Roku setup

[ducky8888]

I have an LG TV, A marantz receiver, a couple playstations, and a roku ultra. Everything is connected through the receiver on individual HDMI ports with tv audio playing back to the receiver using HDMI.

Prior to getting the roku I set everything up so the tv remote will trigger the marantz to turn on, and the tv remote will control volume on the marantz. This way when I sit down and turn on the tv I can stream through the apps in the TV (netflix, prime, dlna, etc.), but when I want to use the playstation I just hit the input on the marantz remote and audio comes through the receiver and video through the tv. When I first set this up I had to go into the playstations and disable CEC because when I turned on the tv it would automatically switch to the input the playstation was plugged into and turn on the playstation. But Sony realized this is not something everyone wants all the time. They understand that their device may not be the one everyone wants to use every time the tv is turned on. Smart!!!

Now that I have the roku, the input automatically changes to the roku, and after going over and over the issue with support they have finally realized they did not build the functionality into the roku to disable CEC on the device. They recommend disabling it on the tv and/or the marantz. If I do that then i have to use multiple remotes, defeating the purpose. I dont understand the thinking that I would always want to use the roku, it is very narcissistic of them. If it only changed the input, i guess it wouldnt be that bad, but it also reconfigures the TV to use the internal speakers, so I have to go into settings and reconfigure the tv every time its turned on. 

I bought the roku solely to watch F1TV, so I am only using the roku a few times a week. Support also suggested just plugging the hdmi cable in when I want to use the roku. thats very inconvenient. They suggested plugging the roku straight into the tv and not using the marantz. defeats the whole purpose of having a home theater setup. 

At this point I am going to just sell the roku and find some other solution for watching F1. Roku support is horrible and just cant understand why I wouldnt just use the roku for everything, or go through many more steps to accommodate their lack of forethought. 

[Anonymous]

You're confusing ARC and CEC. Deselect "1-touch play" at settings/system/control other devices. The Roku has nothing to do with ARC, that's on the HDMI connection to/from the receiver and the TV. You can also deselect "TV off" at settings/home screen/shortcuts, and that's about all the CEC options I see in the Roku.

[ducky8888]

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed it was ARC as that is the setting in the TV that I use for the tv to control the marantz, when the control stops working the TV settings are being changed by the roku from HDMI ARC to Internal Speakers.  When I went back and checked the playstations, CEC is the option that is disabled. 

1-touch play is already disabled.

TV off didnt change the behavior. 

[Anonymous]

You may be on to something, then. I just looked at my audio output from the (Samsung) TV, and it was on TV speaker, rather than optical. It happens all the time. Since the TV speaker volume is at 0 and the optical audio continues as usual, it's only apparent when I look and have to switch it back from TV speaker to optical.

I think we have similar problems. I have one Ultra on HDMI-1 and another (connected through an Oppo BD player) on HDMI-2. I have 1-touch enabled, and when it works, whichever Roku remote I grab, a button press switches TV input to the appropriate Roku (and I never need to touch the TV remote). Great when it works, which is seldom. Right now it's on and doesn't work. I have to use the TV remote just to switch inputs, and the TV output keeps switching from optical to TV speaker.

This requires further investigation.

[ducky8888]

Prior to redoing my living room I had an optical cable as well and the TV gave me options for optical, optical + HDMI ARC, internal, etc. Even with the optical in there the roku still reconfigured everything on startup. As I said, I primarily use the TV as my main viewing device, and I have the marantz set to turn on to keep it's previous settings, so if the marantz was turned off after playing the playstation, it would turn back on the playstation input, which it does but the roku then takes control and changes the marantz to it's input and the changes the tv audio output settings. 80%+ of the time I am using the marantz on the audio input from the tv and using the smart features of the tv like youtube, spotify, the internal video player, prime, netflix, etc. I only use the roku for F1 and obviously the playstations for gaming.

I think you are right about it being a CEC issue though. When I posted I was going off memory and the TV always says ARC, but when I looked back at the Sony settings that I disabled when the playstations were acting the same way, it was CEC, not ARC. But who knows, maybe its a combination of the 2?  The interesting part is that even the PS3, which is now 16+ years old, has the ability to disable CEC, but for some reason roku cant??? Roku's support suggestion is to disable it on the marantz, which then does make it so the roku doesnt kick on when the TV comes on, but it also makes it so the TV cannot control the marantz and we are back to using 2 remotes.

