Community discussions

[jagman]

Several Months ago, I purchased an ULTRA from "Roku" on Amazon.

I have FOUR issues:

1. I have COX TV and COX Internet. The ROKU "steps" on the COX system and "takes over", making it hard for me to transition from COX to ROKU and ROKU to COX and BOTH as  BOTH are trying to control my TV when only one should and I prefer COX. Is there any way for me to "tell the ROKU to NOT control my TV?” Every time I touch my ROKU remote or breathe on it, it turns the ROKU on when I am even watching COX TV. It is a Samsung SMART TV your ROKU only plugged in to ONE HDMI, APPEARS on EVERY channel [all HDMIs].
2. I have tried to play VIDEOS [MP4, MKV, AVI...] via the USB port and MKV will NOT PLAY, One MP4 started to play but when BLACK and no further.
3.   My batteries, only last LESS than a WEEK so I take out one battery as I can’t keep putting AA in my remote every week or less as I can go out during this pandemic. They are top of the line DURACELLS.
4.   I wear HEARING AIDS, BLUETOOTH so when watching COX TV, I get exceptional sound via my Hearing Aids. But when I go to ROKU, I get no sound from my TV and have to use your PLUGS which have no frequency controls for my lack of hearing high frequencies. My ROKU is hooked to my TV’s HDMI so shouldn’t I get “ROKU” sound via my HDMI from my TV?

[StreamerUser]

1) Turn off "1 touch play": Settings/System/Control other devices

2) https://support.roku.com/article/208754908

Supported media file types

Different Roku devices support different formats. Newer firmware may support additional formats. The type of audio formats supported is dependent on the type of TV or A/V receiver your Roku device is connected to. Formats supported by your Roku device can be viewed by accessing the ?/Help pages from the Media Device and the Media Type selection screens.

The following file formats are supported:

• Video – H.264/AVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV)
• Audio – AAC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); MP3(.MP3, .MKV); WMA (.ASF, .WMA, .MKV), FLAC (.FLAC, .MKV), PCM (.WAV, .MKV, .MP4, .MOV), AC3/EAC3 (.MKV,.MP4. .MOV, .AC3), DTS (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV,.DTS), ALAC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV, .M4A), Vorbis (.OGG,.MKV,.WEBM)
• Playlists –.M3U, .M3U8, .PLS
• Image – JPG, PNG, GIF (non-animated)

The following media formats are supported on Roku devices that support 4K

• 4K Video – H.265/HEVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); VP9 (.MKV, .WEBM)
• 4K Video – H.264 (Roku Premiere, Premiere+, and Ultra only)

The following media formats are supported on Roku TVs and some Roku players

• Video – H.262 (.MKV)

Notes:

• The Roku Media Player channel will not display unsupported file types or files it has determined cannot be played by your Roku device.
• DRM-protected content is not supported.

3) Known issue, there are some solutions/workarounds, depending.  You can also use an IR-only universal remote.

4) Yes, you should - if you have a Roku 2020 (model 4800) make sure you put it in "Auto passthrough" mode:  Settings/Audio/HDMI  -  If that doesnt work, try manually configuring it for "PCM-Stereo".

[atc98092]

To expand on your #2. The MKV file is a container. It can contain a wide variety of video and audio codecs, as well as caption tracks. It can also contain multiple codecs at the same time. Per @StreamerUser 's response, you can see that Roku devices have limited codec support, and if your file has something different, for example VC-1 video, it won't play. You can check the contents of your media a couple of different ways. There is a program called MediaInfo that provides the content of the file. You can also use a program called FFMPEG, which is a command line program but offered more detailed info on the media.