Roku setup

[dalybill]

I recently purchased a Roku Ultra (4800X) and set-up/installed it in conjuction with my LG OLED TV...no issues, so far, works great.  The Roku Ultra (4660X2) that I used previously with this TV setup was moved to a different TV, a Samsung Series Q60.  I should mention that this Roku worked just fine with my LG TV.  What happens with the Samsung when I switch to Roku is that the screen begins to intermittently go between a black screen and the normal screen.  I, of course, have tried many things to try and remedy this problem, but nothing seems to be a solution.  The one thing that stops the issue is to unplug the Roku and then plug it back in...this works for as long as the TV is on the Roku activity.  When I turn everything off, the next time I turn it back on the intermittent screen is back.

Before I installed the Roku Ultra on the Samsung TV, I was using a Roku 3 with no issues.

My setup is as follows:

I have a DTV receiver, DVD player and Roku feeding an HDMI switch.  The HDMI switch feeds a Yamaha soundbar and the output of the soundbar feeds the TV through HDMI 4 (ARC)...this is exactly the same setup used with the Roku 3.

It would appear from reading user posts and other sources that this is not an isolated issue.  Customer support from both Samsung and Roku are not helpful.  Samsung says it is a Roku issue, Roku says it is a Samsung issue.

[atc98092]

Have you enabled UHD Color on the HDMI input the Roku is using? Samsung has that setting off by default, and it wouldn't have had an impact on the Roku 3. 

[dalybill]

Thanks for the response...I will try that!

[dalybill]

On my TV, the UHD color setting is called "Input Signal Plus" and the HDMI port I am currently using is enabled.  So, no change.

[atc98092]

Unless Samsung has changed the name (certainly possible), that's not the same setting. But I just did a quick search and it does seem that Samsung did rename it. Sheesh... On my Samsung, there's no other settings that might have an impact. But I've never seen any of the Q series, so no idea if they've added anything else. You might try changing the Roku HDR Subsampling setting. If it's on 4:2:0 try 4:2:2, or vice versa. Maybe try disabling Auto-adjust display frame refresh rate. I don't have great success with it enabled, but it's mostly with MPEG-2 video playback stuttering, not screen blanking.

My only other thought is the HDMI cable itself. When I switched from a Roku 4 (4K but no HDR support) to the Ultra 4640, the HDMI cable I was using just fine with the 4 had all sorts of display issues with the 4640. I replaced the cable with an inexpensive Amazon Basics cable and it's been fine ever since. 

[dalybill · Accepted solution]

OK.  I believe that everything is working now.  I was thinking about what you said about HDR subsampling and wondering why I did not have that screen on my Roku Ultra.  The TV I have certainly had HDR, so howcome no screen on the subsampling.

I discovered that my tv has a way of checking the HDMI cable and signal...so, I though well I'm going to try that and low and behold the check came back saying that I had a bad cable.  Seems rather odd that the cable that checked bad is common to the DTV receiver, the Roku Player and a Bluray player and I had no indication that there was a problem until I installed the Roku Ultra.  Once I swapped out the HDMI cable, everything starting working as advertised and magically the Roku HDR Subsampling setting appeared.  So, it would seem that I never had HDR!  Perhaps the picture will improve now....it has been OK, but not as good as expected.

Anyway, thanks again for your help!  Your suggestions steered me in the right direction.

[pctexas]

I faced the same problem and found that adjusting the sub-sampling in Roku advanced settings to 4.2.0 resolved it.

Though, I noticed some color bleaching on faces with HDR always on. So, I opted to turn off HDR always on and set the HDR sub-sampling to 4.2.0.

This resolved the issue, and you can fine-tune contrast and colors in the expert settings on your Samsung television.