Solving playback issues

[Bubba12]

When playing movies from an external hard drive (Seagate OneTouch 5TB) via Roku media player, I get no sound when the file has the DTS and EAC3 codecs.  AC3 codecs play just fine. Who's the bad guy in the arrangement in the attached image?

In the Roku settings, I have all the audio settings to auto and Dolby+/DTS.  On my tv I have all passthrough settings on.

Looking back through the threads, it seems like there might be a problem with using an optical cable from the tv to the avr instead of hdmi, but I can't tell how universally true this is.  

Software version 12.5.0
Build: 4178

Link to my receiver's specs:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Sfc5FND0P0y/p_580TXS702B/Onkyo-TX-SR702.html

[RokuEuniceL]

Hi @Bubba12,

Greetings from the Roku Community!

We're glad to assist you with your problem with the audio via the Roku media player. You can check out this support article to learn more about using Roku Media Player to play videos, music, and photos.

We hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Eunice

[Bubba12]

Hi Eunice,

I've seen that page already, and frankly, it serves more to confuse than to educate.  For example, it says it supports eac3, only that doesn't address my problem as to why eac3 doesn't result in any sound at all on my system.  Also, it says DTS is supported, only to say a few paragraphs later that is not supported.  Same goes with AAC, as it happens. 

I'm sure that technical page may make sense to experts, but to non-experts it's not helpful to those experiencing the kinds of difficulties I have seen pop up time and again. 

[Bubba12]

Main issue solved: DTS and EAC3 now play sound by hitting * during playback and turning off leveling options. DTS is changed to 2.1, but can't win 'em all. 

On the plus side, turning off leveling finally allowed Netflix to give me surround sound (which was a nuisance I was saving for a different complaint, so that's a win there). 

AAC isn't supported at all, but I'm hardly alone in complaining about that so I'll let it go.  Roku is already well aware that people are annoyed by this.

In any case, the Roku seems to be the choke point at just about every step, so if your only external device is a Roku then you don't need a fancy avr with the newest connections at all. If your avr's only audio input is an optical jack then you're good to go.  

[tmuka · Accepted solution]

Thanks, disabling the roku's "night mode" audio leveling fixed this issue for me too with my Roku audio not working from my HDHomerun.