Abstract: A partial HDMI physical layer (“phy”) decoder core is used in an audiovisual (A/V) sink device to perform HDCP pre-authentication on inactive HDMI ports, so as to enable fast switching between HDMI ports. Whenever a source device is connected to the any HDMI port of the A/V sink device, HDCP authentication is performed on that port immediately, even if A/V data on that port is not being output to a user. As a result, when the user switches between HDMI channels, the output is available to the user instantly, without any HDCP-related delay. The A/V sink includes the partial HDMI phy decoder core in addition to a full HDMI phy decoder core. The full HDMI phy decoder core is used to extract and decode signals received on the active port. The partial HDMI phy decoder core is used to extract and decode only those HDMI signals received on an inactive port that are needed for pre-authenticating the inactive port.