Solving playback issues

[DaDDz]

Little late to the party. I have an older ultra 4640x and have been running plex and Netflix for years to a Sony led (4yrs old). Audio is via optical to a Sonos surround setup. Confined to dd5.1 because of the Sonos limitation. No issues. Upgraded to an LG Oled 4K and all was still good until a couple weeks after. Started getting stuttering and sync issues streaming from plex and Netflix and plex stopped doing 5.1. Been going crazy trying to figure out what’s to blame. Then I checked and saw the roku had updated to 9.2 at the same time this started. I switched over to LG plex Netflix  apps and no issues with sync and plex does 5.1 again. Appears 9.2 is the issue. 

[AVNewb105]

I actually just bought a 4640x and it appears that the 5.1 is working perfectly. I have the roku plugged directly into the avr via hdmi. There was no option to select optical. 

[DaDDz]

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@AVNewb105 wrote:

I actually just bought a 4640x and it appears that the 5.1 is working perfectly. I have the roku plugged directly into the avr via hdmi. There was no option to select optical. 

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Mine's an older model.  They had an optical when first introduced.  But I'm not using it for audio.  Audio is via the hdmi to the LG then through the LG optical out passthrough to the Sonos playbar.  Been my setup for the past few years without issues.  My issue started a couple weeks with no 5.1 streaming Plex and severe sync lag about an hour or so into a movie.  Have to stop the stream and restart to correct.  Everything is hardwired, no wireless.  Tested streaming a movie via the Roku Channel, and had 5.1  No issues with the other hdmi feeds, satellite and FireTV.  Still pointing to 9.2 as the problem.  I'll test the Plex, Neflix and other apps on the LG for a bit, but at this point it's looking like the Roku has become redundant in my setup unless they respond to the issue with an update.

[ScottCal]

Tanner, I'm just getting started with Roku and still have my cable tv service as I check out Roku for my needs. I have a newly purchased Roku Premiere. I have the HTML going directly into my receiver, which is an older Sony (STRD G910), but it's only getting PCM stereo, no surround on any channel. The receiver has DTS and Dolby Digital, but not Digital Plus. So, in theory, I should get surround on some channels. But I don't. Not on anything. And I'm a big audio guy for movies and series (I was going to move showtime and HBO over from cable to a Roku-hosted service.)
On Netflix, for instance, I cannot disable the Volume mode because when I set it to Off, there is no volume at all on that Netflix show/movie (The Irishman and Lost In Space, both very current offerings). Does anyone know why that may be? I have Roku's Audio and HDMI modes set to: Auto (Dolby Digital Plus, DTS). I spent a lot of time last night going through all configurations. My HD TV's manual says it does not pass through 5.1, when sourced from HTML, so I can't do it that way—I have to be plugged into the receiver and output the video signal to the TV.

Thank you! –Sc

[Supertweak]

Hello Tanner,

My Roku ultra and streaming stick plus worked fine until being update to 9.2. Streaming plus unit will not pass 5.1 and also Netflix will not show that 5.1 is available. I had to restart Ultra unit about 3 times to factory defaults before it would work. Finally it decided to show 5.1 description and my Sony Receiver now shows DD+ 5.1.  I replaced the streaming stick with a firestick on my older tv and it works flawlessly. My internet is fine as I am on fiber and have 200 mbps up and down on the fiber. The company I use to work for an issue and found out when updating to new code, some of the old code was still present and causing issues due to memory not being cleared before writing new code with new update or prom was not big enough to hold new program.

[Wsb]

Try the Roku channel.  It should play 5.1.  I have an older yamaha, minus HDMI input.  I added a Dolby splitter with optical to connect.  Tried every variation of config.  My audio is set to Dolby dts.  Everything plays pcm with exception of Roku channel which works great.

others have said earlier firmware worked.  My TiVo had my same setup and worked perfectly.  

[ScottCal]

Thanks! I will try that tonight. I'm bummed that the other stuff (like Netflix) isn't 5.1 for me. It seems like the ultimate (not for a while, though) solution (short of buying a new receiver, too) would be to get a Roku smart tv that outputs 5.1 audio to a receiver (ARC). Does anyone have such a setup, and do any sets downconvert DD+ to DTS when sending them to the receiver?

Also—assuming I can get the Roku device to get 5.1, has anyone tried those HDMI audio extractors? Might they send "downsampled" DD+ --> DTS through their SPDIF output?

I'm trying not to buy a lot of things. The whole purpose was to save money on cutting the cord! 😉

Thank you all for your help!

[Wsb]

I’m using an HDMI audio extractor.  Bought a second one from a different manufacturer to eliminate a defect.  No change other than Roku channel works , so I know the device is getting the signal.  I believe we have to wait for Roku to advise and hopefully update to support us again.

[ScottCal]

Thanks, Wsb. The benefit of (way too pricey) Spectrum is that the sound has been awesome. I may hang on to them if and until Roku fixes this audio thing. It sounds like Firestick is better in that way (audio)? Though I can't imagine that Roku would not want to be competitive. I'd rather not have both systems.
When I was first asking around among my friends about the audio from Roku, I was kind of amazed that so few of them paid any attention to surround!

Thanks again!

[AVNewb105]

If you're connected to your avr via arc, just get the Roku 4640 on ebay like I did. It will transcode dd+ into dd. I have the roku hooked into the tv which is connected to the avr via arc. I just had to change the audio settings in roku from auto to dd, dts. I believe they removed support for the optical out port.

Problem solved for under $100.