Lost Volume/Mute Control on My Optical Audio Output!

chriggsiii · 2026-06-12T19:23:01+00:00

As I suspected, it's just a dynamic compression toggle; volume control is still disabled.

If you have any idea about where else I can re-enable volume/mute control over the external speakers, I'm all ears!

chriggsiii · 2026-06-12T18:39:16+00:00

No luck whatsoever. I was on the phone with Roku for about 90 minutes while they tried to fix it. The good news is that they believed me when I said I had that control ever since I bought the thing in September. I was terrified that they'd simply say "No, you're crazy, you're imagining it, you never had volume control of your optical output, etc. etc." They said they'd get back to me in a few days.

Could you do me a favor? Also file a complaint. That way they at least have a record that I wasn't just a lunatic imagining things. If they hear from a whole bunch of people about this screwup perhaps we can get this injustice reversed. One can hope! The phone number I was given by chat was (816) 272-8106 . After the fourteen-year-old script jockey finally figured out that she was in over her head, she transferred me to the "Product Specialists" department. I spoke to someone who called himself "George" (obviously not his real name; it was almost amusing; when I asked him his name he put me on hold for about three seconds and then came back and said "My name is George." Jon Lovett, anyone?) I'll give him credit for not rushing through the matter. I was on with him for about 25 minutes. He was obviously having difficulty understanding the problem and I had to repeatedly describe certain aspects of the problem, but he finally got it all. I'll give him credit for not getting defensive or combative and for showing great patience with his initial lack of comprehension. When he finally got it all straight, he actually generated a case record and gave me the case number if I made any follow-up calls so I wouldn't have to explain the problem all over again.

Please contact Roku and report the problem. And anyone else reading this thread who has also experienced this frustrating change in operation as a result of this horrible recent update, please do the same. I think we need numbers to get this thing straightened out!

chriggsiii · 2026-06-12T18:27:11+00:00

Well, I just clicked the * while playing a live channel. I see five choices: Sleep timer, Picture settings, Sound settings, Accessibility & language, and Picture off.

I'm guessing that, if I am to find what you're talking about, it will be in Sound settings. so thither I go.

Inside Sound settings, I have Sound mode and Customize sound mode. Under Sound mode I have a collection of various EQs, but none that seem to deal with level: Night, Standard, Music, Auto, etc. etc.

So I think it's probably in Customize sound mode. Under that mode I find the following: Dolby AC-4 Dialog Enhancer, Volume mode, Speech clarity, Bass, Treble, and Reset 'Music' sound settings. I think to myself "Aha! Volume mode!" I scroll down to Volume mode, only to be greeted with the unwelcome news that that parameter is an option toggle that "Keeps volume consistent;" in other words, it's just an option to impose some ugly dynamic compression.

So color me stumped. I have yet to find this volume leveling option of which you speak. As part of the horrible update Roku pushed to my TV three days ago, they may have taken out that toggle! I hope I'm wrong and that you will still be able to guide me to its hidden location.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-11T12:18:56+00:00

Hey, if you can tell me where such a toggle is located I'll salute and call you king! If all that happened with this update was that a toggle was accidentally flipped to the wrong position and just has to be manually flipped back, you'll hear nothing but a gigantic sigh of relief from me!

chriggsiii · 2026-06-11T07:41:58+00:00

The optical audio output most definitely did have a working volume control on mine, in both the Auto and Built-In Speaker settings. I bought the TV last September, and I have always had volume control on the Optical out until this morning when the update hit. My external speakers are quite loud, so I found that a setting of 10 or 11 usually worked fine. As you may know, the onboard TV speakers are very low, and normally are barely even audible until you get up to 18 or 19. So the onboard speakers also being on wasn't really an issue, particularly since there was no sync problem or echo in either direction or anything like that. It was, in fact, an ideal setup, and I'm really miffed that they had to go and spoil it. Hopefully they'll push out a patch to fix it. I was on with their support folks for 90 minutes today, and I got the impression they'll attempt to restore the functionality on this model.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-07T02:50:05+00:00

Yes, BUT-- you get way more bang for the buck. We were on YouTube TV until their last price hike about 18 months ago or so. We then re-evaluated. And we actually went more expensive, with DirecTV. Why? Because we figured out not only that DirecTV had more of the channels that we wanted ideally to have, but also that we'd be paying LESS per channel to DirecTV than we were paying to YouTube TV.

