HDMI CEC is one of the most common ways to connect all your devices with HDMI nowadays. Introduced in HDMI 1.0 and updated in HDMI 1.3, HDMI CEC allows up to 15 devices to communicate with each other and share settings to create a seamless home theater experience.
CEC, or Consumer Electronics Control, integrates settings of compatible devices (like volume) into one remote via HDMI. Though specific remotes might be required for unique features, HDMI CEC synchronizes most core functions like playback, audio, and menu selection across devices.
HDMI CEC can greatly simplify your home theater system. 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 simplifies remote control by integrating power, playback, audio, and menu selection functions, allowing one remote to manage all devices without constant switching.
It is important to note that this is not the same technology as 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.
What Is HDMI CEC And How Does It Work?
HDMI CEC uses any of your devices’ remotes to control your entire system. If you use the remote from your TV, for example, to control your DVD player (or even a Firestick), your remote communicates with your TV to send a CEC signal via your HDMI cable to the DVD player.
This means whichever remote you use has the corresponding device that effectively controls the other devices it is connected to. They can even control the device when asleep and the HDMI circuitry is disabled, or when the device is completely powered off. That’s because, although integrated into the HDMI cable, CEC is a separate electrical signal from the other HDMI controls.
There are a lot of features that HDMI CEC enables. Here are just a few:
Deck Control: Play, Stop, Rewind, etc.
Besides turning on and off your devices, deck control allows you the common playback commands (play, stop, rewind, etc.) for your playback devices whether they be Blu-ray players, camcorders, etc.
System Audio Control
One of the more annoying parts of setting up a home theater system used to be 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. That’s right, one volume control for your entire system.
One Touch Play
One Touch Play is a feature of HDMI CEC that automatically switches the TV source to playback devices when you press play. It eliminates the need to manually change input sources, simplifying the viewing experience.
Power On and Power Off
When it comes to home theater systems, you could be using three devices at once! It used to be that you would have to power each device up individually when you wanted to use them and power them down individually when you were done.
With HDMI CEC, that’s a thing of the past. The HDMI CEC system standby feature allows your standby or power button to put all of your devices in standby mode. This also has the effect of swapping the input, which can help you save steps navigating your TV's menus.
One Touch Record
Another fun feature is One Touch Record which allows you to record whatever is playing on your display device to a selected recording device. No more routing your sources through a recording device to the display device. With HDMI CEC, it’s all connected.
Commercial Names for HDMI CEC
HDMI CEC goes by several commercial names. Each one technically offers a slightly different menu of features, but the core functionality of having a designated pin in the HDMI plug is no different.
Here's a list of the branded names of HDMI-CEC:
- Hitachi: HDMI-CEC
- LG: SimpLink
- Mitsubishi: Net Command
- Onkyo: RIHD
- Panasonic: HDAVI Control, EZ-Sync, or VIERA Link
- Philips: EasyLink
- Pioneer: Kuro Link
- Roku: 1-Touch-Play
- Samsung: Anynet+
- Sharp: Aquos Link
- Sony: BRAVIA Sync
- Toshiba: CE-Link or Regza Link
- Vizio: CEC
Typically, some of the commercial names are not very inventive, such as Hitachi’s HDMI-CEC or Vizio’s CEC. Most of the commercial names include the word link (Aquos Link, BRAVIA Link, CE-Link, EasyLink, SimpLink, etc.), although some have unique names like Anynet+ (Samsung) and 1-Touch-Play (Roku).
Pros and Cons of HDMI CEC
There are plenty of pros to HDMI CEC and very few cons. The pros do outnumber the cons, however, there may be instances where you may want to disable HDMI CEC or upgrade your system to one that uses eARC–a newer standard that improves upon HDMI CEC’s features while eliminating the need for setup.
Pros
There are several advantages HDMI CEC provides. As previously mentioned, it allows for several global controls, allowing you to more seamlessly integrate your home theater system.
Additionally, HDMI CEC works in combination with HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) to reduce the number of cables necessary to connect multiple devices.
In short, HDMI ARC allows for audio to travel in both directions, reducing the number of cables you would need to connect an external source such as a Blu-ray player to a TV and A/V receiver.
To take advantage of HDMI ARC, 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 so that you can be sure.
Cons
The primary drawback to HDMI CEC is the limitation of HDMI ARC to deliver full-quality surround sound. HDMI ARC is capable of transmitting uncompressed stereo audio or compressed 5.1 surround sound audio. That’s it…
If you want uncompressed 5.1 channels or better audio, you’ll 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 better high-definition formats put out by Dolby and DTS.
Setting Up HDMI CEC
Setting up HDMI CEC varies from device to device. Usually, HDMI Consumer Electronics Control settings can be found in the sound settings or system settings of your device’s settings menu.
You'll need to configure the HDMI CEC settings for each of the devices you intend to connect with HDMI CEC. If you upgrade your system to one with HDMI 2.1a ports, it will have HDMI eARC automatically enabled, 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).
How to Enable HDMI-CEC Function on Popular TVs
Enabling HDMI ARC and CEC is different from manufacturer to manufacturer, but they generally follow the same steps if they are HDMI CEC-compatible devices. You go into your device settings, you turn on HDMI ARC, and then you may or may not need to discover other devices.
Here, we’ll review the Television setup of HDMI ARC and CEC on five popular TV brands.
LG – With LG TVs, click the home button and go to Settings. Select Sound and then Sound Settings. From here turn ARC Mode to the ON position and turn the TV Speaker to OFF.
Vizio – Turn on your TV and go to the Menu. From there, select System. Then select CEC. Where it says CEC Function select Enable, and where it says System Audio Control select On. From here, select the Device Discovery option and wait for your TV to discover the other devices you’ve connected.
Sony – From the Home menu go to Settings, then System Settings. From here, select Set Up, then AV Set Up. Make sure the Speakers setting is set to Audio Out. Click back to go to the Set Up menu again then click BRAVIA Sync. From here, select BRAVIA Sync Device List, to enable HDMI Device Link.
TCL w/ Roku – From the Home menu, select Settings, then System. Select Control Other Devices (CEC) and enable both HDMI ARC and System Audio Control.
Samsung – From the 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 should turn your TV to the HDMI input setting to which the audio device is connected.
From here, you must navigate the settings menu of the audio device to enable HDMI CEC and ARC, which again may be referred to by different names.
In some instances, particularly with certain soundbars (most notably Sonos), you will often need to download an app to set the device up for HDMI ARC. Simply download the app onto your phone and follow the instructions.
