I would love for Roon to support HDMI-CEC so that Roon can automatically switch the input of an AV receiver when it starts playing.
Volume control of the receiver would be a nice plus, but by no means necessary. If it was present I would hope for an opinionated design that incorporates both Roon’s volume control as well as the receiver’s.
I use HMDI output directly from my NUC / Ubuntu Roon server for casual listening on my main system. Right now I need to launch the Denon remote app on my iPhone with switch the input. Eliminating this step would be awesome.
The sort of control offered by HDMI-CEC sounds good, but may not always work as desired in any particular AV system.
I have a Philips TV with their own proprietary ‘easylink’ system which does not play nice with other devices connected. Unexpected things tend to happen. When I turn off the ‘easylink’ feature devices return to working as I would expect, albeit with a more manual level of control.
I don’t know much about the protocol but I’ve had great experience with it for Apple TV + Samsung TV + Denon Receiver. The Apple TV turns on the TV, switches the receiver input, and controls the volume quite successfully.
I think some of my problems arise because I use a HDMI splitter to send the signal from a SKY TV box to 2 separate TVs, one of which is the Philips with the easylink feature, the other is an older Toshiba (no HDMI CEC feature). When ‘easylink’ is on my Amazon Fire TV connected to the Toshiba TV goes into standby mode every 5 minutes. The easylink feature seems to have some effect on things not even connected to the Philips TV.
If you avoid Amazon Fire TV boxes and HDMI splitters you may get more predictable results.
I thought I would add a bit more info’ about my set up and hopefully others using HDMI-CEC control features will be able to get the most out of it, and also recognise that the control features may be the cause of weird things happening, like the Fire TV box going into standby mode every 5 or 10 minutes.
What initially bamboozled me is that the Fire TV is not even connected to the Philips TV but to a Toshiba TV in a different room. The Toshiba TV has no sort of HDMI CEC feature at all. I believe that what creates a ‘link’ to the Philips TV is that a HDMI splitter routes the signal from SKY TV box to both the Philips and Toshiba TVs. That HDMI splitter must act as an indirect connection, and be able to transmit the control features from the Philips TV through the splitter and into the Fire TV box.
When the Philips TV is inactive for 10 minutes it goes into standby mode, but that must also send control signals to other ‘connected’ devices to go into standby mode, so the Fire TV obeyed and went into standby. I then started up the Fire TV box again and that action powered up the Philips TV (although I did not realise that fact because the Philips is in another room). After 10 minutes of inactivity the Philips TV goes into standby mode and sends another control signal which sends the Fire TV into standby mode again. Repeat ad nauseum.
So my advice is that if anyone experiences weird things happening, check that HDMI CEC control is not the cause of it. The more complex the setup is with HDMI connected equipment, the more likelihood of unexpected, unwanted happenings.
When it is working as wanted I agree it is a great feature.