Volume Problem

[Metrolens]

Hi - I'm helping my mom set up her new Roku. I have one and understand how to set a Roku up.

On my mom's setup, everything is fine, except that the VOLUME is for some reason unresponsive on her receiver. Sound from the Roku plays at a fixed level - VERY LOUD - regardless of whether the receiver's volume is low, high, or even muted.

Some vital info:
1. She has an Insignia receiver, model # IS-HC040917. Has worked perfectly until now.
2. Brand new Roku HD. The network, netflix, pandora etc have all been connected and authenticated perfectly. Videos stream at HD quality.
3. I connected the Roku via analog L/R to the receiver's front "Video" jacks. Volume is not adjustable. Then I tried the "CD" analog jacks in the rear. Same problem.
4. An iPod plugged in to the front "Video" jacks works perfectly.
5. Roku is set to "Stereo" audio.
6. We've tried two different audio cables. The first was the one that came with the Roku (didn't plug in the yellow video part). Second cable was just L/R audio. Same problem with both.

Can anyone help? This completely defies my understanding. It's like the Roku audio signal is overriding all volume settings on the receiver.

She is going to get an optial cable next week, so we will try that when it arrives. But why would the Roku/receiver behave this way?

[kc8pql]

It's like the Roku audio signal is overriding all volume settings on the receiver.

Don't see how that could happen. The Roku isn't doing the amplifying, the receiver is. Have you tried connecting directly to the TV? If that works it would point to something strange with the receiver.

[Metrolens]

I agree it doesn't make sense.

We have HDMI feeding Roku video to the TV, so my current theory is, we were actually hearing audio through the TV speakers piped in via HDMI. (I am helping my mom do this over Skype, so it's hard to troubleshoot since I'm not physically there.)

If this is the case, the fix is to somehow refuse audio over HDMI within the TV (Panasonic Plasma HDTV).

If we can do that, will the Roku know to start outputting sound through the analog jacks? In other words, if the Roku detects an active HDMI Audio signal, does it automatically switch off its analog audio jacks?

[Village Idiot]

Some things do come in louder.
Radio stations from RadioTime are very loud.

[kc8pql]

I agree it doesn't make sense.

We have HDMI feeding Roku video to the TV, so my current theory is, we were actually hearing audio through the TV speakers piped in via HDMI. (I am helping my mom do this over Skype, so it's hard to troubleshoot since I'm not physically there.)

If this is the case, the fix is to somehow refuse audio over HDMI within the TV (Panasonic Plasma HDTV).

If we can do that, will the Roku know to start outputting sound through the analog jacks? In other words, if the Roku detects an active HDMI Audio signal, does it automatically switch off its analog audio jacks?

All of the outputs on the Roku are active all the time.
I don't have a separate receiver so I'm getting out of my depth here, but can you connect to the receiver with HDMI and then HDMI from there to the TV? Will the receiver pass the signal through?

[Metrolens]

No, the receiver doesn't have HDMI.

And I hope you're wrong about the "all Roku outputs are on all the time" thing...

Will test out in a moment.

[gadrago]

All of the Roku HD audio and video outputs are active at the same time, which is a good thing because you can have sound simultaneously from a TV and a receiver (and even through a DVD recorder for non-DRM channels like YouTube) originating from different Roku cable connections at the same time. The sound outputs whether through HDMI, analog audio, or optical digital audio are at fixed levels coming from the Roku. It doesn't have a volume control on its audio outputs; but of course volume levels vary between channels and programs, sometimes significantly.

The most likely cause is that your mom was hearing sound through the TV's HDMI connection. If the receiver's master volume was low or muted, you wouldn't hear sound coming from the Roku connection to it, whether through analog or optical digital audio connections, no matter which set of input jacks you connected the Roku audio output cables to at the receiver end.

I have two Roku HD boxes, one connected via analog audio cables to an older receiver, and one connected via optical digital cable to a newer home theater receiver. Both types of Roku audio connections respond normally to both receivers' master volume and muting controls. Netflix doesn't offer 5.1 encoding yet, but the attachment is simpler if you get an optical digital cable if the receiver supports that. And if using analog audio cables to a receiver, there's no reason to select 5.1 in the Roku sound options anyways.

You wouldn't have to disable the TV's sound through its HDMI connection to the Roku. Just leave it in place and turn the TV volume setting down to '0'. Sound through any receiver/speaker combo beats most tiny amplifiers and speakers in almost all flat panel HDTVs today anyways. I leave both HDTV's volume at '0' when using my Roku boxes since both are connected to home theater setups.

It sounds like part of the problem is that you are not in the location of the equipment if you're communicating with your mom via Skype? Hopefully it's just a simple connection or operator error problem.

[Metrolens]

Thanks for the replies.

We fixed the problem - it was indeed coming through the HDMI. We turned off the TV's internal speakers, and now everything works fine.

And yes, it had everything to do with me not being there!