Remotes

[jbhardman]

I used a Roku Ultra 4660X2 for several years along with the enhanced remote with the A & B buttons that it shipped with. One of my favorite things about it was that I could control the volume through my Sound Receiver and turn the Receiver and TV off simultaneously WITHOUT  needing to point the remote at them. It used CEC to control them through the Roku network remote functionality.

I just received my new Roku Ultra 4800R that I bought for the Dolby Vision support. I cannot for the life of me get it to control my other devices via CEC. I have to pair it with my TV and then point the remote at my TV directly. I LOVED not having to point it at the TV. Any ideas how I get it back? All other devices are the same, all have CEC enabled and the new Roku has Control Other Devices enabled as well.

[Tivoburkee]

Did you refresh the cec devices in the tv menu? The roku remote only controls the tv, its the tv that uses cec to control the av receiver. 

[jbhardman]

Thanks for replying. Yes, when pointing Roku remote at TV, the TV the sends that signal to the receiver. 

What I’m saying is I know for a fact that the old Roku & Remote used to directly control the receiver via CEC. I know it. Why would the Roku have a “Control other devices” option if it couldn’t? I just want that back. So I can change volume under the blanket. It’s a small thing but so convenient. 

[Tivoburkee]

Yes, the old remote controlled it by cec because that was only way it could control a tv volume. It had no IR on board. The current remote has IR on board and it controls the tv by IR and not by cec like your old remote did. Go into your settings> system> control other devices(CEC)>  just highlight 1-touch play box and read the paragraph next to it. The only thing the cec on the current roku do is control the input of the tv its connected to, they leave it up to the TV to control other devices via its cec. So its IR from the remote to the tv, and then cec from tv to your av receiver.  Again refresh your cec devices in the tv menu!!

Are there roku's that control the tv volume and power by cec, yes, its Roku soundbar & Streambar. 

[jbhardman]

I'm pretty sure this old one has an IR blaster.

And again, I don't need to refresh CEC devices in my TV. The volume command transfers from my TV to my Receiver just fine. I just want it to go from the Roku directly to the Receiver like I've done for years with this other Ultra.

[tresf]

Very interested in a solution.   The device claims to use CEC but doesn't offer granularity to switch to it for volume like nearly all other devices.  IR is nice, but CEC is arguably better as the remote can be used without line-of-sight.  The fact that Roku sound bars can support this is not helpful for people not using a Roku sound bar.

[tresf]

Ok, found a solution:

Home:5x, Fast forward, Play, Rewind, Play, Fast forward

This will enter the "Platform Secret" menu.

Next, RF Remote Menu > IR transmit menu > Universal CEC menu > Use CEC instead of IR (and update remote)

This allows the remote to use HDMI CEC instead of infrared.   Thanks to this link for the information: https://www.reddit.com/r/Roku/comments/3s5rj3/i_think_ive_found_all_the_secret_screens/

[jbhardman]

Wow. Awesome. Works like a charm.

This is rather frustrating from Roku. Not only is it literally in a hidden/secret menu. But they gaslit me when I contacted them for help. Acted like CEC control was never a thing they had and I was imagining having it in the past. Generally been happy with Roku, but this is the worst experience I've had with them.

[tresf]

I was alarmed as well.  I recently converted from Fire TV and this was definitely configurable on the Fire TV to use either CEC or IR.   After switching my Roku machine to use CEC last night, I noticed now that the CEC goes directly to the sound system, so my TV no longer displays a volume indicator.  This is minor but possibly why they chose to switch to IR for everything.  I'd like a way through CEC to tell the TV to change its volume (instead of my sound system) so that the indicator is on the screen (when the TV gets the CEC signal, the TV's indicator will reflect the sound system since it's connected through ARC).  I have a feeling these types of nuances are why Roku decided to change it.

In regards to the tech support not knowing about the old behavior, in my experience, the first level technicians rarely know how the tech works, so it's always frustrating to call for an issue like this.  The good part is that we figured it out together, now people can use this technique to restore the old behavior. 🙂

[jbhardman]

I have my Roku passing through my sound system, so my sound system overlays the volume indicator on the screen. So I'm good there.