Roku setup

[dohku]

Hello, sorry for the newbie question and I greatly appreciate your help!

I have a Roku Ultra 2022 and a Dolby Atmos capable Soundbar and I'm wondering if there's a difference or pros/cons between connecting the Roku to the soundbar via HDMI passthrough then soundbar to the TV, or connecting the Roku to the TV via HDMI, and the TV to the soundbar via eARC?

[RokuNimfa-C · Accepted solution]

Hello @dohku, 

Greetings from Roku Community. 

All the movies and TV shows accessible through your Roku streaming player are available in stereo; however, some are also available in surround sound. Although most Roku streaming players do not decode surround sound formats such as Dolby Digital Plus or DTS, they can pass through the signal to an audio/video receiver (AVR), soundbar, or TV, that is capable of decoding surround sound.

To learn more, visit our support page: How to set up your Roku streaming player for surround sound

We hope this helps. Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with.


Regards,
Nimfa

[dohku]

On the support page, is there a difference in setting up via HDMI option 2 (connecting to AVR with HDMI ports) and option 3 (connecting to ARC capable TV and AVR)?

[RokuDanny-R]

Hi @dohku 

Thanks for the follow up regarding your inquiry.

There is no difference between the two setups that are provided on our Support page. It is simply a matter of which best suits you as some customers may or may not have access to a HDMI (ARC) on their TV.

Hope this provides some clarification in setting up your Roku device with your home setup.

Happy Streaming,
Danny

[DocMike]

Not sure if this helps or not 

My setup:

Roku Ultra 4660 (2019? Model)

Samsung Q6 QLED with ARC

Samsung Q70R soundbar with eARC and ATMOS 

At first, I had the Roku connected to the soundbar and TV/soundbar connected via ARC.  I got little to no ATMOS and spotty when I did get it.  (Soundbar displays a Dolby Atmos readout and doesn’t allow changes in audio sounds fields when ATMOS is detected)

I changed all my cables to HDMI 2.1 and connected the Roku ultra to my TV, and now I get ATMOS with Vudu, MAX (formerly HBO Max) consistently with spotty performance on Amazon Prime or YouTube.  Not perfect but much better than before. Plus my screen image now looks better but not sure if that’s a placebo effect.). 

In comclusion and in response to your message, I would definitely try Roku to your TV via any HDMI port, and TV to receiver / soundbar via ARC/eARC.