What is my switch doing that my XBox isn't?

Man of Honour
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When I turn on my Switch, it turns on the soundbar (HT-XT3) and TV (Sony XD80) and these change to the HDMI inputs the Switch is connected to (HDMI3 on the soundbar) as if by magic.

When I turn on my XBox it doesn't do this, I have to change all the inputs with the remotes (HDMI1 on the soundbar).

What setting on the XBox am I looking for to make it behave like the Switch does?
 
You want hdmi CEC or an IR blaster. The xbox one S/one X do this via ir blaster or can be done via Kinect
 
A bit of hunting around and I eventually stumbled on this...

https://pureinfotech.com/setup-xbox-one-automatically-turn-on-tv-audio-receiver/

Bit of a faff considering the Switch seems to be able to do this itself, however now the Xbox turning on will turn on the TV and soundbar and without need for Kinect/IR. It won't change the input but that's at least just the one button press rather than a few :p
Yes works via the inbuilt IR blaster in the S and one X (or via Kinect). Which is why it needs set up
 
Yes works via the inbuilt IR blaster in the S and one X (or via Kinect). Which is why it needs set up
In that case, for curiousity sake, how is the Switch doing it?

Considering Microsoft seemed hell bent on becoming some kind of media hub, it seems daft that Nintendo have produced a console that integrates into a media setup much more seamlessly. Surely the Xbox should be able to do this sort of thing too?
 
Microsoft imagined the Xbox One as a "media hub", controlling all of your devices and enhancing their functionality. Back in 2013, CEC support was largely proprietary, with varying levels of compatibility and functionality. It wasn't the correct choice for what Microsoft envisioned. IR, while somewhat clunky, could do everything they needed.

If they were trying to do the same thing today, maybe they would use CEC. But at the time, CEC just wasn't good enough, and supporting both would have been a mess. In hindsight, the "media hub" idea was a mistake, and even basic CEC support has turned out to be more useful.
 
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Reading around it was first implemented in HDMI 1.0 (16 years ago) and fully specified in 1.2a (13 years ago), so i'm not convinced that the XBox One (or in my case, One S) is too recent to have implemented it properly, being only 5 years old.
 
Then you haven't understood my post.

Microsoft wanted the Xbox One to control any brand of TV, plus any set-top box, plus any home theatre sound equipment, irrespective of age or brand. While CEC has been around a long time, it certainly wasn't mature enough to provide that back in 2013.

In hindsight, CEC support would have been preferable given the "media hub" idea flopped. But for what Microsoft hoped the Xbox One would be, CEC would have been a frustrating mess of incompatibility. The Xbox One was supposed to control everything, rather than only devices with appropriate CEC support. It would have been somewhat problematic if the Xbox One could only control certain devices, with (in some cases) a limited feature set.

My TV isn't all that recent. It has CEC, "VIERA Link". Away from Panasonic's own devices, functionality is very limited. Back in 2013, I had an Onkyo amp that didn't support HDMI, let alone CEC, and I had a SkyHD box which also didn't have CEC. Judging yesterday by today's standards is pointless.
 
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Instead they've ended up with a mess of highly compatible (although I had to set it up manually because the auto setup couldn't find the Soundbar, so even that's limited) but very limited functionality. Go Microsoft.

Also, with all that said, nothing really stopping them having both types of connectivity with an option to choose, the process is hardly that simple in its current state. If the PS3 had it, it can't have been that expensive to implement by 2013.
 
The Viera link (Panasonic name for CEC) just works. My last two have been Panasonic TVs and I've got a now ten year old PVR box from them as well. It's taken a few years for general support to catch up. They added it to later Sky+ HD boxes, my AppleTV (4th gen) also has it. PS3 had basic support, turn on the console and it'll power up the TV and select the correct input, but that's about it.

Xbox One prefered to control other devices via an IR Blaster in kinect when Microsoft were insane enough to think everyone was going to watch TV via their Xbox and wave at stuff to control it ... after initially alienating 50%+ of the planet by not supporting 50Hz, so everything was a jerky mess.
 
Wow I'm surprised to hear the xbox doesn't have hdmi cec. You'd have thought it could be added with a software update. Sky HD boxes had it added via firmware so it is possible. The 1X and S have no excuse!
 
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