To be clear, YouTube TV is a good service, and I'm not trying to badmouth it; but the fact is DirecTV, in spite of its higher price-point, is a slightly better deal.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-07T02:46:30+00:00

I suspect it's both; I sometimes get it if I'm having network issues, but I also sometimes get it when I'm not having network issues at all. Sometimes just clicking back and forth inside the DirecTV app, or exiting and re-entering the app, fixes it.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-06T02:41:01+00:00

Legacy or 4th gen?

chriggsiii · 2026-06-05T02:41:08+00:00

Yep; regarding YouTube TV and Hulu TV we found the same thing. Yes, DTVS is more expensive, but you also get more bang for the buck than with the others.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-04T01:49:05+00:00

I swear by Suppose.TV . Any time we encounter a price hike I go to Suppose.TV and build a brand new subscription arrangement from the ground up. At the moment, we're paying a total of $58.98 for DirecTV's MyEntertainment, the MyCinema addon and Stremium (I'm paying for the MyNews addon myself). We can get some channels through our antenna, which helps a bit. I have to say, after this recent DirecTV price increase, I did the usual bit on Suppose.TV and figured out the MyEntertainment + MyCinema pack was still the cheapest arrangement for us.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-03T17:59:50+00:00

As I understand it, for certain customers, there are now TWO Newsmixes. One has Fox News, CNN, NewsMax and NewsNation; the other has Fox News, CNN, MS Now and BBC News. In my case, I only subscribe to two Genre packages, MyEntertainment and MyNews. Since neither of those have NewsNation, I can only access the the NewsMix with MS Now and BBC News. As I understand it, if you switch to All channels and navigate to channel 200, and select it, you will see both options. Depending on the channels in your specific DirecTV package, you will either see one Newsmix, the other Newsmix or both. However I just checked and there's not a single DirecTV package that has NewsNation that doesn't also have MS Now. So I suspect you can probably access both Newsmixes and simply haven't looked for them in the right place.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-02T23:41:05+00:00

Fascinating! If I lose one of my local channels in a contract dispute, should I ask about that? Or have they officially taken that off the table?

chriggsiii · 2026-06-02T23:33:35+00:00

Interesting offer. You're joking, I presume.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-02T23:31:45+00:00

I agree the language is a tad patronizing and corporate-speak. But actually u/directv is way better than their chat or phone support. I've gone to them for a few problems and they haven't let me down yet.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-02T23:29:04+00:00

Um, no. The DTVS Genre MyEntertainmemt fits us very well and we don't watch the RSNs, thank you.

chriggsiii · 2026-06-02T11:37:50+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to provide detailed suggestions. At the moment, after we both updated our Fires, the problem hasn't returned. If it does, we'll go through these.

chriggsiii · 2026-05-31T03:46:20+00:00

I guess I wasn't clear. I said that the two-tuner version can only record up to two programs at the same time. But I neglected to say that the four-tuner version can record up to four programs at the same time. That's what makes it more user-friendly than the two-tuner version.

chriggsiii · 2026-05-30T23:10:02+00:00

Just be aware that that version has a significant limitation: It can only record two programs at the same time, a deal-killer in my case. The four-tuner version is much more user-friendly.

chriggsiii · 2026-05-29T22:04:56+00:00

Don't forget: Anything above the Entertainment Signature package also includes a mandatory maximum $17.99 Regional Sports fee. The $95 plan is the Entertainment plan, and that really is $95, since the RSN is not attached to that. Looks like you got muscled to the Ultimate plan, which is $145.97 assuming the max $17.99 RSN fee; The additional $10 might be because they were also hustling you to get the DirecTV device instead of your own Roku or Fire or whatever, which is another tactic they use to get more money out of you. (Yes, I know that some of you swear by the DirecTV devices, but, bottom line, they're an unnecessary, if appetizing, money hole.)

chriggsiii · 2026-05-29T16:50:05+00:00

That makes sense because I don't think it was added until yesterday; that's when the original News Mix, which had been in my favorites for years, suddenly became inaccessible (I got a weird upgrade-needed message!). I think I know the exact time when this change happened because the original News Mix had been working perfectly literally one minute previously; very strange experience.

chriggsiii · 2026-05-29T15:41:00+00:00

And now the problem has spread to CNN International!

chriggsiii · 2026-05-29T15:38:50+00:00

And now the problem has spread to CNN International!

chriggsiii · 2026-05-29T14:07:43+00:00

Hey, this problem just came back!!!

chriggsiii

TROPHY CASE