Hi,
I need a media streamer with a digital output and the Ultra seems to fit the bill. However I cannot find it on the Roku web site and I do not want to but an obsolete product.
best regards
Tom
If by digital output, you mean digital audio, then no CURRENT Roku has that. Older versions of the Ultra did, but it was dropped a few years ago. If you really need digital audio separate from HDMI, there are several 'splitter' options available on Amazon that can output optical or coaxial. They are around US$25-30. Just search for "HDMI to optical" or similar.
AFAIK it's not discontinued:
https://www.roku.com/products/roku-ultra
As the previous poster noted, it no longer has an optical audio output, but there are devices you can buy that will add one via HDMI. (HDMI in, HDMI + Optical Audio out)
Hi,
Thank you for getting back to me. I've looked at these $20 splitters before and they all look like badged versions of the same thing with the same reviews regarding functionality.
I found one on the Octava web site at $149 which is probably more representitive of what you would need to pay.
I'll probably get an older Ultra with the opticaloutput and hope to get a few years out of it. I need either optical, co-ax or USB as input to an Arcam rDAC.
best regards
Tom
2 other options:
The Atlona HD-570 or the one from Essence - the Evolve.
Another option is Gefen. That's what I've always used for this sort of thing. They are very expensive but extremely well made and a million times better than the cheap devices you can usually find on Amazon.
For adding an optical audio output to a 4K HDMI device like the current Roku Ultra I believe you would want the EXT-UHD600A-12-DS (~$300).
That is all extreme overkill. The best you will get with optical/coax is DD. Plus, most streaming is low-bitrate DD or DD+. The basic China things should work well enough, and the money saved can be put to eventually replacing the old AV receiver with one that supports HDMI.