Roku seems to not really care and wants the user to adjust around their device and provide no support or even give an avenue of requesting features as when I spoke with support many, many times I got the same answer when asking to have the issue escalated, and the basic response "that's not possible". The last support directed me here. I did spend some time this morning assembling an email with the description of the issue, and then scoured the internet for what I believe are the email addresses for the top executives at roku and explained that, as a customer I am very disappointed with the level of support and the lack of options to find a resolution. I also expressed that every support attempt started the same way, with the tech not being able to understand why I wouldnt want to use their device as my primary source. It took several times of back and forth to get them to stop sending me instructions on how to install the device as the primary viewer. 

[Anonymous]

Not CEC either. It's simply the fact that the AVR's video switcher advances through the inputs until it finds a video signal, which the Roku has whether it's on or "off". Either find a power setting in the ps3 that's like a "standby" that will keep the video switch from advancing, or if you have a 4800, see if there's a power setting that will prevent the switch from connecting when the Roku is idle.

TV switching from ARC to TV speaker has me stumped, though. 

I had to re-read my Samsung manual to restore the Roku CEC "1-touch" feature. Very specific connection sequence and feature settings required to get it back. Not including make and model numbers of TV, AVR, Roku, etc. isn't going to help you getting an answer. 

That's my theory; re-read your manuals, and good luck.

[ducky8888]

This is 100% CEC.

I just recently learned that F1tv is now available on the amazon fire so today I purchased an Amazon Fire 4k stick for $34. I unplugged the roku and plugged the fire stick into a different port and turned on the tv, the inputs change to the fire stick exactly like the roku, and the TV audio automatically changes to internal audio (this may just be an LG tv issue). The difference here is that Amazon has a way to disable CEC in the settings. After disabling CEC on the fire stick the tv and marantz turn on and stay on the input that it was last on. The marantz lets you choose, either it will switch to a predetermined input every turn on, or it will stay at the input it was on when it was last used. I have it set to the former. I did try both options and when the roku was plugged in the marantz turns on to it's chosen input and then immediately switches to the roku. 

So to put it plainly, tried tons of settings on tv and marantz, tons of settings on roku, always the same behavior if I want my tv remote to control the marantz volume. Exaclty the same behavior out of the box for playstation and fire stick. If you disable CEC on those devices behavior goes away. Roku does not have the capability to disable CEC, so no matter what settings you use it will always take control. Roku support doesnt understand this is an issue nor why someone wouldnt want to use their device only. There is no mechanism to escalate an issue or contact anyone above the outsourced tech support who use scripts to suggest repairs. 

At this point I have found the solution to my problem. Solution is to replace Roku with a fire stick and disable CEC. The Roku Ultra is selling on CL for like $50, so I really wont be out anything if I go that route. An added bonus is that the fire stick seems to provide better audio than the roku. When watching F1 on the roku I had to turn the volume up to like 55-60 to hear it. I have my marantz set to automatically set volume to 30 when turned on and this is a more than acceptable level when watching F1 through the fire stick. 

[LGNEO]

If you just want to disable CEC, try getting https://www.amazon.com/Lindy-HDMI-Adapter-Female-41232/dp/B00DL48KVI

it's an hdmi adapter without CEC, just a thought. It have a LG OLED TV and a Onkyo receiver that was having an issue with turning on to cable stb first and then switching over to the Roku ultra, I wanted it to be on the cable box which always worked until I "upgraded" to the ultra. This adapter did the trick. Price for adapter is ~ $20 US

[dclowman]

I had the same problem and can confirm that a CEC blocker on the Roku HDMI connection solves the problem. I used this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BFL8TM8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[raeaa]

Thank you so much!  I have just wasted 5 hours of my life trying everything possible to resolve the Roku Ultra CEC issue.  My situation is further complicated because I have a Logitech remote to control everything.  I have tried every combination of settings on my AVR, TV, Roku and Logitech Harmony remote, all to no avail.  I found another seller of this same product for almost the same price that ships Prime including free returns https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DL48KVI/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=AJSKURGIFSZOI&psc=1.  THANKS AGAIN!!