Getting 5.1 from an old Amp

[sancho_s]

So what audio outputs does your TV have?

The connection are these:

Back:

Tv_lg_rear

• sancho_s
• Apr 25, 2022

Side:

Tv_lg_side

• sancho_s
• Apr 25, 2022

 

[Poultrygeist]

I'm not sure I'd trust one of those early Roku's with an optical output. I had one and it was always a bit dodgy. It often locked up with that dreaded blue and red screen which required a re-boot.

 

[sancho_s]

I finally bought a Roku 4640.
I plugged it into the TV via HDMI and to the amp via Toslink.
I managed to get sound, but not 5.1 yet. Even using a Netflix movie that was marked as having 5.1.
I have to tinker a bit.

I'm aware..I had a Roku 4 and a Roku Ultra that both had spdif outputs, and they worked well,although the newer Ultras no longer have that feature. I use a Shield now because it seems to support more formats than any other single streaming solution, but I always preferred the Roku interface.

The new Roku sticks and boxes are so cheap, as are the HDMI audio splitters,that I figured why mess around with a used, older and usually slower eBay box.

 

[MuseChaser]

I finally bought a Roku 4640.
I plugged it into the TV via HDMI and to the amp via Toslink.
I managed to get sound, but not 5.1 yet. Even using a Netflix movie that was marked as having 5.1.
I have to tinker a bit.

In the settings menu of the Roku, check the audio output settings. I don't recall the specific terminology Roku uses, but you need to choose the option that passes the source audio signal to the receiver untouched ("passthrough," maybe) and allows the receiver to do the decoding. The Roku may be downmixing to 2-channel stereo either by default or due to a previous owner's setup. If you need more specific help, let me know and I'll grab some screenshots of the settings.

 

[sancho_s]

In the settings menu of the Roku, check the audio output settings. I don't recall the specific terminology Roku uses, but you need to choose the option that passes the source audio signal to the receiver untouched ("passthrough," maybe) and allows the receiver to do the decoding. The Roku may be downmixing to 2-channel stereo either by default or due to a previous owner's setup. If you need more specific help, let me know and I'll grab some screenshots of the settings.

I managed to get 4.1 (the subwoofer is not connected)... with some work.

1) Onkyo has a TEST ONE button, that outputs sound to each speaker one by one, to test basic functioning and connectivity. The two front (regular stereo) speakers were working fine, the other 3 were not. Just by chance I found out that I had to gently tap on them. It seems cones were somehow stuck after a long time without use... I have never seen this before.

2) I had to configure Roku as shown here.

3) I had to configure my Onkyo.

And voila.
Still have to connect the subwoofer and fine tune settings.

 

[Yamaki]

Perfect! Good job.

 

[Poultrygeist]

FWIW HDMI receivers are now showing up at Goodwill. I couldn't pass up a nice Yamaha ( no remote ) for $7. Ordered it's remote online for $8.

 

[peterp1]

I managed to get 4.1 (the subwoofer is not connected)... with some work.

1) Onkyo has a TEST ONE button, that outputs sound to each speaker one by one, to test basic functioning and connectivity. The two front (regular stereo) speakers were working fine, the other 3 were not. Just by chance I found out that I had to gently tap on them. It seems cones were somehow stuck after a long time without use... I have never seen this before.

2) I had to configure Roku as shown here.

3) I had to configure my Onkyo.

And voila.
Still have to connect the subwoofer and fine tune settings.

Good job. I think the 4640 is the only solution. It took me a long time to figure out because Netflix/Amazon used to work with a 5.1 AVR. Then, at some point a couple years ago they silently switched their 5.1 audio through the Roku to be DD+ format (not DD), which broke old 5.1 AVRs. I think they did that to get better data compression. In DD+. Nobody knew or admitted they made the change when I spoke extensively with Roku.

The 4640 woks fine (it translates DD+to DD 5.1 out the optical port to make the 5.1 AVR work. Getting optical by extracting it from HDMI on a newer (post-4649) Ultra does not work (the AVR will se it only as stereo, not 5.1).