Getting ROKU to work with an old HDTV
Hello All,
I have a frustrating situation using my ROKU ULTRA LT with an old HDTV (JVC D-ILA). The tv supports 480i, 1080i and 720p. It has a HDMI port.
Sometimes the ROKU is recognized and o...
Forum Discussion
Autonegotation of resolution over HDMI does not always work correctly with older TVs, so you should lock the Roku to a supported resolution, like 720p.
Connect it to a newer TV and then disable the automatic resolution, and set to 720p.
Thanks for the responses with my ROKU / TV issues.
I was able to set the resolution on the ROKU to 720p by hooking it up to my newer smart tv. I then went and connected to my old hdtv. With most attempts the old tv didn't even recognize the ROKU input (thur hdmi cable). But on a few occasions my old tv did connect to the ROKU and my hopes were raised high, success finally, I thought.
Then after moving around through the ROKU menu the connection dropped - "no signal detected." I'm going to try switching the ROKU to 1080i and see if my old tv would recognize and keep this resolution. (At this point I'd accept 480p if it is available on ROKU.)
Now my smart tv won't recognize ROKU. Could my ROKU unit be the problem? My old tv doesn't have the capability to set the resolution, as far as I know, but I'll keep trying.
thanks again for your suggestions.
Jay
No Roku player supports 1080i, which is usually where the problem occurs with older sets. The handshake they offer misidentifies the set as 1080, so Roku sends a 1080p (progressive) signal. But the TV will only accept a 1080i (interlaced) signal, so you get that error. Unfortunately, there's little that can be done with TVs that misidentify themselves.
As to why the Roku won't now link to the other TV, I have no good answer. You could try a different HDMI cable, or a different port on the TV. Make sure everything is turned off (TV and Roku) before making the connection.
No, there's no way to change the resolution at the TV itself. The display has a native resolution, and that's all it knows. The internal electronics will convert the incoming signal to the display resolution, within the limits of its hardware and programming.
I was finally able to get my in-laws TV working with an HDMI to Component Converter that also has a scaler. They have an ancient Mitsubishi Rear Projection HDTV that has no HDMI ports and only supports either 480p or 1080i and no 720p all. Make sure the converter/scaler device you get supports 1080i, some don't. I finally got it working on the third product. The scaler is critical too because it's the only way to force a specific resolution. The brand of the converter is EASYCEL and it was $45.
