Did you get a free Roku offer?

[AVMe]

My receiver also only has optical or coax audio... but guess what, the roku works fine through the speakers on my tv.

I already knew that it works through the tv's internal speakers. The problem is that there are many times I watch TV shows (like AMC's Breaking Bad and Mad Men) through my home theater surround sound audio system. Roku does not allow me to do that.

Dish gave me a free Roku but it is useful to me only as a paperweight.

 

[dwarren2]

Does either your tv or avr have composite inputs? I know it's not ideal, but if they do, you could use the supplied cable for that.

 

[navychop]

Intresting that the no's now exceed the yes votes. I am assuming that the no's are for folks who inquired about one and not those that just don't want one or did not ask for one

I think it includes people like me that did not even ask.

 

[Teehar]

I already knew that it works through the tv's internal speakers. The problem is that there are many times I watch TV shows (like AMC's Breaking Bad and Mad Men) through my home theater surround sound audio system. Roku does not allow me to do that.

Dish gave me a free Roku but it is useful to me only as a paperweight.

I understand what your saying.I am having the same problem.For now I have the hdmi connected to the tv and the composite audio connected to my ht.No 5.1 but at least it's stereo.There are 2 ways that I know to solve this issue.
1.Buy a switch with toslink out.For only $39.15 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 4X1 HDMI® Switcher w/ Toslink & Digital Coaxial Port (Rev.2) w/ 3D support. | Auto & Powered HDMI Switches
2.Trade,or sell the roku2xd for a roku xds.It has toslink output.

That said I'm very happy to have the roku that dish provided.Haven't missed an episode of Breaking Bad yet!I'd hardly consider it a paperweight.

 

[AVMe]

I understand what your saying.I am having the same problem.For now I have the hdmi connected to the tv and the composite audio connected to my ht.No 5.1 but at least it's stereo.There are 2 ways that I know to solve this issue.
1.Buy a switch with toslink out.For only $39.15 each when QTY 50+ purchased - 4X1 HDMI® Switcher w/ Toslink & Digital Coaxial Port (Rev.2) w/ 3D support. | Auto & Powered HDMI Switches
2.Trade,or sell the roku2xd for a roku xds.It has toslink output.

That said I'm very happy to have the roku that dish provided.Haven't missed an episode of Breaking Bad yet!I'd hardly consider it a paperweight.

Thanks, but...

1. I want DD 5.1 without buying a additional equipment like a switcher.
2. None of Roku's current models have a digital audio out port. They had an older discontinued model with the digital audio port; why they chose to eliminate that feature is a mystery to me and their customer service guy I spoke to.

Other manufacturers have a digital audio out port on their players and some of them have better video quality than Roku so I might look into them.

In the meantime, I watch Breaking Bad at a friend's house who has Time Warner. Screw you Dish for dropping AMC.

 

[KAB]

I already knew that it works through the tv's internal speakers. The problem is that there are many times I watch TV shows (like AMC's Breaking Bad and Mad Men) through my home theater surround sound audio system. Roku does not allow me to do that.

Dish gave me a free Roku but it is useful to me only as a paperweight.

What you may not realize, audio on many channels, Epix for example, are only stereo. When I am watching one of them, I just switch my receiver to simulated surround. It's only a paperweight if you choose it to be.

 

[AVMe]

What you may not realize, audio on many Roku channels, Epix for example, are only stereo. When I am watching one of them, I just switch my receiver to simulated surround. It's only a paperweight if you choose it to be.

Audio quality is apparently more important to me than you.

Perhaps I should finally drop Dish for a provider who does not play games like Charlie does and make my Dish receiver a paperweight.

 

[KAB]

Audio quality is apparently more important to me than you.

Perhaps I should finally drop Dish for a provider who does not play games like Charlie does and make my Dish receiver a paperweight.

I never said audio is not important to me. I was pointing out some audio limitations, optical output or not. Switching is certainly an option.

