It can’t just be me.
DIRECTV was fairly late to embrace what’s properly called HDMI-CEC. They call it HDMI Control. Other companies call it Anynet+ or just “Control other devices.” If you use it, you probably agree it makes your life better, when it works.
About HDMI Control
HDMI Control is a system where the HDMI cable is used to send commands to another device. Typically this includes power on/off, setting the correct input, volume control, etc. It’s used in place of universal remotes. The idea is that you still have multiple remotes, but simply picking up the right one and using it… just works. It works as if it was the only thing connected to the TV. Want to use something else? Pick up its remote and start using it instead.
I wrote a fairly long tutorial about enabling HDMI Control and DIRECTV here. What the tutorial doesn’t say is what to do if there’s a problem. Because really, there isn’t much.
The big thing if you’re experiencing problems with HDMI Control is just to turn it off and not use it. That’s not a great solution but there aren’t any settings to tweak. It’s supposed to be a set-it-and-forget it solution.
Turning HDMI Control off doesn’t hurt you too much as a DIRECTV user. The remote control will handle volume changes. It sends commands straight to the TV. Powering on and off the device using the remote also sends commands straight to the TV. HDMI Control sets the TV’s input, and that’s it.
Why HDMI control misbehaves
I don’t have a firm answer for this. I think I know, though. My guess is that the system doesn’t give the TV enough time to start up. A lot of times the input won’t change when you turn on the TV. I’m guessing that the DIRECTV box sent the command before the TV was ready to receive it.
So, luckily, you can press and hold the ENTER key at the bottom right and change the input with the arrow keys. This works on every TV I’ve tried it with. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s better than digging out the TV remote. You probably don’t know where it is anyway.
Personally, I’ve found that other devices work flawlessly with HDMI Control. DIRECTV boxes don’t. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Once in a while they’ll set the wrong input, which should never happen. But it’s frustrating, I’ll say that.
I can’t be the only one frustrated, right?
Tell me that I’m not the only one experiencing this. Do you use HDMI Control? Does it work for you? Do other devices work for you and it doesn’t? I’d really like to hear. I know a lot of DIRECTV folks read this blog and they’d like to hear too. If the problem happens to enough people, maybe they’ll fix it. That’s worked with other stuff, anyway.
