Roku setup

[Colorado_Hiker]

I have a TCL non-Roku TV and a Sony sound bar.  The TV has HDMI ARC and a few other HDMI 4K ports, as well as a digital audio output.  The sound bar has optical audio IN and only 1 HDMI (arc) OUT.  I also have a Roku Ultra 4k.

I am able to connect the Ultra 4k to the HDMI (Arc) port of the TV.  I connect the TV to the sound bar using optical audio.  This works, but obviously, I cannot control the volume of the sound bar with the Roku remote - I have to use the sound bar remote.

Is there any way I can get the sound bar and Ultra both connected to the TV in a way so that I can have the Ultra remote control the volume of the sound bar?  Am I forced to find a sound bar that has 2 HDMI ports (in and out)?  Any other clever ideas?

TIA,

Jim

[renojim]

Are you sure that's an output port on the sound bar?  In general, you connect a sound bar to the HDMI ARC port on a TV and then the Ultra to one of the 4k inputs.  The Roku remote can then be set up to control the volume of the TV which controls the volume of the sound bar via CEC.

[Colorado_Hiker]

Interestingly, the port says "HDMI OUT (arc)"   

[atc98092]

As @renojim mentioned CEC should work for controlling the audio of your soundbar, assuming it supports CEC. That is the crucial requirement. I'm sure the TV supports it, so that only leaves the soundbar. I control my Yamaha AVRs volume using CEC with two different Ultra models (4640 and 4800). While they are both connected directly to the AVR, that doesn't matter since the Roku remotes will not control the AVRs via IR. They only work because of HDMI-CEC. 

Question: does your TV remote control the volume of the soundbar? If not, then your soundbar might not support CEC control functions. Or, CEC is disabled in your TV settings. I don't know how TCL labels their settings for that. 

I think your soundbar isn't correctly labeled if it says HDMI Out on the port. Although because it supports ARC I would be very surprised if it doesn't support CEC.

[Colorado_Hiker]

Ok. I didn’t check if the tv remote could control the sound bar (I don’t use the tv remote!).  I do know that I was unable yo get any audio to the sound bar unless I had the optical cable installed.  

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

CEC will not function if you're using an optical connection between the TV and the soundbar. In that configuration, there is no way to use any remote to control the volume other than the soundbar remote. Your only option for using a single remote is to purchase a generic universal IR remote that has Roku support. Just be aware that there is one model of Roku that will not work with IR, and that's the Stick models. If your Roku can connect to a TV by plugging it in directly, without using an HDMI cable, then it's a Stick and the only remote that will work with it is the official Roku WiFi remote.