Forum Discussion

KRae99's avatar
KRae99
Channel Surfer
3 years ago
Solved

Connecting a new Roku device to an older Roku TV

I just added a Roku 2022 Ultra to a 2018 TCL roku tv (I hoped that it would be less sluggish since the Ultra has more ram), and now I'm stuck in the streaming box hdmi input that I attached the Ultra...
TV & Player Setup
  • RokuDanny-R's avatar
    RokuDanny-R
    3 years ago

    Hi KRae99 

    Thanks for posting in the Community regarding your inquiry about returning to the Home screen on your Roku TV.

    While the Roku Ultra remote can be paired to your Roku TV to control the power and volume, the Roku device remote will not be able to control the HDMI input selection to the Roku TV. In this case you'll need to use the TCL Roku TV remote to return to the Roku TV's Home screen in order to select the appropriate HDMI input that you wish to utilize.

    For more information about how to pair your Roku device remote to control your Roku TV power and volume, you can visit our Support page here: Set up TV controls

    Hope this provides some clarification. If you have any other inquiries in the future, please don't hesitate to ask as we are more than happy to assist you!


    Happy Streaming,
    Danny

RokuDanny-R's avatar
RokuDanny-R
Retired Moderator
3 years ago

Hi KRae99 

Thanks for posting in the Community regarding your inquiry about returning to the Home screen on your Roku TV.

While the Roku Ultra remote can be paired to your Roku TV to control the power and volume, the Roku device remote will not be able to control the HDMI input selection to the Roku TV. In this case you'll need to use the TCL Roku TV remote to return to the Roku TV's Home screen in order to select the appropriate HDMI input that you wish to utilize.

For more information about how to pair your Roku device remote to control your Roku TV power and volume, you can visit our Support page here: Set up TV controls

Hope this provides some clarification. If you have any other inquiries in the future, please don't hesitate to ask as we are more than happy to assist you!


Happy Streaming,
Danny

KRae99's avatar
KRae99
Channel Surfer
3 years ago

Thanks so much Danny.  Luckily I kept one remote paired to the TV.  However, I get a black screen when I connect to the Ultra from the TV input.  When I set the TV so that it goes to the Ultra automatically when I power up, I reach the Ultra and all of the channels are listed, but any video I play is black (there is sound).  And, when I go back to the TV input, the screen is about 1/5 of its normal size.  I have a new HDMI cable coming, maybe that will solve the problem?

  • RokuNimfa-C's avatar
    RokuNimfa-C
    Retired Moderator
    3 years ago

    KRae99

    Thanks for your update. 

    It's great that you still have a remote paired with your Roku TV. Did you use the TV remote to access the channel? Have you tried to remove the channel and see if it helps? If you haven't tried it yet, you can remove the affected channel and re-install it. To ensure the process is successful, restart your device before adding the channel back in. If this doesn't help, trying a new HDMI cable is a good step to isolate the issue. 

    Keep us posted on how it goes. 


    Regards,
    Nimfa

    • KRae99's avatar
      KRae99
      Channel Surfer
      3 years ago

      I updated the ethernet cables between the TV and modem and between the Ultra and the modem to cat 6a, and replaced the HDMI cable between the TV and the Ultra to a premium high speed (48 Gbps), and it all works now.  I'm not sure which cables are eliminating the problem, I suspect it's the hdmi cable.  The Ultra is indeed more responsive than the roku TV.  (I have an ethernet wired connection to both and am getting about 80 mbps average download speeds).

      The HBO Max app is still slower than all of the others by far (Netflix, Paramount plus, and Prime) - and unlike the other apps there is no way to remove it via the * button.  I've read elsewhere here that you actually have to unsubscribe to the HBO Max channel via Roku than re-subscribe, which seems very weird.

      Now, if I could only control both the TV inputs and the Ultra input with the same remote, but from what I've read that's not possible so I'll give up searching for a solution for that 🙂

      As information to others who may read this post, I contacted TCL and asked them about the memory in their Roku TV (this is a 2018 5-series 55S517), and they essentially said that it is has no memory 🙂  I've looked at Roku developer specs, and each Roku TV and device has from 512MB to 2 G of "ram".  From my limited experience with these two devices (the TV, with an unknown amount of memory, and the 2022 Ultra which has 2G), I would say that apps lag less with devices that have more memory, but I'm no expert 🙂

      • KRae99's avatar
        KRae99
        Channel Surfer
        3 years ago

        Just one addition - the next morning, we were getting black screens again.  I remembered changing the display setting for the Ultra, and went back and changed the following to "off" - System>Advanced System Settings>Advanced Display Settings>Auto-adjust display refresh rate.  Everything is great since then.

        I followed up with the TCL Roku TV people, and they assure me that the 2018 TV has no storage or memory.  I find that hard to believe, but that's what they say 🙂