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nidandragon77's avatar
nidandragon77
Reel Rookie
5 years ago
Solved

How to fix no sound or audio from HBO Max channel – other apps are fine

I'm able tp log onto the Roku HBO Max app, but there is no audio for anything I try to play. All of our other Roku apps have sound (Hulu, Prime, Netflix, etc). I also confirmed that there are no issues with HBO Max in general because we were able to watch it on XBox and had no audio issues. We tried restarting the Roku and even adding a new HBO Max profile. No luck. I believe this was pushed out just today. I'm thinking this new app has a flaw. Hopefully, someone sees this at Roku and pushes out a fix for the audio issue. Thanks.

  • nidandragon77's avatar
    nidandragon77
    5 years ago

    Hello. I resolved the issue myself. I searched for just general audio issues in the roku community and found this.

    Go to Settings -> Audio -> HDMI -> and set to PCM - Stereo.

    What was weird for us is the audo issue was only affecting the new HBO Max app and the audio in the older apps worked fine. I am thinking that maybe some of the newer apps require different audio settings. FYI, the sound is also working in our older apps with the PCM - Stereo setting. The setting we had previously was Auto detect

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  • nidandragon77's avatar
    nidandragon77
    Reel Rookie
    5 years ago

    Hello. I resolved the issue myself. I searched for just general audio issues in the roku community and found this.

    Go to Settings -> Audio -> HDMI -> and set to PCM - Stereo.

    What was weird for us is the audo issue was only affecting the new HBO Max app and the audio in the older apps worked fine. I am thinking that maybe some of the newer apps require different audio settings. FYI, the sound is also working in our older apps with the PCM - Stereo setting. The setting we had previously was Auto detect

    • magomes24's avatar
      magomes24
      Channel Surfer
      5 years ago

      You're an absolute genius! I had an ever so slightly different problem in that there was sound but it was all very loud, warbled and distorted. This fixed it!!

      Thank you!

    • tophats32's avatar
      tophats32
      Newbie
      5 years ago

      I can't even find settings in hbo max though??

      Edit: nvm, it's settings via my roku, fixed. Ty!

  • katiemck's avatar
    katiemck
    Newbie
    5 years ago

    Changing to stereo did not work for me.
    I found this on Roku’s site and it did work...

    • First, make sure your software is up to date by pressing the Home button on your Roku remote, then go to Settings > System > System Update > Check now.

    (I have a tv with Roku installed)

  • smvogt's avatar
    smvogt
    Newbie
    5 years ago

    I have had the same issue, and did what the other user said. I switched the sound to stereo from within the Roku Home Screen settings. It did not work for me until I also went into settings by pressing * while in the show. I went down to the “volume mode”option. It was somehow set to “off”. I selected a different option and the sound came on right away. Hopefully this helps someone else out there. 

    • mferring1's avatar
      mferring1
      Reel Rookie
      5 years ago

      My HBO max seems to have surround sound for many of the shows, but not all of them. Going to Stereo vs Auto did work. However, I have a very nice surround sound system and using this solution basically negates this ability to have surround sound, which is not what I wanted.

      Then I saw smvogt's solution and it was pure genius. I did not know there was any options using the * key while you were playing a show. So I changed it from off to leveling and presto, surround sound came back. Amazing! This was using a several year old Roku Ultra. Also it was plugged in using HDMI to a new Yamaha TSR-700 receiver. All shows now work.

      I have another newer Roku ultra that does not have this sound issue. But my guess that is because I am using a very old Denon surround receiver with no HDMI inputs. Therefore, I run optical sound out of my TV directly to my stereo. I have not had any HBO max issues with that.

      My next step was going to be to use the same direct audio to my Yamaha receiver instead of HDMI. But I was reluctant to go this route as it kind of negates getting the new receiver in the first place. My guess is that somehow the codecs used by HBOmax have some sort of HDMI ARC issue with my receiver. Funny, but the old HBO app did not have this issue.

      Anyhoo, was really glad that smvogt's solution worked. Thanks again!

  • rdull1971's avatar
    rdull1971
    Newbie
    5 years ago

    I had the same issue with my Roku Ultra that received the 10.0 firmware update. Using Roku with my Pioneer SC 89.  The auto dect doesn't work or any setting that has Dolby Digital Plus.  Only volume setting that works is PCM, basic Dolby Digital/DTS. 

    • StreamerUser's avatar
      StreamerUser
      Roku Guru
      5 years ago
      rdull1971 wrote:

      I had the same issue with my Roku Ultra that received the 10.0 firmware update. Using Roku with my Pioneer SC 89.  The auto dect doesn't work or any setting that has Dolby Digital Plus.  Only volume setting that works is PCM, basic Dolby Digital/DTS. 

      Which Ultra model #/firmware version+build do you have?  (Settings/System/About)

      Be aware that if you have a non-4800/4640 and change Settings/Audio/HDMI or Settings/Audio/Audio mode to anything other than a DD+ setting, you will lose 5.1 output in NetFlix, Prime, Hulu, Disney+ and many other apps.

      (This isnt an issue with the 4640/4800 that have Dolby decoders - setting it to a DD setting will transcode the DD+ to DD from those apps that only use DD+).

       

  • heyvern's avatar
    heyvern
    Newbie
    5 years ago

    Another option for Roku is to just change the "Volume Mode". That's the "asterisk" or star button on the roku remote for setting audio to "night mode" or "leveling". I found that all I needed was to just "bump" this option to a new setting and then back again and it kind of forces the audio back on. I think that is what changing the audio mode in settings is doing. It kind of just gives the audio a nudge from whatever made it get stuck.

  • MisterBill's avatar
    MisterBill
    Newbie
    5 years ago

    Same issue with Dolby set. I had changed to Auto Detect and that worked for me.