Why Your New Game Console Broke HDMI-CEC (And How to Fix It)

So you just bought a new gaming device. Maybe a Nintendo Switch 2, an Analogue 3D, or just a blue-ray player to add to your already-crowded entertainment center. Suddenly your TV remote stops controlling your soundbar/receiver. Or your devices won’t turn on together anymore. Or weird things just start happening.

Welcome to the wonderful world of HDMI-CEC breaking in spectacularly annoying ways. It’s also really hard to find information about its limits. I’ve compiled what I’ve learned after struggling with this half-baked tech.

What is HDMI-CEC?

HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) is that feature that lets you control multiple devices with one remote. It’s the reason your TV can turn on your PlayStation, or why your soundbar powers up when you start watching something. It runs over pin 13 of your HDMI cable — a single wire that connects all your devices together in one network.

When it works, it’s great. When it doesn’t, well…

Every manufacturer has their own cute/stupid name for it:

• Samsung calls it Anynet+
• LG calls it SimpLink
• Sony calls it BRAVIA Sync
• Panasonic calls it VIERA Link

But it’s all the same underlying protocol, and they all have the same fundamental problems.

Why CEC is Unreliable

CEC has been a mess since day one, and here’s why:

It’s completely optional. Just because a device has an HDMI port doesn’t mean it supports CEC. And even if it does support it, there’s no guarantee it actually works properly.

Version 1.4 is a free-for-all. The CEC 1.4 spec left way too much up to manufacturers to figure out on their own, which predictably led to wildly inconsistent implementations. Some devices interpret commands differently, some ignore commands they should respond to, and some just make stuff up as they go. Version 2.0 tried to tighten things up and be more strict, but plenty of devices still use 1.4.

It’s painfully slow. CEC runs at a glacial 400 bits per second with tiny message payloads. This isn’t a bug. It’s just how the protocol was designed. When you press a button and wait for something to happen, that delay? That’s CEC trudging along at a snail’s pace.

It’s an ad-hoc hack that became a standard. CEC is a textbook example of vendors cobbling together something that barely worked, then later trying to standardize the mess they created.

All of this adds up to a protocol that sort of works most of the time, but breaks in creative and frustrating ways the moment you step outside the happy path.

The Likely Problem: You Hit the Device Limit

Here’s the thing nobody tells you: HDMI-CEC only supports up to 15 logical addresses, and those addresses are divided into specific categories:

• 1 TV (address 0)
• 1 Audio System (address 5) - your soundbar or receiver
• Up to 4 Tuners (addresses 3, 6, 7, 10) - cable boxes, streaming boxes
• Up to 3 Playback Devices (addresses 4, 8, 11) - this is where game consoles live
• Up to 3 Recording Devices (addresses 1, 2, 9) - DVRs, capture cards
• A few reserved/special addresses (12-15)

See the problem? You can only have 3 playback devices on your CEC network at once.

Got a PS5, Blu-ray player, AppleTV, and now you want to add a Nintendo Switch or Analogue 3D? You just hit the limit. That fourth device either won’t get a CEC address or will kick something else off the network, and things start getting weird.

Important note: Many soundbars and A/V receivers will identify as both an audio system AND a playback device, eating up two of your precious address slots. This is especially common with “smart” soundbars that have built-in streaming apps. So if you’re counting devices and things don’t add up, your soundbar might be the sneaky culprit hogging multiple addresses.

Sometimes There are Problem Children

The MiSTer FPGA is notorious for breaking CEC entirely, and can cause entire CEC networks to become unreliable or stop working altogether.

It’s been reported that the Analogue 3D doesn’t work well with CEC either. (It works fine on my setup.) Since it’s fighting for one of those three precious playback device slots, it can cause conflicts with your other consoles.

Any other specialty device, like a modded game console or image scaler added to the chain my also break CEC, so it’s good to use the solution below to make sure they don’t interfere.

How to Fix It: CEC-less Cables and Dongles

Some devices have an option to disable CEC functionality, but they can still cause problems. The nuclear option, and sometimes the best option, is to just remove devices from the CEC network entirely.

You can do this with:

• BlueRigger HDMI CEC Less Adapter
• Lindy HDMI CEC Less Adapter
• HDMI cable from MiSTer Addons

By using these on your more problematic devices (like the MiSTer or devices you don’t need CEC control for), you free up those logical addresses for devices that actually benefit from CEC.

Pro tip: If you’re using an HDMI hub or switch, you can place a single CEC blocker on the output of the hub (between the hub and your TV). This will block CEC for all devices connected to that hub at once. You don’t need individual dongles for every device — just block the whole hub if none of those devices need CEC.

Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

If your CEC network is acting weird after adding a new device:

1. Remove the last device you connected - If the system works again after removing the new device, you found the culprit.

2. Count your playback devices - PS5, Xbox, Switch, Roku, Fire Stick, Apple TV, Analogue 3D — do you have more than 3? That’s your problem.

3. Check for double-counting - Some A/V receivers and soundbars show up as BOTH an audio system AND a playback device, eating two addresses.

4. Disable CEC on devices you don’t need it on - Do you really need your Roku to participate in CEC if you always use its remote?

5. Use CEC-less cables for problem devices - MiSTer and similar retro gaming devices are great candidates for CEC-blocking since they don’t really have CEC benefits.

6. Try power cycling everything - Sometimes devices just need to renegotiate their addresses. Unplug everything, plug the TV back in first, then add devices one at a time.

The Real Solution: Pick Your Battles

CEC is one of those technologies that’s great in theory but frustrating in practice. The spec supports up to 15 devices, but only three playback devices. You’ll hit that three device limit easily, especially if you’re a gamer with multiple consoles.

My advice? Be selective about which devices participate in CEC. Your TV, soundbar/receiver, and maybe your main console or two? Great, let them talk. Everything else? Block it with a CEC-less dongle and control them the old-fashioned way.

Your entertainment center will thank you.