Discussions

[bob5000]

This is an odd question but a real one.

The TL DR version is: Is the sound from a Roku Device louder and clearer than it is from a TCL Series 5 Roku TV when run through an AV system?

I have a TCL Series 5 Roku TV. It uses HDMI-CDC to run the sound through a traditional AV 5.1 system. The native speakers are not used.

The sound on it in native Roku mode is not good and I uses a Fire Stick instead. In Roku Mode, everything sounds muffled a little and I need to turn the volume up on every station. Brit mumbling is almost indecipherable on normal volume. Even turning up the volume leaves things a little muffled.

The Fire Stick has much clearer and sharper sound. The volume is lower on all apps and everything sounds noticeably better. I can understand the Brits most of the time. The sound control programming on the Fire Stick must be better in some way.

If I were to use a Roku Device rather than the Roku TV, would I have better sound compared to the Roku TV? 

I recently found an article that shows me how to reset the TV and turn it into a non-smart TV. If it works I could plug in a spare Roku Device and disable the smart TV aspects. The Roku interface is much better than the Fire Stick. This TV would then match all my other TVs. If it doesn't work, then I have to set everything up again, which is a lot of work. I don't want to try it unless someone has some insight into if it will work?

No, I can't use both the Roku Device and the Roku TV because both use the same remote. Controlling one will start apps on the other at the same time.

Does anyone know for sure? Yes, I changed settings. The sound on the TV in Roku mode is optimized as best as possible.

Also, does anyone know which 'Home Screen' wins if the Home button is pressed? Or if using one remote will still be too confusing for the TV vs the Device to sort out, even though there would be fewer selections to pick on the Roku TV? OR, if a Roku Stick that uses a TV controller remote would bypass the IR controls on the Roku TV  (except volume and on/off only) so this confusion can be avoided because the stick is also RF?

[bob5000 · Accepted solution]

I fixed it.

The Roku TV and my AV receiver were in a battle. Sound processor vs sound processor.

I set my AV receiver sound program to 'none', Previously it was on an automatic setting. In that mode, it appeared to decode a sound that had already been decoded.

I set Roku to 'Stereo', not passthru, although turning off the AV sound processing improved passthru. 'Stereo' still gave me 5.1 sound, but it was crisper and louder than passthru. Brit mumbling was reduced significantly. (Apparently, Brit directors believe not re-dubbing makes their art more natural.)

The AV receiver retained all its other settings, such as the speaker settings.

I think my Fire Stick was neutral where above I made the receiver neutral.

[GeeGee1052]

The sound on the remote is not working or the tv sound either way I have no sound

[RokuNimfa-C]

Hi @GeeGee1052, 

Welcome to the Roku Community. 

We'd like to know more about the issue you are facing for us to better assist you. Can you please specify the issue you are experiencing? Have you checked the volume settings on both the Roku device and TV to make sure they are not muted or turned down low? When did the issue start? What troubleshooting steps have you already taken to try to resolve the issue?

With more details, we will be able to help you further. 


Regards,
Nimfa

[bob5000]

Yes, I have done everything. It took many tries. I have it working now by turning off all advanced sound processing in my Atmos Yamaha AV receiver and letting Roku process sound at Stereo rather than anything else.

While I prefer the Roku user interface, I was ready to ditch it on my Roku TV for a Fire Stick because it processed sound better, louder, crisper. Eventually I noticed that Fire Stick had virtually no sound adjustments possible but Roku had numerous selections. It made me wonder if Roku and Yamaha were both processing the sound and that caused the low muffled volume on every channel - some worse than others (particularly Netflix). 

I turned off sound processing on the Yamaha Receiver, I did not try 'Direct' but would have if needed. It increased the volume significantly from my Roku TV. Stereo worked better than Passthru or Dolby.

My suggestion to Roku would be to add another selection to remove all sound processing so it can all flow through to the AV receiver for it to process. This makes sense. I did not buy Roku for sound processing. That's what my AV equipment is for.