You never have to interact with a
TV’s interface already.
HDMI CEC allows you to take a new TV, plug an apple TV in, and just use the Apple TV remote. The TV will automatically turn off and on switched to the Apple TV input, hence a dumb screen + Apple TV.
What happens when you have a ps5, xbox and/or switch attached to the same tv? is it seamless? Does it just switch on whatever remote you are using? what about first time setup?
I do not use those devices so I do not know for sure. But HDMI CEC is supposed to automatically move you to whatever device you start using. So if you press the PlayStation controller, the TV should switch to the PlayStation input since it received a signal from the PlayStation, and so on.
At least it works like that with Apple TV, I do not to see why Sony and Nintendo and Microsoft would not implement the same thing Apple did.
And there is no first time setup. Of course, to change the TV picture’s settings themselves you would have to use the TV.
It works like you would expect from 50 different manufacturers implementing a standard.
Kind of works most of the time. I mainly use my Nvidia Shield for most things, but if I touched the playstation controller the inputs would compete for a bit and flip back and forth.
Just try it out, most of your stuff likely has it (if they're not 15 years old). They're called a lot of different things in menus between brands though, so google it for yours.
HDMI CEC allows you to take a new TV, plug an apple TV in, and just use the Apple TV remote. The TV will automatically turn off and on switched to the Apple TV input, hence a dumb screen + Apple TV.