First Look

Roku was one of the first major players in the TV streaming market, with its wide array of dongles and set-top boxes. While there are other options, such as the Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV, Roku still produces some of the best streaming equipment on the market. The Roku Streaming Stick is an HDMI device that can play 1080p content at 60FPS and costs $50, while the Streaming Stick+ offers 4K HDR capability. The Roku Ultra, which costs $100, is the top-end separate streaming box with other features.

The Details

The Roku Streaming Stick is one of the cheapest devices of its kind but still supports quite a lot of features. Dolby Atmos surround sound is can be used and screen mirroring is possible. The device has dual-band Wi-Fi with MIMO capability. The remote control also includes a voice search. This version is powered by a quad-core processor. The Streaming Stick+ is capable of running 4K but at a maximum of 30FPS.  These devices can stream content from both free and paid services like Crackle and Netflix. However, there is limited 4K HDR content available as iTunes content cannot be accessed. The voice search remote can make it easier to find specific media by just asking the device to play what you want.

The Roku Ultra is the most expensive model and comes with all of the bells and whistles. It comes with an Ethernet port for wired internet and is also the only model with a microSD card slot. 4K content at 60FPS is supported and wired internet is a must for regular streaming of 4K media. There is also a USB port, so you can play content from external USB drives. The remote has a headphone jack that allows for private listening. The setup for these devices is quite simple and does not require much work. There are a lot of useful ports on this device that can allow it to be the center of your home entertainment system.

Overview

Overall, Roku products are certainly a great option for a good TV streaming experience. The Streaming Stick and Roku Ultra provide an impressive list of features for devices of their price. However, if you are more invested in either the Google or Amazon ecosystems, you should check out the Chromecast or Fire TV respectively. If your TV can only support 1080p, the Streaming Stick has hard to beat value but both of these are good products.