Here’s a quick Steam Machine HDMI-CEC tip that a lot of people in the community didn’t know about. If your TV turns on and jumps to the wrong input, pressing the Steam button twice on the Steam Controller can switch the TV over to the Steam Machine’s HDMI input, with no TV remote needed.
This one comes from u/eleven_good_reasons on r/steammachine, in a post called “interesting – pressing the Steam button twice on the Steam Controller will switch to the Steam Machine’s HDMI input“. I’m passing on what they and other owners reported in the thread. I haven’t tried it myself, and as with anything CEC-related, results can depend on your TV and the other devices plugged into it.
The problem: another device grabs the TV input
u/eleven_good_reasons has a Chromecast with Google TV plugged into the same TV as their Steam Machine, and it tends to force itself to be the default HDMI input whenever the TV turns on. They already knew that pressing the home button twice on the Chromecast remote makes the TV switch to the Chromecast’s input, so they tried the same trick with the Steam Controller. It worked.
How to switch inputs with the Steam Controller
- Make sure HDMI-CEC is turned on for the Steam Machine. The original poster says the trick works “with the CEC activated”.
- Turn on the TV. If it opens on another input, such as a streaming stick, pick up the Steam Controller.
- Press the Steam button twice. The TV should switch to the Steam Machine’s HDMI input.
Steam Machine HDMI-CEC settings that worked for one owner
In a reply, u/eleven_good_reasons said they turned off the CEC options that let the TV control the Machine: “Sleep when turning off the TV”, “wake up when turning on the TV”, and the option to use the TV’s remote as an input. They added that before recent updates, the Machine would sometimes wake straight back up after being put to sleep, but that no longer seems to be a problem on their setup.
That matters, because not everyone has had a smooth time with CEC. u/zach3582 asked how it was working, saying they had kept CEC off since day one because of problems with the console not going to sleep and waking the TV. So if you’ve had issues before, those settings are worth trying.
What other owners said
- u/CDrejoe tested it and said pressing the Steam button again switched to the correct input.
- u/Mjautis has a Google streamer and had set up their remote to change input, but said double tapping on the Steam Controller is much faster.
- u/Goliath_TL explained that this is HDMI-CEC at work, which can detect active devices and switch to their inputs.
- u/Comfortable-Rice-862 pointed out the same thing works on a PS5 with a PS5 controller.
For reference, the original poster’s TV is a Samsung UE40H6200AW from around 2016, so this isn’t limited to newer smart TVs.
My thoughts
It’s a small thing, but anything that saves digging out the TV remote is welcome on a living-room PC. If you’ve just set up a Steam Machine, my look at Cyberpunk 2077 performance on the Steam Machine and my SCopy guide might be useful too. Let me know in the comments if it works with your TV.
