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
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.
TopGun007LTK wrote:Make sure the device you get supports 1080i.
There's no such device with today's media streaming products. HDTVs that don't support either 720p or 1080p have vanished from the market. It's next to impossible to even find Blu Ray players with analog outputs anymore. DVD players are about it, and even some of them use HDMI as well. They've all moved to HDMI for the simplified connection.
If you look at Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or any dozens of Android based players on the market today, virtually none have analog outputs and all use HDMI for 720p, 1080p or 2160p.
atc98092 I'm talking about the HDMI converter/scaler device.
I bought the easycel. I'm using it with a Roku Ultra and trying to get it to work on a Toshiba Projection TV. I had to use the tv remote to control the on/off of the tv and the sound. I got a good picture but the sound quality was terrible. I do not think that the verbal part of the roku remote worked. I have not gone back to the tv since. I had cable with comcast and everything worked fine with their box. Now the tv is just one big paper weight. Any suggestions?
I assume that these boxes vary in their audio quality. Most cheap gadgets can get the digital stuff right, but once things go analog, quality tends to be more variable. Easycel makes a bunch of products but looking at some at amazon, I did see some complaints about audio on some of them.
You might try playing around with the wire routing as well since analog cables can pick up environmental noise.
