6 Reasons to Disable CEC on Your TV

HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) is a feature of HDMI that allows devices to talk to and control one another. So, for example, your Blu-ray player can switch your TV to the correct input as soon as you turn it on, or you can adjust the volume of an HDMI-connected soundbar with your TV remote.

On paper, it sounds like a pretty useful feature, and it is—when it works! However, in my experience, CEC is usually more trouble than it’s worth, and there are more than a few reasons to turn it off, at least for some of your devices.

Random Power-Ons and Power-Offs

Blue glowing power button on black background.

By far my biggest complaint about CEC is how it causes my TV or connected devices to power on when I don’t want them to. I hate it when my TV turns on in the middle of the night, because my console switched on for an update. It’s also very annoying when I just want to turn off a connected device like a set-top box, and it turns my TV off too!

Confusing Remote Control Behavior

A glass bowl of popcorn and remote control while in the background the TV plays.

While CEC promises that I can use one remote (such as my TV remove) to control other HDMI devices connected to it, there’s certainly a lack of consistency when it comes to what certain buttons do on devices that are not your TV. It can be a useful feature though, so it’s worth disabling CEC only on devices that don’t work as expected when trying to control them with a remote via CEC.

Input Switching Chaos

TV side details, with two usb inputs, one hdmi arc and headphone jack.

Another super-annoying issue is when a CEC device powers on by itself and then switches your TV input to itself, usually right in the middle of watching a movie or playing a video game. Auto-input switching is supposed to make using HDMI devices less tedious, but mostly it just ends up causing extra work for me.

I’d rather be in full manual control of which input is currently active than leave it to the vagaries of such a flaky technology. It’s not like picking up the remote and pressing two buttons to switch inputs is hard work or anything!

Inconsistent Support Across Brands

To make things worse, while CEC is specified in the HDMI standard and all cables must be wired for it, for devices it isn’t standardized in practice. Every manufacturer gives it a different marketing name, such as Samsung’s Anynet+, Sony’s Bravia Sync, LG’s Simplink, and so on—and not every feature works across brands.

A setup that behaves fine with one combination of devices might be completely dysfunctional with another. I’ve personally experienced adding a new console, set-top box, or disc player to a perfectly-working entertainment setup throws the whole equilibrium out when it comes to CEC.

Debugging and Troubleshooting Headaches

When something goes wrong with HDMI devices, CEC can make troubleshooting a total nightmare. Is the issue with the cable? The port? The TV? Or is it just CEC being flaky? Turning it off is often the fastest way to restore your sanity and get everything working normally again.

While it’s just the experience of one person, more often than not, I find CEC to be the root cause of the problem in the first place, after which I don’t bother to turn it on again.

Security and Privacy Concerns

Hacker in front of his computer with a dark face.

While I haven’t found any examples of it happening yet, HDMI-CEC has the potential to be another attack vector by hackers. As outlined in a DEFCON presentation (the link goes to a PDF), CEC could be a doorway into numerous devices that use the HDMI protocol. There’s no particular reason to be concerned, but it is enough to turn CEC off on your devices if you aren’t actually using it for anything.

Better Alternatives Exist

If you really want the convenience CEC promises, there are better ways to get it. A good universal remote can control all your devices more reliably. Smart home automation systems let you create routines that actually behave consistently. And modern eARC/ARC connections handle audio syncing with soundbars or receivers without the need for CEC.

It’s also important to understand that you don’t have to turn CEC off on everything wholesale. For example, my Apple TV 4K is perfectly behaved, and I like that it turns on the TV when I turn on the device. You can often also disable specific features and functions of CEC on a per-device basis. So I’m not advocating that you throw the baby out with the bathwater, but that you nip CEC in the bud where needed so it doesn’t drive up your rage meter for no reason.