phodg
Novice Member
Newish 686 owner here. I'm obviously missing something but I'm stumped. I recently went from DirecTV to Fire Stick 4K and Roku (using both as I prefer the Amazon interface but the family likes Roku). My Fire Stick and Roku are both plugged into my amp directly using the HDMI ports. And then I have an HDMI cable going from the amp to the TV (an older Panasonic plasma without ARC). I have a 5.1 speaker setup and don't use the speakers in the TV.
I have the Roku and the Fire Stick both set to best audio available. Now I know (I think) that a lot of streaming services (like YouTubeTV) only send audio in stereo format. That works fine and I have the amp set to All Channel Stereo so it uses all the speakers. But I have found when using Amazon Prime or Netflix (which both send Dolby Digital signals) I have issues. If I have the amp set to Dolby Digital I get no sound from any speakers except a little tinny noise from my center speaker. When I hit the remote button to switch sound modes it shows both input and output as Dolby Digital. The only way I can get sound is to switch to All Channel Stereo, which obviously is different. This occurs both with the Fire Stick and the Roku, which makes me think I am missing something obvious. I still get the same issue if I force the Fire Stick to output either Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus.
I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that if everything was plugged into the amp I didn't need to worry about ARC. But perhaps I need a TV with either an optical out or ARC ?
Thanks for any help.
I have the Roku and the Fire Stick both set to best audio available. Now I know (I think) that a lot of streaming services (like YouTubeTV) only send audio in stereo format. That works fine and I have the amp set to All Channel Stereo so it uses all the speakers. But I have found when using Amazon Prime or Netflix (which both send Dolby Digital signals) I have issues. If I have the amp set to Dolby Digital I get no sound from any speakers except a little tinny noise from my center speaker. When I hit the remote button to switch sound modes it shows both input and output as Dolby Digital. The only way I can get sound is to switch to All Channel Stereo, which obviously is different. This occurs both with the Fire Stick and the Roku, which makes me think I am missing something obvious. I still get the same issue if I force the Fire Stick to output either Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus.
I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that if everything was plugged into the amp I didn't need to worry about ARC. But perhaps I need a TV with either an optical out or ARC ?
Thanks for any help.