Consumer Electronics Control

Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) is a feature of HDMI designed to control HDMI connected devices by using only one remote controller; individual CEC enabled devices can command and control each other without user intervention, for up to 15 devices. For example, a TV remote can also control a digital video recorder and a Blu-ray player.

It is a single-wire bidirectional serial bus that is based on the CENELEC standard AV.link protocol to perform remote control functions. CEC wiring is mandatory, although implementation of CEC in a product is optional. It was defined in HDMI Specification 1.0 and updated in HDMI 1.2, HDMI 1.2a and HDMI 1.3a (which added timer and audio commands to the bus). USB-to-CEC adapters exist that allow a computer to control CEC-enabled devices.