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lambette's avatar
lambette
Channel Surfer
4 years ago

oticon TV adaptor and Roku Soundbar compatibility

I have a Roku soundbar which is connected by HDMI to HDMI-arc port in samsung TV, audio set to external speaker and SPDIF Format PCM. I bought a Oticon TV adaptor which connects via a optical cord and have tried plugging it into the Samsung TV optical port and also the soundbar optical port. The adaptor has paired and says it is streaming, yet nothing through the hearing aids. If I connect the soundbar into a regular HDMI port without an audio return (ARC) and instead plug a optical cord into the TV optical port and then use a splitter to connect to both the soundbar and to the oticon adaptor, I can hear the sound coming from both the soundbar and the hearing aids, yet have no control over volume -- not through my TV remote, nor my ROKU remote nor my Oticon TV Adaptor remote on my iPhone.

Anyone have a solution?

Thanks in advance if so.

Bette

10 Replies

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  • renojim's avatar
    renojim
    Community Streaming Expert

    It sounds like you have it connected properly.  That optical port on the Soundbar is an input, so you can't connect the Oticon adapter to it.  I don't know if the TV would support sending audio to both its optical output as well as the ARC, so your connections sound right to me.  I can't understand why the Oticon app wouldn't work to control its volume, so something seems wrong there.  You might want to take the Soundbar out of the picture and just have the TV set up for SPDIF, connect it to the Oticon adapter, and then see if the Oticon app works.  I wouldn't expect there to be any difference (a splitter shouldn't affect anything), but if that doesn't work then maybe you can take it up with Oticon and ask them what the problem is.

    As for the Roku remote, if you set it up to control TV functions (power, volume), then it's sending a signal to the TV for the volume buttons and that only works for the TV's speakers or a device connected to the TV that supports CEC (Consumer Electronics Control).  Different manufacturers call it different things and I think Samsung calls it "Device Connect" or something like that.  I'm far from an expert when it comes to CEC (AvsGunnar ? ), but I think you either need to "unprogram" the Roku remote so the remote goes back to controlling the Soundbar's volume (you'd lose the TV on/off function) or refresh the Samsung's connected devices (I have no idea how to do that).  I have an old Samsung TV here, but I don't know if it supports CEC.  If it does I'll do some experiments with my Streambar.

    If you never set up the remote to control the TV then none of that applies and the remote should be controlling the Soundbar's volume.  I have a Streambar and not a Roku Soundbar, so my experience comes from that.  I don't think there's a difference in how the connections work and how the remote functions.

    • lambette's avatar
      lambette
      Channel Surfer

       


      renojim wrote:

      It sounds like you have it connected properly.  That optical port on the Soundbar is an input, so you can't connect the Oticon adapter to it.  I don't know if the TV would support sending audio to both its optical output as well as the ARC, so your connections sound right to me.  I can't understand why the Oticon app wouldn't work to control its volume, so something seems wrong there.  You might want to take the Soundbar out of the picture and just have the TV set up for SPDIF, connect it to the Oticon adapter, and then see if the Oticon app works.  I wouldn't expect there to be any difference (a splitter shouldn't affect anything), but if that doesn't work then maybe you can take it up with Oticon and ask them what the problem is.

      As for the Roku remote, if you set it up to control TV functions (power, volume), then it's sending a signal to the TV for the volume buttons and that only works for the TV's speakers or a device connected to the TV that supports CEC (Consumer Electronics Control).  Different manufacturers call it different things and I think Samsung calls it "Device Connect" or something like that.  I'm far from an expert when it comes to CEC (AvsGunnar ? ), but I think you either need to "unprogram" the Roku remote so the remote goes back to controlling the Soundbar's volume (you'd lose the TV on/off function) or refresh the Samsung's connected devices (I have no idea how to do that).  I have an old Samsung TV here, but I don't know if it supports CEC.  If it does I'll do some experiments with my Streambar.

      If you never set up the remote to control the TV then none of that applies and the remote should be controlling the Soundbar's volume.  I have a Streambar and not a Roku Soundbar, so my experience comes from that.  I don't think there's a difference in how the connections work and how the remote functions.


      Thanks so much for your input. I got the remote to control the soundbar volume, as I am using external speaker (soundbar). Didn't realize optical port on soundbar only works as input. As Oticon works on Bluetooth to connect to hearing aids, is there a way to connect Roku soundbar directly to Oticon adapter or hearing aids by Bluetooth that you know of?

      • renojim's avatar
        renojim
        Community Streaming Expert

        No, sorry.  You can't really pair anything (useful) to a Roku Soundbar.  You can stream music from your phone to it via Bluetooth, so I guess you can use it as a Bluetooth speaker, but you can't pair headphones or anything like that.

        So is the Roku remote now controlling the volume of the Soundbar?

  • ss06470's avatar
    ss06470
    Channel Surfer

    I have a slightly different problem. My Oticon TV adaptor interferes with Roku reception. I keep getting messages that I am not connected to the internet (when I am) or reception stop as the circle spins on and on. My only connection to the Oticon is two optical cables that connect the sound bar to the Oticon from my TV. To save a lot of time please don't refer me to Roku solutions. I have disconnected it and reconnected it for a fresh boot and that didn't help. I have powered off and reconnected the modem and router which did nothing. The problem connecting to Roku began when I connected the Oticon device. Before that my Roku worked perfectly. And it went back to working perfectly once I disconnected the Oticon device. I have spoken to the Oticon technical assistance and they emphasized there should not be a problem and Roku technical support was to get back to me yesterday but didn't. Can the Roku signal be messed up by the blue tooth signal coming from the Oticon?

    • ss06470's avatar
      ss06470
      Channel Surfer

      My Oticon TV adaptor interferes with Roku reception. I keep getting messages that I am not connected to the internet (when I am) or reception stop as the circle spins on and on. My only connection to the Oticon is two optical cables that connect the sound bar to the Oticon from my TV. To save a lot of time please don't refer me to Roku solutions. I have disconnected the Roku and reconnected it repeatedly for a fresh boot and that didn't help. I have powered off and reconnected the modem and router which did nothing. The problem connecting to Roku began when I connected the Oticon device. Before that my Roku worked perfectly. And it went back to working perfectly once I disconnected the Oticon device. I have spoken to the Oticon technical assistance and they emphasized there should not be a problem and Roku technical support was to get back to me yesterday but didn't. Can the Roku signal be messed up by the blue tooth signal coming from the Oticon? I would like some kind of answer or a speculation. The key issue I suppose is whether the Roku signal depends on Bluetooth which the Oticon is using. Otherwise this makes no sense at all but I assure you the problem is very real.