Reconnecting ROKU stick using HDMI splitter
Hello! First time posting here... I have a similar, if not the same, question as above and still not clear what I need to successfully make everything work... sorry! I have an older Hitachi tv wit...
Forum Discussion
Orlandi wrote:How can I get the sound o play on the soundbar if my TV does not have sound output? It does have RCA sockets but I heard the sound quality is not that good, is there any way other than that to connect my Roku/TV to the soundbar using HDMI?? Thanks in advance for the help!
If your TV has no sound output, then there's no way to feed it's audio to a soundbar. Are you saying the Soundbar doesn't have an HDMI connection to feed to/from the TV? If it does, your TV should (but depending on how old it is maybe not) support ARC, which means it can send the audio from the TV to the soundbar through the HDMI cable. But if the soundbar only had an optical input, you're pretty much dead in the water. Yes, you could send the analog audio via the red and white RCA connection, but it's going to be simple 2 channel stereo, with no surround channels available. Assuming your soundbar can process 5.1 audio, you'd be missing much of the audio.
Thank you very much for your reply. I just found out that my TV only has “in” ports, 2 HDMI, one VGA and one RGA, no optical or any output sockets (it is an old TV, probs 15 y.o…). The soundbar is a new LG Eclair, so has HDMI in and out (ARC) ports, optical and USB. I have discovered that I can connect my Roku to the soundbar via Bluetooth and, although the sound is much better than the TV’s already, I was wondering if I could improve it by connecting Roku (premier) with the soundbar using an HDMI splitter to send video to my TV and audio to the soundbar? Thanks!
Hi Orlandi,
A warm welcome here in the Roku Community, and thanks for the inquiry!
For input, a splitter is typically utilized. Let's say your TV only has one HDMI input and you require two. If both devices have an optical cable (which most should), that would be the most likely method of connecting the TV to the soundbar. There will be several issues, including HDCP errors if you attempt to send HDMI to two different devices at the same time.If there's anything else that we can do to assist you, please let us know.
Kind regards,
John
Orlandi wrote:I was wondering if I could improve it by connecting Roku (premier) with the soundbar using an HDMI splitter to send video to my TV and audio to the soundbar? Thanks!
That is certainly a viable option. Many splitters offer an optical output for the extracted sound, and that way you can keep your 5.1 audio to the soundbar. It is a shame your TV doesn't offer ARC on one of the HDMI ports, as that would simplify everything.
HDMI ARC didn’t come out until 2009, so a “probably” 15 year-old TV probably wouldn’t have it. On the other hand, optical dates to the early 80s, so hopefully you’ve triple-checked because that one seems really common to me. Sometimes TVs have more than one panel with connections. My 15 year-old TV has optical out.
