How to Automatically Turn On Your TV When You Turn on SHIELD Android TV

It’s a little thing, but having your TV turn on automatically when you turn on your Android TV box is nice. The thing is, not all Android TVs support this, which is just one of the many things that makes the NVIDIA SHIELD console the best Android TV box out there.

RELATED: How to Enable HDMI-CEC on Your TV, and Why You Should

If you have a SHIELD, there’s a super easy to way to allow it to control your TV—that means both turning it on and off with the unit. It uses the same method used by countless other devices to do this: HDMI-CEC, which stands for HDMI Consumer Electronics Control.

Before you do anything on your SHIELD unit, however, you must first enable this feature on your TV. The process varies across different manufacturers’ sets, so refer to your TV’s manual or the company’s website to find out how. (Keep in mind that it may have a different name depending on your TV—Samsung calls it Anynet+, LG calls it SimpLink, and so on.)

Once you’ve got CEC enabled on your TV, jump into the Settings menu on SHIELD.

From there, scroll over to the “HDMI” entry and click it.

This menu is pretty straightforward, and the option you’re looking for is the first one: HDMI-CEC.

This menu is simple and only offers two options: Auto turn on TV and Auto turn off TV.

These are both pretty much self-explanatory, so enabled the ones you’ll actually use. Personally, I don’t need SHIELD to turn my TV off, so I have no reason to toggle that one on.

Once you’ve toggled either (or both!) to “On,” you’re done. Now when you turn the SHIELD on (or wake it from sleep), the TV will turn on automatically. Along the same lines, if you have it on a different input, SHIELD will automatically force a switch when you turn the unit on.

As an aside, when you’ve enabled CEC on your TV, some units will be able to control SHIELD with the TV remote. It’s neat.