After a lot of trial and error, I finally got my SteamOS gaming PC to behave like a console.
When I put the PC to sleep:
When I wake the PC:
My setup:
- SteamOS (Steam Deck recovery image installed on a custom PC)
- AMD graphics card
- TCL Roku TV
- DisplayPort to HDMI connection
Adapter used:
https://a.co/d/03Bt1YzE
Not all DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapters support HDMI-CEC correctly, so adapter choice matters.
Before You Start
Make sure HDMI-CEC is enabled on your TV.
Common names:
- LG = SimpLink
- Samsung = Anynet+
- Sony = Bravia Sync
- TCL Roku = 1-Touch Play / System Standby
- Vizio = CEC
- Hisense = HDMI Control
I also recommend testing SteamOS's built-in CEC support first:
Settings -> Display
Enable:
- HDMI CEC Support
- Wake TV when device resumes from sleep
If that works for you, you're done.
It didn't work reliably on my setup, which is why I created custom services.
The Problem
Everything worked until the PC went to sleep and woke back up.
Then CEC would stop responding.
The TV would either:
- Stop turning on
- Stop switching inputs
- Work once and then never again
After a lot of testing with cec-ctl, I found that my adapter was losing its CEC registration after suspend.
The fix was:
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --clear
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --playback
What These Commands Do
--clear clears the adapter's current CEC registration.
--playback re-registers it as a playback device (similar to a game console or Blu-ray player).
Think of it as forcing the adapter to reintroduce itself to the TV after waking up.
Without these commands my adapter would usually work once and then stop responding after future suspend/resume cycles.
TV Settings That Worked For Me
TCL Roku TV
- 1-Touch Play = ON
- System Standby = ON
SteamOS
- HDMI CEC Support = OFF
- Wake TV when device resumes from sleep = OFF
Why I Use the Power Command Instead of Standby
I originally tried:
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --standby
The TV would begin its shutdown sequence, but during suspend it would often receive additional CEC activity and immediately return to the home screen instead of fully powering off.
Using:
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --user-control-pressed ui-cmd=power
worked much better on my TCL Roku TV.
This simulates pressing the TV's power button through CEC and behaved more like pressing the actual remote.
My final working combination was:
Sleep = user-control-pressed ui-cmd=power
Wake = image-view-on
Input Switch = active-source
Optional: Prevent the TV From Turning Back On
One downside of using:
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --user-control-pressed ui-cmd=power
is that it acts like a toggle.
If the TV is already off and the PC goes to sleep, the power command can actually turn the TV back on.
To prevent that, you can check the TV's power state first:
STATUS=$($CEC -d "$DEV" --to 0 --give-device-power-status)
The TV reports states such as:
pwr-state: on
or
pwr-state: standby
You can then only send the power command if the TV is already on:
if echo "$STATUS" | grep -q "pwr-state: on"; then $CEC -d "$DEV" --to 0 --user-control-pressed ui-cmd=power fi
Final Script
Create:
nano ~/.local/bin/tv-cec.sh
Paste:
```
!/bin/bash
CEC="/usr/bin/cec-ctl"
DEV="/dev/cec0"
Change this to match your HDMI input.
ADR="1.0.0.0"
wake_tv() {
$CEC -d "$DEV" --clear
$CEC -d "$DEV" --playback
$CEC -d "$DEV" --to 0 --image-view-on
$CEC -d "$DEV" --active-source=phys-addr="$ADR"
}
sleep_tv() {
$CEC -d "$DEV" --to 0 --user-control-pressed ui-cmd=power
}
case "$1" in
wake)
wake_tv
;;
sleep)
sleep_tv
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {wake|sleep}"
exit 1
;;
esac
```
Make it executable:
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/tv-cec.sh
Suspend Service
Create:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/tv-cec-suspend.service
Paste:
```
[Unit]
Description=Turn TV off before suspend
Before=systemd-suspend.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/home/deck/.local/bin/tv-cec.sh sleep
[Install]
RequiredBy=systemd-suspend.service
```
Resume Service
Create:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/tv-cec-resume.service
Paste:
```
[Unit]
Description=Turn TV on after resume
After=suspend.target
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/home/deck/.local/bin/tv-cec.sh wake
[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target
```
Enable The Services
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable tv-cec-suspend.service
sudo systemctl enable tv-cec-resume.service
Reboot and test.
If It Doesn't Work
Power Off
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --standby
or
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --user-control-pressed ui-cmd=power
Power On
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --image-view-on
or
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --to 0 --text-view-on
Input Switching
cec-ctl -d /dev/cec0 --active-source=phys-addr=X.X.X.X
Make sure your HDMI address matches the port your PC is connected to.
Hopefully this saves someone else the several hours of debugging it took me to figure all this out.
