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Why doesn't ATV support HDMI CEC?

S

sphinx99

macrumors member
Original poster
Any speculation as to why?

If it did, I could literally walk into my home, have my iPhone switch whatever music I was listening to in the car over to Airplay and have my receiver automatically power up and start playing. It would be an incredible technology enabler. I'm wondering why ATV2 didn't enable it, and why ATV3 apparently also doesn't enable it.
 
sphinx99 said:
Any speculation as to why?

If it did, I could literally walk into my home, have my iPhone switch whatever music I was listening to in the car over to Airplay and have my receiver automatically power up and start playing. It would be an incredible technology enabler. I'm wondering why ATV2 didn't enable it, and why ATV3 apparently also doesn't enable it.
Click to expand...

I don't know. Maybe there is a licensing issue.
 
hwojtek said:
…and a USB-CEC dongle from www.pulse-eight.com. I bought one and it works more or less.
Click to expand...

Really...... Because according to the pulse-eight blog it works with the ATV1 but wont work with the ATV2 because it has the wrong kind of USB port.

And also this post:-

Pulse Eight Forum - read from post 5 onwards.

Granted this is an old post, so if it now works please link to the relevant information so we can all have a go at getting it to work.
 
I suspect HDMI CEC support or the lack of it would be much more of an issue for consumers if the manufacturers didn't cloud the issue by all calling it something completely different and implying that it only worked between devices of their own brand. Bravia Link, RIHD, EasyLink, Viera Link, Anynet+ and so on. Nice work, marketing departments.
 
roidy said:
Really...... Because according to the pulse-eight blog it works with the ATV1 but wont work with the ATV2 because it has the wrong kind of USB port.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm sorry - I meant if you wanted to have CEC at all, you need to have the dongle in the first place (since the CEC communication is added to the HDMI stream by the dongle's special hardware which is not present in any Apple product).
Neither XBMC nor any other software is able to channel the CEC data through the native HDMI interface of any Apple product, as the hardware just doesn't support it. So the dongle is a must.
I am running my XBMC off a Mac Mini, so my experience is not directly ATV-relevant, however the USB port of the ATV2 (and possibly ATV3 as well) is indeed the wrong type (client instead of host), so I don't think it will ever work with the dongle. ATV1 and Mac users are in favor here.
 
Ok, you just confused me when you said:-
hwojtek said:
I bought one and it works more or less.
Click to expand...
This thread is talking about the ATV2/3 so I assumed when you said it that you were talking about it working on the ATV2/3. Oh well, would be nice if it did work on the ATV2.
 
From what I've read, there is no way to do it with the current ATV. Not directly, not through jailbreak, not through a dongle, nothing.

My only speculation is that,
- It's under their radar
- They're aware of the limitation but it's not a priority
- Apple's never been one to follow an existing standard when there's an opportunity to invent an incompatible one of their own, so they're planning something different that only works with a future Apple television product.

I hope it's one of the first two reasons, but I have a bad feeling that it will be the third.
 
sphinx99 said:
Any speculation as to why?

If it did, I could literally walk into my home, have my iPhone switch whatever music I was listening to in the car over to Airplay and have my receiver automatically power up and start playing. It would be an incredible technology enabler. I'm wondering why ATV2 didn't enable it, and why ATV3 apparently also doesn't enable it.
Click to expand...

The application for HDMI-CEC that I've seen have been designed so that two devices of the same brand connected via HDMI can have a power-on or power-off signal sent. So, given the example you showed us, that wouldn't work over Airplay. As far as I know, that is the kink in the chain of functionality, in that Airplay is Wi-fi-operable, not HDMI-operable. A real-world application of HDMI-CEC would be this: you have your ATV connected to your AVR (home theater receiver). You come home, want to listen to an internet radio station, so you grab your Apple Remote to power up your ATV3. Boom, at the same time your Apple-branded AVR powers u a second or 3 later, and you've got music.

The problem? Apple doesn't make AVRS. And this solution leaves you still having to fish for the TV remote if you want to watch the latest MLB game highlights or Netflix new release.

Can HDMI-CEC be made to work mixing brands? Not that I know of. You're better off getting a macro-based smart remote like a Harmony for that.

My 2 cents.
 
Irishman said:
Can HDMI-CEC be made to work mixing brands? Not that I know of. You're better off getting a macro-based smart remote like a Harmony for that.
Click to expand...

The whole idea behind HDMI-CEC is for it to be a common standard for manufacturers. They brand their implementations with their own names (BraviaLink for Sony, AquosLink for Sharp etc) but theoretically HDMI-CEC should allow various appliances to work together. I personally have a Sharp TV and a Denon AV amplifier and am currently able to switch them on and select the appropriate inputs when I wake up my Mac Mini with the remote. I still have issues with volume adjustment (both the TV and the amp go louder or quieter when I press + and - on the Apple remote), however YMMV.
 
sphinx99 said:
- Apple's never been one to follow an existing standard when there's an opportunity to invent an incompatible one of their own, so they're planning something different that only works with a future Apple television product.

I hope it's one of the first two reasons, but I have a bad feeling that it will be the third.
Click to expand...

yea I'm thinking the same thing...

Sure Apple embraces standards when they realize they have no choice... However this tech is so fragmented as another poster pointed out 'thanks to the marketing departments" that Apple might as well attempt to play outside the lines.

So, what I'd find interesting is what Apples implementation might look like? Just remember Apples 80/80 rule when responding... That being Apple usually rolls out 80% of the features most desired by 80% of the potential customers. So try hard to not think about the 'perfect implementation' as defined by the hard core users.
 
It maybe because HDMI CEC supports power on/off and ATV never really powers off and is either on or in standby. Has anyone read the spec ?
 
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