Solving playback issues

[sgmfish]

You recent posters are just wrong. The problem is how you are using the Roku (configuration). If you set it up right, you will get Dolby just fine on almost all (if not all) channels. Frankly, I'm tried of trying to get folks to listen and to understand that it is their problem, not the Roku.

(Although for those who have older equipment, there may be no configuration that works for you -- primarily those of you that are trying to use your TV to do the decoding instead of your receiver.)

[Jo-20]

My Amazon Prime Video now works with Dolby Digital Plus only after connecting directly to my A/V receiver but would not work when connected directly to the TV even though my TV claims to support Dolby Digital Plus.  You have to connect the RoKu directly to a A/V receiver that supports Dolby Digital Plus for it to work properly. My connection to the TV is through the ARC HDMI connection on both my TV and A/V receiver.  (In my last posting 2 weeks ago I mentioned that I heard some static when rewinding a video but that happily disappeared the next day.) 

[LowFrequency]

That is NOT correct! DD+ is backward compatible with "regular old" DD, and a DD capable TV or AVR can accept DD+ and process it as full DD 5.1. Roku is not feeding the DD/DD+ bitstream through. I have other devices in addition to a Roku Premiere, all connected to my TV via HDMI, and the other devices feed DD+ to my TV, and then on to my "old" DD/DTS AVR, and the AVR recognizes and plays DD 5.1, but the Roku only allows PCM stereo. Maybe Roku could step up and fix this with a simple firmware update, since it frustrating and confusing so many of us?

[StreamerUser]

---

@LowFrequency wrote:

That is NOT correct! DD+ is backward compatible with "regular old" DD, and a DD capable TV or AVR can accept DD+ and process it as full DD 5.1. Roku is not feeding the DD/DD+ bitstream through. I have other devices in addition to a Roku Premiere, all connected to my TV via HDMI, and the other devices feed DD+ to my TV, and then on to my "old" DD/DTS AVR, and the AVR recognizes and plays DD 5.1, but the Roku only allows PCM stereo. Maybe Roku could step up and fix this with a simple firmware update, since it frustrating and confusing so many of us?

---

No, DD+ (EAC3) is not backwards compatible with DD (AC3).  However, all DD+ decoders contain the ability to transcode DD+ to DD as part of Dolby's licensing requirements - and this is exactly the case with your TV:  it is transcoding the DD+ to DD for output.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital_Plus#Relation_to_Dolby_Digital

[LowFrequency]

Thank you for clarifying (and my TV does accept DD+), but then why does it send DD out the optical S/PDIF to my AVR from my other HDMI input sources, and only PCM from my Roku Premiere? I have quadruple checked every setting, (volume leveling: off, audio mode: auto, HDMI Audio: DD+, DTS, etc.).

[Heyitsrick]

---

@LowFrequency wrote:

Thank you for clarifying (and my TV does accept DD+), but then why does it send DD out the optical S/PDIF to my AVR from my other HDMI input sources, and only PCM from my Roku Premiere? I have quadruple checked every setting, (volume leveling: off, audio mode: auto, HDMI Audio: DD+, DTS, etc.).

---

What make and model TV is it?

[LowFrequency]

It's a Samsung 48" with 3 HDMI inputs, and 1 Optical audio output. I have rotated all 3 devices (DSL TV, Blu-ray DVD, Roku Premiere) to the 3 inputs, and I get DD from the other 2 regardless of which input, and I only get PCM from the Roku on all three inputs.

[lesmikesell]

---

@LowFrequency wrote:

Thank you for clarifying (and my TV does accept DD+), but then why does it send DD out the optical S/PDIF to my AVR from my other HDMI input sources, and only PCM from my Roku Premiere? I have quadruple checked every setting, (volume leveling: off, audio mode: auto, HDMI Audio: DD+, DTS, etc.).

---

DD 5.1 and DD+ are slightly different things, and you can't send DD+ over optical.  It should work over HDMI ARC to a receiver if that is an option between the TV and receiver.   But, the TV should transcode to DD 5.1 instead of PCM stereo for optical.

[Heyitsrick]

---

@LowFrequency wrote:

It's a Samsung 48" with 3 HDMI inputs, and 1 Optical audio output. I have rotated all 3 devices (DSL TV, Blu-ray DVD, Roku Premiere) to the 3 inputs, and I get DD from the other 2 regardless of which input, and I only get PCM from the Roku on all three inputs.

---

I actually need the model number of the TV, not just the brand.

[LowFrequency]

Thank you for trying to help. The Roku device does not send DD plus to my TV as it should. All settings have been verified and tried. Roku is misleading people and should not be making claims about 5.1 surround that cannot be achieved. Or, they could easily fix the issue. 

I have already verified the TV is a DD plus TV, stated in the manual, and more to the point, I have tested and proven that all 3 HDMI inputs recognize DD plus, and extract DD and send it out the digital optical to my AVR, which recognizes and plays DD 5.1, from my other 2 sources (DSL TV, and Blu-ray), but only PCM stereo from the Roku.