Yau Ming Low/Shutterstock
HDMI-Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) is a feature you’ll find on most newer TVs, audio-video (AV) receivers, streaming devices, and several other HDMI components. When enabled, HDMI-CEC allows you to use a single remote to control all your TV-watching equipment, including power and volume commands. The technology is fairly ubiquitous at this point, with the only hiccup being that no one manufacturer calls it the same thing. If you happen to own an LG TV, HDMI-CEC may be called Simplink or Auto Power, and turning it on is pretty straightforward.
For TVs running webOS 6 or later, press the Settings button on your LG remote, then select All Settings, then General, then Devices, then HDMI Settings, then Simplink (HDMI-CEC). Drag the toggle to the on position, and you should be good to go. Should your TV be running webOS 4.5, the General and Devices menus are replaced by a single Connection option. And for webOS 4.0 or earlier, there’s no HDMI Settings option.
In order for HDMI-CEC to work correctly, whatever devices you’d like to control will also need to have their CEC settings enabled. Once you’ve done so, here’s an example of what you have to look forward to: walking into your living room, turning on your PlayStation 5 via its DualSense controller, and your TV automatically powers on and switches to the correct HDMI input. When you’re done gaming and want to switch over to your Apple TV 4K, press any button on the Siri remote, and your TV should switch over to your Apple TV input.
HDMI-CEC lets you control your TV and other home theater devices
Stephen Geisel/Getty Images
HDMI-CEC makes it easier just to sit down and enjoy your home theater, instead of having to take a mental inventory of your remotes when you want to use your 4K Blu-ray player or other AV device. As long as everything is connected to your TV, projector, or AV receiver via HDMI, you shouldn’t have any problems. Do be aware that HDMI-CEC isn’t a flawless technology: the occasional black screen or No Signal message isn’t unusual, and devices can sometimes turn on when you don’t expect them to. A lot of times, simply rebooting all the hardware in your CEC chain is enough to get everything shaking hands again. You also don’t want to get in the way of HDMI ARC/eARC (Audio Return Channel/Enhanced Audio Return Channel) syncing up with your soundbar or speaker system, so it’s probably best to avoid plugging non-audio gear into ARC/eARC.
To ensure that HDMI-CEC is functioning most efficiently, you’ll want to make sure your LG TV is running the most up-to-date software. To manually check for an update, go to All Settings, then Support, then Software Update, and Check for Updates. If a new version is available, it will be displayed on this screen. Go ahead and start the download, and don’t turn your TV off until the update is officially installed. If you’d rather not worry about onboarding patches, you can just enable automatic updates. Lastly, we also suggest keeping the firmware on all your CEC ecosystem components up to date, too.
