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Olav1's avatar
Olav1
Reel Rookie
2 years ago
Solved

Using Streambar without TV

I got my Roku Streambar 3 weeks ago, the main reason for buying the compact Streambar was to improve sound on my 32 inch Philips TV and to stream radio/music via Bluetooth directly to the Streambar.
Setting up the Streambar was easy and I'm happy with the improved sound quality on my TV.

I have connected my iPhone in Settings - Remotes & Devices - Remotes - Smartphones & Tablets.
It works ok to connect my with Airplay and Bluetooth to the Roku Streambar, but then the TV screen is on.
I would prefer to play radio/music on the Streambar with the TV off.

Is it possible to use the Streambar for the audio/radio without turning on the TV?

remotes
  • RokuTakashi's avatar
    RokuTakashi
    2 years ago

    Hi Olav1,

    Greetings and welcome to the Roku Community!

    We appreciate you sharing your inquiry with us. Fast TV Start is a feature of Roku TV that lets you listen to music when the TV screen is off, wake your TV, and perform various actions using voice commands. When Fast TV Start is enabled, your Roku TV always maintains the connection with it's built-in speakers or a Roku Streambar®, even when the TV is in standby. This allows you to use them to listen to audio content at any time, whether the screen is off or on. For more information regarding this, kindly refer to ous support article at this link: How to listen to music when the screen on your Roku TV is off

    If you have further inquiries or concerns, please let us know.

    All the best,
    Kash

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  • RokuTakashi's avatar
    RokuTakashi
    Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hi Olav1,

    Greetings and welcome to the Roku Community!

    We appreciate you sharing your inquiry with us. Fast TV Start is a feature of Roku TV that lets you listen to music when the TV screen is off, wake your TV, and perform various actions using voice commands. When Fast TV Start is enabled, your Roku TV always maintains the connection with it's built-in speakers or a Roku Streambar®, even when the TV is in standby. This allows you to use them to listen to audio content at any time, whether the screen is off or on. For more information regarding this, kindly refer to ous support article at this link: How to listen to music when the screen on your Roku TV is off

    If you have further inquiries or concerns, please let us know.

    All the best,
    Kash

    • Olav1's avatar
      Olav1
      Reel Rookie
      2 years ago

      Hi,

      Thanks for your update.
      I understand that Fast TV Start is a feature of Roku TV that lets you listen to music when the TV screen is off.
      I got a Philips TV that I think do not support Fast TV Start?

      I thought that Roku Streambar also would function like a standard Bluetooth speaker, make it possible to stream radio/music direct to the Streambar from my iPhone/iPad.
      Ref. from Roku website about the Streambar: 'Bluetooth® private listening & music streaming'.

      Regards
      Olav

      • renojim's avatar
        renojim
        Community Streaming Expert
        2 years ago

        Olav1, are you saying your TV isn't a Roku TV or it is, but you don't have the "Fast TV Start" option?

        Here's a hack I've used to get my Streambar to be usable without it being connected to a TV -  I connect an HDMI dummy plug to the Streambar.  My problem with the Streambar is a little different than yours.  I want to be able to start my Roku music streaming channel/app and then turn off the TV, but as soon as I turn off the TV the Streambar kills the app.  I also got an HDMI switch so I can switch the Streambar from the TV to the dummy plug without having to disconnect anything. My hope was that I could start a channel/app on the Streambar while watching what I was doing on the TV and then switch to the dummy plug, but it didn't work. As soon as I switch, the channel is killed.  I can blindly start the channel with the Streambar connected to the dummy plug and it works for my purposes. Definitely a hack, but sometimes that's what you have to resort to with Roku devices.

        @RokuTakashi , why don't you pass it up the chain that Roku really, really should allow users to turn off the TV without killing the running channel on the Streambar and allow users to stream music via Bluetooth without having to have the TV on.

    • Olav1's avatar
      Olav1
      Reel Rookie
      2 years ago

      @RokuTakashi

      Do you got comment on what Roku can do about Bluetooth streaming to the Streambar without TV?
      It should be an easy function to add on the the Streambar.