Solving playback issues

[atc98092]

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@doughughes2011 wrote:

Ok I am having a very similar problem here.  I have a Samsung UN65JS9000 TV and a Roku 4670X where i have the HDMI out of the Roku connected to my TV and the TV optical out to my receiver.  But, ARC HDMI only supports DD and not DD+ and as Netflix and Amazon broadcast in DD+ I only get 2 channel sound delivered to my receiver.  Is there no way where the Roku delivers DD instead of DD+?  Or are there any Roku players with optical out?

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There was only one Roku that could convert DD+ to DD, and that was the Ultra 4640. There are no other options other than connecting the Roku directly via HDMI to the AVR. 

[doughughes2011]

So if i can find one of these old models, I might be in buseinss?

[atc98092]

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@doughughes2011 wrote:

So if i can find one of these old models, I might be in buseinss?

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Likely. That player is approaching 4 years old, so might not be easy to find. Since mine is connected to an AVR that supports DD+, I don't use that functionality, so I can't verify from experience it will work. But it is a fact that the 4640 is the only Roku player that has a DD encoder. 

[doughughes2011]

thanks a lot for the help

[tacksixer]

ROKU ULTRA 4670 no dolby 5.1 from amazon prime.

did get dolby 5.1 from netflix

did a complete factory reset on roku including unplugging power supply from wall and all connections to the roku.

afterwards i have dolby 5.1 from both amazon prime and netflix.

very strange but we had some power surges lately and i think it screwed things up.

[kevhead]

We really should not have to screw around with this product as such. Better options are around in these cases. Apple TV is advancing.

[Many69]

Yes tanks it was the problem 

[PaiMei]

Same boat here but investigation reveals issue more complex than some have posted.

for starters: using new Roku Ultra passing hdmi to Anthem receiver which has all audio format capability.

Ultra audio settings have been confirmed to be “Auto” (actually this is not even a choice and is not highlighted with any options). Night and leveling etc is a OFF.

the Roku can output Dolby Digital/DTS with Amazon Prime. With Netflix it mostly outputs 2.0 PCM audio, however, I’ve experienced rare DD output. With YouTube TV it is 2.0 PCM all the time.

what gives? I have good video but **bleep** audio. Is this a Roku processing and pass thru issue? Would prefer to keep Roku and not jump to Amazon Fire stick but would gladly do so if audio could be delivered as expected.

thanks

[AndyV]

I had the same problem. I solved it by using an HDMI switch (a Monoprice HDMI Switcher, which can switch among multiple HDMI inputs, and outputs the HDMI *and* audio on an TOSLINK (optical) and Coax output terminal.  I then connected the HDMI to a device input port (the "media" input on my Denon AVR 750) and the optical audio to a free optical input connector.  The AVR lets me configure each input as to whether it has HDMI, digital, COAX, or analog connections (you can configure more than one) and which ports they are on.  This solved the problem. In the case of the DENON AVR it does not seem to properly decode the multi-channel audio from the HDMI input, but rather relies on another source, in this case the digital optical link) to decode the audio.

This does not seem to be described *anywhere*, and I discovered it through some educated guessing and experimentation. BTW, I tried everything else suggested in the forums (e.g., changing the ROKU stick's audio options, turning off "night mode") and none of them worked for me.  Ahh! such is the life of an Audiophile!!

[atc98092]

I can't imagine any need to use an HDMI splitter and not connect the Roku directly into the AVR. I use Yamaha AVRs, and have never had any issue with 5.1 audio whenever it was available. When using Roku Media Player to stream from my DLNA server, I get DD or DTS without any issue. With online sources such as Netflix, you have to check the audio within the channel, as sometimes it will default to a 2.0 track instead of the 5.1 track. And of course not all content or all providers have 5.1 available.