I notice that the "fine print" of both the Roku Smart Soundbar and the upcoming Roku Streambar indicates, "Requires TV with HDMI ARC". I want to connect one of these to a large computer monitor that doesn't have a built-in speaker. The monitor has an HDMI port, but no indication of whether it's HDMI ARC (I seriously doubt it). Will the Soundbar or Streambar work in this configuration? Does it really need the bi-directional HDMI functionality?
The HDMI-ARC is needed to send audio & video from the soundbar to the tv and at the same time send audio from the tv to the soundbar. If you just want video to go the monitor and audio stay with soundbar a regular hdmi input will do.
The HDMI-ARC is needed to send audio & video from the soundbar to the tv and at the same time send audio from the tv to the soundbar. If you just want video to go the monitor and audio stay with soundbar a regular hdmi input will do.