Playback Issues - Audio/Video & Power

[mchasal]

Hi all,


I was excited to see that the new Roku Express+ had analog audio outputs as I have a PC monitor that I've used via an older Roku with component inputs and would like to update the Roku. It looks like I'm not going to be successful at this, so wanted to share the results here in case anyone was heading down a similar path.
The monitor is a Gateway FPD2275W. It has composite, component, and DVI inputs and supports HDCP. It has a set of attachable, powered speakers with a 1/8" headphone input.

I got a Express+ and an HDMI to DVI cable. Connected everything up and went through the setup. The setup wizard screens displayed fine, albeit at a low resolution, and the sound worked with the standard headphone plug connected directly to the Roku's analog output along with the HDMI output. So things initially looked good.
Unfortunately, when the Roku restarts and switches to it's full video mode, things go south. I get a small display in the middle of the LCD, about 1/4 of the total screen size, with a garbled display. Upon restart, the Roku splash screen will display properly, again at a lower resolution, just like the setup wizard. Then when the main interface launches, it goes back to that small, garbled display.

The specs from my display state this:

So, it should work at least at 720p.

I've been able to fiddle around with different sequences of Roku and Display powering on and did get the display to show up ungarbled, but it's still only a small portion of the display and it's not even showing the full interface in that small section, like it's overly cropped and zoomed. It's also not something I could get to happen reliably, so not tenable for a TV setup.

It does display fine if I use the composite video, obviously at a non-hd resolution, but the quality is just too low at that setting to be acceptable.

If anyone has any ideas, I would certainly love to hear them, but I'm really just sharing this situation for awareness for others. It is good news that the audio out appears to work just fine with either video output and you don't even need a non-standard cable for that. 

[knuckle]

You mentioned that the Monitor has composite inputs,,, did you hook the video up using composite ?

[mchasal]

"knuckle" wrote:
You mentioned that the Monitor has composite inputs,,, did you hook the video up using composite ?

Yes I did:

It does display fine if I use the composite video, obviously at a non-hd resolution, but the quality is just too low at that setting to be acceptable.

Thanks

[jeffrok]

I'd try a different HDMI->DVI. Go on Monoprice or Amazon, get an affordable but compliant cable, and try it. Maybe it's not properly handshaking.

[mchasal]

"jeffrok" wrote:
I'd try a different HDMI->DVI. Go on Monoprice or Amazon, get an affordable but compliant cable, and try it.  Maybe it's not properly handshaking.

This is the one I'm using, got it just for this project: https://amzn.com/B014I8UL8U[/url:12lfznuu]
To try and rule the cable out, I connected my Roku2 using ...

[knuckle]

when you restarted the roku was the composite plugged in ? I am wondering if you unplug the composite cable using only the HDMI out on the roku and reboot if it makes a difference also if your monitor has an overscan setting make sure that this is off before the reboot 

[mchasal]

"knuckle" wrote:
when you restarted the roku was the composite plugged in ? I am wondering if you unplug the composite cable using only the HDMI out on the roku and reboot if it makes a difference also if your monitor has an overscan setting make sure that this is off before the reboot 

In my last set of tests, I didn't use the composite at all, so it was pure HDMI. I believe the "1:1" setting on my monitor does disable any overscan, but I've tried both the zoom & wide modes that are there with no difference other than the size of the screen.
Interestingly, I just discovered that the screen garbling is inconsistent. I can start at the main menu, which is garbled, select (blindly) the Netflix app, which will then be ungarbled, but severely cropped. Hitting home to go back to the menu results in garbled video again. I tried to get to some of the other apps, but only Netflix seemed to have a clear, but still cropped picture. Odd.

[mchasal]

In case anyone is still following along. I gave Roku support a crack at this. Took a while as it got escalated to higher level engineering support and I just got the "Sorry, this isn't supported" note. So, whatever code or hardware feature that lets this work on the Roku2 got dropped in the Express+. Not sure if any of the other new Rokus would still handle it. 

[knuckle]

Still following,how ever out of any thing to offer ... one question though what resolutions are available on your display type ?

[mchasal]

"knuckle" wrote:
Still following,how ever out of any thing to offer ... one question though what resolutions are available on your display type ?

Well, it's got a bunch of PC resolutions listed on page 22 of the manual. The native resolution of the screen is 1680x1050 and all the usual suspects up to that: 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1400x1050, 1440x900, all of which don't line up with any HDTV resolutions. I initially thought this would be a problem, but as I had in the original post, it also lists support for HDTV resolutions via the DVI input:
Digital (DVI-D): 24-pin DVD-D (supports 480p, 720p, and 1080i).■Includes HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection

I'd guess it's just doing some interpolation to make those fit with what it physically can do, but the support is there. And I also keep going back to the fact that the Roku2 works just fine in this same configuration, though without audio. 
I did return the Express+ last night, so I'm no longer working on this actively. If support, or anyone, comes back with something that seems like it might be a fix, I'll go pick another one up, but I didn't want to hang onto it when the outlook looked as bleak as it does.
Thanks