On Monday, Sept. 26, Roku announced a major refresh to its 2016 lineup, adding five new models of streaming media boxes that offer HDR playback and 4K resolution.
Roku's New Streaming Boxes Lineup
With its five new streaming media boxes lineup, Roku just made choosing a streaming player more difficult. With the newly launched products, Roku also made streaming media hardware more affordable, according to USA Today. At a price tag of just $30, the cheapest Roku streaming box capable of providing 4K video resolution is five bucks cheaper than the competition.
According to the website multichanel.com, Roku's products routinely perform better in terms of sales and achieve better reviews than its competitors. But, according to CNET, Roku is still not content with the favorable status quo on the market and aims higher with a new lineup of streaming devices. All five new Roku streaming media boxes will go on sale in time for the holidays.
Roku Express
The newly launched Roku Express, at a price tag of only $30, is $5 cheaper than Google's popular Chromecast device. In fact, the Roku Express is at the moment the least expensive mainstream streaming device around.
The Express media streaming box comes with all the features the current Roku Stick has, such as simple interface, cross-platform search and offering full access to Roku's best-in-class app selection. The device works speedy as well.
Roku Express+
The Roku Express+ comes with a higher price. With an included yellow-red-and-white breakout cable, for an extra $10 users get access to the option to output analog video and audio.
The Express+ caters to users who prefer to add streaming capability to older TVs that came without the modern HDMI connectors. Since the two streaming boxes are otherwise identical, for those who already have a TV that supports HDMI, however, it's perfectly fine to just stick with the standard Roku Express device.
Roku Premiere
The $80 Premiere is a successor to the $130 Roku 4 introduced last year as the fist Roku 4K-capable streamer, minus a few extras. The device offers access to more 4K applications than other streamers, including Vudu, Amazon, Netflix and 12 others.
Roku Premiere+
At a price tag of $100, Roku Premiere+ offers access to high dynamic range (HDR) video. HDR requires an HDR-capable TV and provides improved color and contrast compared to standard 1080p and 4K video.
Roku Ultra
The Ultra is the best streamer launched by Roku. The media streaming device offers everything available on the Premiere+, plus with a a full-featured clicker and a few more ports. Its remote is the only one in the new 2016 Roku lineup to offer voice search, as well as the remote finder function that debuted on the Roku 4 and gaming support.
