The New Leaf Annex

Yamaha ATS-1070 optical audio Roku TV struggles

A Yamaha ATS-1070 soundbar came into my possession just over two years ago. I have a 2018 model 55 inch TCL Roku TV (had I been more aware of smart TV issues back then, I would have purchased a dumb Sceptre TV instead...). I knew little about soundbars, so I tried connecting it via HDMI ARC. That turned out to be an exercise in frustration -- it always lost the connection. After giving up on HDMI ARC, I opted for an optical audio cable (note that I had never heard of optical audio before). The optical audio cable worked without issue, and I wrote about my experience over at The New Leaf Journal.

My soundbar worked without major incident until the evening of January 4, 2023, when I discovered that not only had the door on the soundbar's optical audio port broken, but it had also clogged the port, rendering it unusable. My efforts to fix it were unsuccessful, so I conceded defeat and purchased a cheaper Majority Bowfell soundbar.

I swapped the soundbars without incident. However, it was then I ran into a different problem. I explained over at The New Leaf Journal that I turned my "smart TV" into a "dumb TV" by cutting it off from the internet -- my TV sits in between my work desk and my computer, so I can easily use my desktop computer for media. I was using a GE universal remote to control my TV (and, formerly, my Yamaha soundbar). However, just after setting the soundbar up, my remote stopped working. I tried every TCL code for the remote, but none worked.

I briefly connected my TV to the internet via ethernet and tried factory resetting it (I used the free and open source RoMote app from F-Droid). This ended up being good -- I restarted it in store mode instead of user mode. However, my remote still would not connect. I gave up and ordered a new universal remote. I'll keep my fingers crossed because TCL Roku TVs are not amenable to fine-tuned control with the single button on their bezel.

Stay tuned for updates. My new universal remote arrives tomorrow morning.

#anecdotes #tech