 

[Teehar]

Audio quality is apparently more important to me than you.

Perhaps I should finally drop Dish for a provider who does not play games like Charlie does and make my Dish receiver a paperweight.

Sure sounds like sour grapes to me.If you aren't happy with Dish and roku then it may be time to look elsewhere.

You have options that I mentioned,sell your roku2 xd and pick up a roku xds.There are plenty of them still available at ebay and amazon.Roku still supports those models and they have both toslink and ethernet connections.

 

[Stargazer]

I got my Roku today and the HDMI cable yesterday. That did not take long at all.

 

[Teehar]

I got my Roku today and the HDMI cable yesterday. That did not take long at all.

Wow that was pretty fast.

 

[navychop]

I realize that not everyone has an HDMI capable AV receiver. But surely if you do, the HDMI will work with it for digital audio.

 

[Teehar]

I realize that not everyone has an HDMI capable AV receiver. But surely if you do, the HDMI will work with it for digital audio.

Yes indeed it would navychop.But I'm guessing there are many of us that have older surround sound receivers that don't support hdmi.

 

[Bobby]

Yep, I had a $2500 Denon AVR in my old setup earlier this year. It didn't have HDMI. When I bought my new 70" Sharp I found very bad lip sync issues when I went HDMI to the TV and toslink to the AVR. So, I retired the old AVR, gave it to my son, bought a new Denon for $850 that sounds every bit as good as the old one and has HDMI with automatic lip sync control. Gotta love it!

 

[empiretc]

Audio quality is apparently more important to me than you.

You must REALLY hate netflix then, lol! Your tv does not have audio out? Most newer ones have digital out.

 

[KAB]

Your tv does not have audio out? Most newer ones have digital out.

But they only output 5.1 from the TV's own tuner, not from components...which are just stereo.

 

[dare2be]

I realize that not everyone has an HDMI capable AV receiver. But surely if you do, the HDMI will work with it for digital audio.

If you want to keep up with the ever-changing, ever-charging technology, you're just going to have to upgrade your AVR as well. Coax/optical audio connections are so 90s/00s.

 

[Mike_H]

I already knew that it works through the tv's internal speakers. The problem is that there are many times I watch TV shows (like AMC's Breaking Bad and Mad Men) through my home theater surround sound audio system. Roku does not allow me to do that.

Dish gave me a free Roku but it is useful to me only as a paperweight.

I understand what you are saying but your use of hyperbole is not serving your argument well. Technology changes, and those of us that like to use older home theater systems to watch hd content from dish on a roku are likely as close to the edge as an edge case can get. Technology moves on, I purchased my first audio receiver in 1984. Two months later it was already outdated. Such is the life cycle of home audio. If it bothers you so much, it may be a good time to upgrade your equipment. Going forward, most stuff is going to be hdmi audio only... until they change to a new platform.

 

[Teehar]

Welp.....Tried the hdmi switch from monoprice.It works as advertised,it does output 5.1 sound through the toslink or coax outputs.But,since netflix uses dolby digital plus it's no good for that with an older audio receiver.Had the roku running on the switch for couple of hours,tested amazon and plex,got 5.1 sound out on both of those.Then the big issue,the roku simply quit working with the switch.Tried everything possible switched inputs tried different hdmi cables never could get video back.After researching the problem seems that the roku has hdcp handshake issues with these switches.

Oh well...Kab I will have to take your advice and upgrade my receiver.Looking at a pioneer VSX 522-k.It's an entry level receiver but has all the features I need and the price isn't too bad,around $200.Anyone have any advice on that particular model?Or another brand that's in the same price range?

 

[KAB]

Oh well...Kab I will have to take your advice and upgrade my receiver.Looking at a pioneer VSX 522-k.It's an entry level receiver but has all the features I need and the price isn't too bad,around $200.Anyone have any advice on that particular model?Or another brand that's in the same price range?

The killer for me is that it (VSX-522) has no B speakers.

Edit...seems that most don't have B anymore.