So I have a fairly powerful old audio system. It only has optical and coax output, and is controlled by an IR signal. The Roku TVs have native optical audio on them, but does the audio controls on the Roku Remote actually control the volume/mute through just this port? Am I going to have to just settle for two remotes from now on?
The volume control on a Roku TV will only control the volume coming from the TV speakers. For your older receiver, you're stuck with two remotes. With a newer AVR that supports HDMI ARC and CEC, you could control the audio of the AVR using the Roku remote.
You have one other option, which would be to use a universal IR controller that supports Roku TVs as well as your receiver. But I would caution that Roku TV and Roku players use different IR codes, so a universal remote that just says "Roku" is supported would need to be looked at closely. I have a Sharp Roku TV, and it uses the same IR codes as the Vizio TV I use as a computer display, so I often had to shield the IR receiver in the Vizio so it didn't react to the Roku TV remote. The odds are pretty good that you can find a code set that will control your Roku TV on almost any universal IR remote.
So even the professional remote that comes with the high-end television doesn’t allow you to manually program the volume controls?
@AgentRin wrote:So even the professional remote that comes with the high-end television doesn’t allow you to manually program the volume controls?
Nope. Some Roku players come with remotes that have programmable volume and power buttons, but those only control TVs, not AVRs or soundbars. And no Roku TV remote has IR programming available.