Using CEC Controls
In many cases, your physical remote control sends commands for volume, mute, power, and other commands to your TV, soundbar, or receiver using the IR emitter on the front of the physical remote control. The communication between your physical remote control and the device it is controlling is accomplished using light that is invisible to the human eye (infrared light). Firemote and the base install of Home Assistant do not have the ability to mimic this type of physical light communication, but they do have the ability to send commands over your network, and out to your playback devices. This is where CEC comes in handy.
Enabling CEC controls in some devices (check with your device's manufacturer) will allow your Firemote controlled device to send the volume, mute, power, and other commands that are normally sent via IR to be sent through the HDMI cable instead. This offers a huge advantage by adding the ability to control TVs and accessories that wouldn't normally be able to be controlled through Home Assistant alone.
Learn more about IR remote controls
- https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-an-ir-remote-control-5194485
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAz9YC7reWs
Learn more about CEC
Depending on your Amazon Fire or Android TV device, the process for enabling CEC controls might differ. Here are some step by step tutorials to help you get started.
Jump to:
At this time, there doesn't appear to be a way to use CEC controls for volume when operating a Xiaomi Android device.
From the home screen, navigate over to the gear icon
From here, press the down button, navigate over to Display & Sounds and select it
Scroll down to HDMI CEC Device Control. Press the center button to toggle this on or off
Optionally, to access some additional controls, press the back button to return to the settings menu. From here navigate over to Equipment Control, and select it
Use the two menu options here to configure the CEC controls in a way that best fits your situation
From the home screen, navigate over to the gear icon
When you do, you'll see another menu pop over the top of it. Select the gear icon here. This will open the settings menu.
In the settings menu, scroll down until you find the option "Remotes & Accessories", and select it
Next, select "Set up remote buttons"
Inside the blue square, you can see the current configuration of your device. In the example pictured above, CEC is selected which enables the Firemote to use your Chromecast to send CEC commands to other devices.
From the home screen, navigate to the gear icon in the upper right hand corner and select it
Scroll down to Device Preferences, and select it
In this menu, select Display & Sound
Scroll down to find the HDMI-CEC Enable option. Press the select button to toggle this setting on or off
With this option enabled, CEC can be selected or de-selected for Power Control and Volume Control from this same menu
