Schedule screens on and off over CEC from a signage player

What CEC changes about a screen schedule

HDMI-CEC is a control channel built into the HDMI cable. The standard defines the two commands this job needs: standby, which lets a source device put the TV into standby, and one touch play, which lets a source bring the TV up and switch it to that source's input. With both enabled in the TV, one daily on and off pair in the player runs the TV itself: standby at the off time, picture back on the player's input at the on time.

Whether a given player sends those commands is stated in that player's documentation, so check it before you promise a building full of dark screens. For our own panel-mount units the schedule's off time brings the picture to black at minimum brightness, because the app cannot switch its own backlight off. A TV driven over CEC gets the stronger version: powered down to standby, not dimmed to black. The TV-side basics of the setting itself are in HDMI-CEC signage display control: the setting that turns screens on.

What you need

• One player per screen whose documentation lists CEC control. The hardware choice itself is its own question; streaming stick or dedicated digital signage player covers it.
• An HDMI cable from each player to its TV, and the exact cable, wall plate or splitter the screen will use in service.
• The remotes for the TVs, because the menu work happens at the TV end.
• One daily on time and one daily off time for the whole building.
• A note per screen: the menu name you found, what you switched on, the date it passed.

One player per screen keeps schedules independent. Splitting a single player across several screens is a different layout, covered in one Android signage player driving multiple displays.

Set up one screen first

1. Pick one TV, ideally the screen in the busiest spot.
2. In its menu, find the CEC controls. On one common TV platform they sit under Settings, then System, then Control other devices (CEC), with items such as System audio control and 1-touch play in the list. Other makers rename the whole menu, and the manual's index entry for CEC finds it either way. Switch CEC on and leave 1-touch play enabled; that item is the wake direction.
3. Connect the player's HDMI output and note which input the TV sits on.
4. Set the daily on and off times in the player. The player-side steps are in schedule a retail digital signage display on and off daily.
5. For a fast first check, set the off time three minutes ahead and watch the TV drop to standby, then set the real pair.
6. Let that one screen run for two days: standby at the off time, back on the player's input at the on time, twice.

Roll the schedule out to the rest

1. Repeat the menu work on each remaining screen, one TV at a time. Five to ten sets usually mean at least two different menu names, because mixed buildings are the norm.
2. Fill in the note per screen as each one passes, so the next visit starts from the answer instead of the search.
3. If one screen serves a lift lobby, the elevator screens guide lists the power and mounting points to settle for that spot.

A TV in CEC standby is still connected to mains power. If a screen must be fully de-energized outside hours, that is a switched circuit for an electrician, not an HDMI command.

Example: ten screens on one daily pair

A building opens its doors at 7:00 and the last group leaves at 21:00. The pair is on 7:00, off 21:00, which is 14 hours on per screen per day. Over a week that is 14 x 7 = 98 hours per screen, and across ten screens 98 x 10 = 980 screen-hours. One pair cannot follow two separate windows: screens really watched only 8:00 to 12:00 and 17:00 to 19:00 still sit on for the full 98 hours a week, so the schedule's cost is known before the first menu is touched. The rollout decision follows: run the pair on one screen for two days, then copy it to the other nine, one TV menu at a time.

How to check it worked

At the off time, walk the route: every TV shows its standby state and none still shows a picture. Next morning at the on time, every screen is already on the player's input with the show up, because the player starts its own show by itself at power-on and the TV waking is the only step that can fail. Run it two days in a row before you call the building done.

Recommendation: Set one daily pair to the building's occupied window (7:00 to 21:00 in the example), run it on one screen for two days, and only then copy it across the other screens with a note per TV. Treat a screen that never goes down as a CEC menu problem first and a cable problem second, and a screen that goes down but will not wake as the 1-touch play item switched off.

If a screen ignores the schedule

• Nothing happens at the off time. Re-open that TV's menu and confirm CEC is still switched on under whatever name the maker gave it. Then run the schedule test on the exact cable, plate and input the screen uses in service, because splitters and wall plates can pass the picture and drop the control line.
• The screen goes to standby but never wakes. That is the wake direction. Look for the 1-touch play style item in the same menu and switch it on.
• The screen wakes but sits on the wrong input. Same item: one touch play is the command that brings the TV up on the source that called it.
• No menu anywhere offers CEC. The manual settles it. A set without the feature will not take power commands over HDMI, and that screen needs its own off method, such as the set's own internal timer if it has one.

Questions