as a Blu-ray player to a TV and receiver.

To take advantage of HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel), your devices must have HDMI ARC or eARC ports. Usually, configuring your devices for HDMI CEC enables HDMI ARC along with it, but check your device manual to be sure.

Cons

There is one drawback to HDMI CEC, which stands for Consumer Electronics Control. That is the limitation on HDMI ARC, or Audio Return Channel, to deliver full quality surround sound. This means that while it can transmit uncompressed stereo audio or compressed 5.1 surround sound audio, there are other formats it cannot carry.

If you want 5.1 channel or better audio, you might have to disable HDMI CEC and ARC on your devices or upgrade to devices that support HDMI eARC. HDMI eARC is capable not only of delivering 5.1 and 7.1 uncompressed audio but can also handle higher-definition formats from Dolby and DTS.

Setting Up HDMI CEC

Setting up HDMI CEC varies depending on the device you’re using. Usually, you can find HDMI CEC settings in your device’s sound settings or system settings menu.

Configure the HDMI CEC settings as necessary to use each device with HDMI CEC. If you upgrade your system to one with HDMI 2.1a ports, they will have HDMI eARC enabled by default, and if any of your components aren’t compatible with HDMI eARC, they will revert to standard HDMI ARC (with all the drawbacks previously mentioned), only then.

How to Enable CEC on Popular TVs

Enabling HDMI ARC and CEC is fairly straightforward on most devices, but it differs slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer. On some devices, you'll go into your device settings, turn on HDMI ARC, then press a button on your remote or game controller to discover other devices.

Here, we'll walk you through how to set up HDMI ARC and CEC on five popular TV brands.

LG – With an LG TV, go to the home menu and select Settings. Select Sound and then Sound Settings. From here, turn ARC Mode to the ON position and turn the TV speaker to OFF.

Vizio – From the menu, select System. Then select CEC. Where it says CEC Function select Enable. From here, select Device Discovery and wait for your TV to discover the other devices you’ve connected.

Sony – Go to your Home menu, then go to Settings. From here, select System Settings, then AV Set Up. Make sure your speakers are set to Audio Out. Click back to the Set Up menu, then click BRAVIA Sync. From here, select BRAVIA Sync Device List.

TCL w/ Roku –On the Home menu, select Settings, then choose System. Scroll down to Control Other Devices (CEC) and make sure both HDMI ARC and System Audio Control are enabled.

Samsung – From the Onscreen Menu, select System, and then turn Anynet+ to the On position.

You will also need to enable HDMI ARC on your A/V receiver or soundbar. To do this, you will need to select the input on your TV that your audio device is connected to.

Here you must navigate the Settings menu of your audio device to enable HDMI ARC and CEC, which may be referred to by different names.

Sonos soundbars require you to download an app in order to set it up for HDMI ARC. Simply download the app onto your phone and follow the instructions.