Discussions

[Traven]

I have a fairly new Samsung Smart TV, but it does not have HDMI ARC on it. If I buy a Roku Soundbar and connect it with a normal HDMI or Optical Output on the TV, will I be able to control the soundbar volume with the remote that comes with the sound bar? Long story short, I want to use ONLY the soundbar for my volume and want to only use 1 remote for everything, the remote that comes with the soundbar. Will this work or would I need a HDTV with an HDMI ARC connection?

[Tivoburkee]

The hdmi-ARC is needed to send signals in both directions via one cable. Without ARC you need the combination of a regular hdmi and optical. 

The Walmart Onn roku smart soundbar comes with an IR remote, to control the tv the tv needs hdmi-cec. The IR commands on the Onn SB remote never change, when the roku soundbar sees the IR it sends a signal over the hdmi cable to control the tv its connected with. There no need to program a tv brand because ALL brands of TV when they have hdmi-cec feature ALL respond to the same commands coming over the hdmi cable. 

The Roku branded Roku smart soundbar comes with a wifi voice remote, it can programmed to power a non-roku tv by brand but not the volume. It can only control the tv volume by hdmi-cec like the onn IR remote.  So if you tv lack hdmi-cec or if its turned off you can't use roku soundbar, sorry.