Roku setup

[mlissbuck]

I’m having my 55in Roku mounted above a fireplace with no visible cables. Right now it’s on a tv console and connected to a Blu-ray DVD player via HDMI. I’ve read in several instructions that this HDMI connection between DVD player and TV gives Roku better audio and visual quality. Is this true? Will I get the same audio and visual quality on my Roku if I don’t connect the HDMI via DVD player once Roku is mounted? If the answer is NO, I may need to rethink where I place my Roku. Thanks for clarifying. 

[atc98092]

HDMI (which has nothing to do with Blu-ray other than a BD player requires using HDMI) will not improve the audio or video of a DVD. All HDMI does is provide a single cable connection between the player and the display, instead of the three separate audio/video cables previously used. It does keep the video and audio signal in the digital realm, but that in itself can't "improve" the signal. It can potentially keep stray electronic "noise" from disrupting the signal, but that's really not something that happens much. 

Your Roku of course requires an HDMI connection, unless you have an older player with analog outputs. Since every Roku player is capable of higher resolution video than any DVD player, HDMI certainly provides the highest quality video signal compared to the old analog connection. Also be aware there are some DVD players that offer "upscaling" using an HDMI cable. However, while it might look a bit better than the analog video, it's being upscaled and the higher quality is artificial. With a Blu Ray disc, you are starting with a higher quality signal and it's not artificially being enhanced. 

One additional comment about HDMI audio. Since almost every DVD is encoded with Dolby Digital audio, using an HDMI connection does keep that digital audio intact all the way to the TV. It's possible to have slightly better sounding audio if you keep that within the digital realm all the way to the audio amps in the TV. If you're using an AVR, then you can absolutely get better audio with an HDMI connection, even from a DVD.

[Strega2]

I’m not sure I understand the question.  Blu Ray Players, Cable Boxes, Games, Streaming devices, etc. all connect to TVs via cables - usually HDMI.  The other option for some of those is component video cables, but component AV takes 5 cables instead of 1, so I don’t see how that would help you.

When you wall mount, you certainly should think about cables and connectors, both now, and when adding devices in the future.

[mlissbuck]

Dan,

Thank you for the reply. I may have failed to elaborate on an important item. My Roku is a Smart TV—not the steaming player. I didn't know those existed until now 🙂 Anyhow, my Roku Smart TV is new out of the box and right now it has its power cable, HDMI cable plugged into DVD player and it’s hardwired to the nearby router at the moment “for improved signal.” I plan to get it mounted. Since this tv has built in audio and visual, if I simply leave it hardwired or change it to wifi connection, it’s audio and visual be at its peak? You mentioned how the HDMI kept audio and visual in the “digital realm,” but I assume this is for Roku steaming players—not the smart tv. If I’m understanding this correctly, Roku smart TV will produce amazing audio and visual whether connected via wifi or hardwire and the HDMI to DVD player, in this case, is solely for communication between the 2 devices.

[mlissbuck]

When reading about Roku, I must have reviewed content on the Roku player vs actual Roku Smart TV, which started my thinking about how to wire it for peak performance. 

[HDMIGuy]

@mlissbuck If you have a good wifi you will not see any difference between using the Roku TV on wifi vs directly wired to the internet.  What I suggest is removing the internet cable from the TV with the TV in the present location and setting up the wifi connection.  If you see no change in picture or audio quality you are good to go on mounting the TV above the fireplace.  Connecting a DVD player or Blu-ray player to the TV has no effect on the quality of your Roku TV picture.

[atc98092]

Thanks for providing that additional information. Yes, since it's a Roku TV, everything within the Roku OS remains in the digital realm until it reaches the audio amplifier to feed the speakers. You mentioned switching to WiFi. That will have no impact on video or audio quality from anything streaming to the TV. Even through my Roku Ultra has an Ethernet connection, I use it on WiFi simply because it's a faster connection on my network. The WiFi access point is only about a foot away, so an extremely strong signal. Almost anything you stream from the Internet is going to max out around 25 Mbps, which is well within the capability of the Ethernet jack in your TV, and likely just fine on WiFi as well. It's always possible that you might have enough interference with your WiFi that the signal is disrupted,  but usually WiFi is pretty solid unless your signal is really weak in that area.

Back to your DVD player. If the player is an upscaling model, then it's possible that the video could look better using an HDMI connection. But that completely depends on the scaler within the DVD player, compared to the TV's ability to upscale content. I have an old DVD changer with an HDMI connection, but it does not upscale, so the TV does it all anyway. The HDMI cable simply provides a single connection between the player and the TV (in my case, it connects to an AVR). 

When you mount a TV on the wall, there's really only one way to not have any cables showing, and that's if you have a connection box in the wall behind the TV that routes the power and other cables within the wall. Unless a home is built or remodeled with it, you likely don't have that option. On my two wall mounted TVs, I have cable routers that hide all the cables and can be painted wall color to blend them into the wall. They're not invisible, but overall not noticed unless you look specifically at them.