Roku's latest streaming players offer 4K at bargain-basement prices

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Roku is bolstering its product catalog heading into the holidays with two new devices that offer 4K HDR streaming in stocking stuffer-sized form factor. The only question is, should you buy now or wait and see what Black Friday holds?

Roku on Monday added two new members to its streaming media player family with the addition of the Roku Premiere and the Roku Premiere+.

The new streaming devices are virtually identical in appearance to the Roku Express – small, dongle-like boxes that connect to your television via an included HDMI cable. Both are powered by a quad-core processor, afford 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, Dolby and DTS Digital Surround pass-through over HDMI and offer streaming in up to 4K HDR quality.

The Roku Premiere, the cheaper of the two at $39.99, includes a standard-issue remote with channel shortcut buttons while the more expensive Premiere+ comes with a voice remote with TV power and volume buttons.

Roku is also taking the opportunity to boost the value offered by its most powerful and feature-packed player, the Roku Ultra. The device retains its same hardware specifications and price point ($99.99) but now comes bundled with a set of premium JBL headphones for private listening, a $39.95 value.

Roku’s new Premiere streaming player is available to pre-order from today and will be available to purchase at retail in early October along with the new Roku Ultra JBL bundle. The Roku Premiere+, meanwhile, is a Walmart exclusive that’ll land in stores and online at Walmart.com early next month.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/76587-roku-latest-streaming-players-offer-4k-bargain-basement.html

 

[netman]

So, how much is Roku Premiere Plus?

 

[lanmansa]

Is this simply a name change? I bought the Streaming Stick + over a year ago for around $60 if I remember correctly, and it also provides wi-fi connectivity with 4k support in a small dongle size connected directly through HDMI. Doesn't appear any different from what I can tell. Specs comparison to the current line up of products?

 

[hahahanoobs]

So, how much is Roku Premiere Plus?

$49.99

Is this simply a name change? I bought the Streaming Stick + over a year ago for around $60 if I remember correctly, and it also provides wi-fi connectivity with 4k support in a small dongle size connected directly through HDMI. Doesn't appear any different from what I can tell. Specs comparison to the current line up of products?

I'm guessing the difference is 4K HDR and Dolby and DTS passthrough over HDMI.
https://newsroom.roku.com/press-rel...-roku-premiere-and-roku-premiere-4k-streaming

 

[HyPeroxya]

Jbl speakers are siteh , so I cant imagine their $40 headphones are even "acceptable".

 

[fktech]

How is this better than a smart TV?

 

[MasterMace]

Is this simply a name change? I bought the Streaming Stick + over a year ago for around $60 if I remember correctly, and it also provides wi-fi connectivity with 4k support in a small dongle size connected directly through HDMI. Doesn't appear any different from what I can tell. Specs comparison to the current line up of products?

Stream stick plus is better, it has 802.11ac, the premier+ is wireless N

 

[Kibaruk]

How is this better than a smart TV?

In my experience TVs with integrated OS tend to lag a lot, specially the cheap ones.

The proprietary OS also tends to be more limited on regards to stream, I had a Samsung TV and I've tried a Vizio TV with smart functions and both were very laggy and had a ton of issues and had to fiddle with a million of settings to be able to stream from my computer into the TV (And non-successfully btw), I ended up getting a Steamlink device and I've loved it every second, I've found no need to stream from my phone to the tv as having a computer vs a phone is a no brainer (for me).

 

[ShObiT]

How is this better than a smart TV?

Far better, no lag and Dont have to worry about Netflix revoking the HD ability from years old Smart TV's.

 

[fktech]

In my experience TVs with integrated OS tend to lag a lot, specially the cheap ones.

The proprietary OS also tends to be more limited on regards to stream, I had a Samsung TV and I've tried a Vizio TV with smart functions and both were very laggy and had a ton of issues and had to fiddle with a million of settings to be able to stream from my computer into the TV (And non-successfully btw), I ended up getting a Steamlink device and I've loved it every second, I've found no need to stream from my phone to the tv as having a computer vs a phone is a no brainer (for me).

Not mine. Samsung smart TV are very good at streaming.