![]() Let’s say you want to find out where you can watch Star Trek Into Darkness: When Roku searches for the title, it will search within Acorn TV, Amazon Video, Blockbuster On Demand, CBS All Access, CinemaNow, Crackle, Fox Now, FX Now, HBO GO, Hulu, M-GO, Met Opera On Demand, Nat Geo TV, Netflix, Popcorn Flix, SnagFilms, STARZ PLAY, Time Warner Cable, Tubi TV, and Vudu. That is, when you search for a title or actor, it searches a wide array of apps for availability – 20 of them, actually. One of Roku’s most powerful aspects is its cross-platform search. But for as good as the Roku experience was before, Roku OS 7 takes it to a whole new level, and it’s available to a wide array of Roku device owners, not just the Roku 4. It’s also the most comprehensive and app-agnostic platform out there because it doesn’t play favorites with apps or services. The fact is, getting into streaming TV is a tough transition for a lot of folks, and nobody makes it easier – and more fun – than Roku. The reason Roku is consistently praised as the best streaming TV platform around is because of its operating system and user interface. New for the Roku 4 box is support for 802.11ac MIMO Wi-Fi, and a remote-finder button up top, which will cause connected remotes to chime when pressed.įor those interested in hardware specs, the Roku 4 boasts a quad-core ARM processor with 1.5 GB of RAM - a considerable improvement over the 512 MB the Roku 3 offers – but still contains just 256 MB of storage for apps. It also supports a wide variety of audio files, including FLAC (no DSD, though.)Īn included MicroSD card slot remains relegated for app and game storage – no media files can be played from the Roku’s MicroSD card slot. MP4 containers, H.265 files in the same three containers, and VP9 (YouTube) in an. The Roku 4 offers a USB input for media file playback, and can handle all of the most popular file types including H.264 files in. Some folks like routing all their HDMI cables directly to their TV, meaning a connection to an A/V receiver will require a separate digital audio output. It’s also notable that Roku kept an optical-digital audio output around (Amazon ditched it on its next-gen Fire TV box) because not everyone with a home theater system likes to use their receiver as a switching hub. ![]() The Roku 4 is as prepared for a 4K UHD future as it can be, with an HDCP 2.2-compliant HDMI 2.0a output capable of interfacing with the most modern A/V components. The Roku will take you through the rest of the simple process. There’s a quick-start guide included, but if you know how to plug an HDMI cable into the back of a TV, you’re all set. In the box with the Roku 4 we found a pair of AA batteries, a remote control, and a power adapter. That being the case, while I won’t hesitate to recommend the Roku 4 to anyone who is interested (because future-proofing), the real meat of this review is about OS 7, and the fact that current Roku owners with no immediate plans to upgrade to a 4K TV are winning, too. That’s because much of the Roku magic is baked into the software, and that software is available to anyone owning a Roku product made or purchased since 2011. But what’s crazy is you don’t even have to buy a Roku 4 to get at half of what makes it so great. The Roku 4 is an outstanding 4K Ultra HD media streamer, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best all-around streaming media player on the market. But with the introduction of the Roku 4 and Roku OS 7, the affair is most definitely over. For that, I feel a little guilty – I don’t like cheating on my Roku. The attractive new Amazon Fire TV is a firecracker, even if it does revolve almost entirely around Amazon’s own content universe, so I tend to “see” it more often than the Roku now. ![]() I still love my Roku 3 very much – I still use it every day – but to be honest, things have gotten a bit stale between us.
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