All Specs
Roku has long separated its 1080p and entry-level 4K media streamers into two product lines: Express (1080p) and Premiere (4K). In an effort to simplify its lineup, the company is rolling the Premiere into the Express line, and that brings us the Roku Express 4K+. This $39.99 media hub is effectively the same device as the $49.99 Roku Premiere+ it replaces, able to stream 4K HDR content and accept commands through a wireless voice remote. It’s affordable and easy to use, even if it lags a bit behind other media streamers with its lack of Dolby Vision support and underdeveloped voice features.
Roku Express 4K+ Review: $40 of TV simplicity
Chris Davies - May 11, 2021, 8:00am CDT
Editors Rating: 8/10
Roku OS 10 is clean and straightforward
New WiFi and processor make things speedy
HDR10+ support
The big streaming apps don t support Roku s latest features
Search seems a little less smart than on rival boxes
For the cost of the monthly subscription to a handful of streaming services, the new Roku Express 4K+ makes a strong platform play for being your set-top box of choice. As always, Roku’s pitch is flexibility and user-friendliness, only this time with a picture quality and system speed upgrade plus a handy voice remote. At $39.99, though, what’s left out is just as key as what makes the cut, and that’s before the challenge of getting every streaming provider to support all of your fancy new features.
Roku has removed YouTube TV from its channel store after negotiations with Google broke down.
YouTube TV will, however, remain available for current subscribers on Roku devices.
Google issued a response to Roku’s assertions that the issue stems from Google, not Roku.
Updated, April 30, 2021 (12:30 PM ET): The drama between Roku and Google over the fate of YouTube on Roku’s streaming hardware just escalated again. This time, Google has finally chimed in to give its own account on the spat between the two companies.
In a lengthy blog post, Google explains that it didn’t want to change anything about its current contract with Roku. It claims that it did, however, point out that the current contract stipulates that Roku must update its hardware in order to support certain streaming formats related to YouTube. Allegedly, Roku refused this, which is what’s causing the stand-still.
Roku says the remote can register commands from up to 12 feet away, which held true for me, and it didn’t have trouble picking out the wake phrase while sound played through the TV. Once it hears “Hey Roku,” it lowers the streaming device volume to hear the rest of your command, and the remote had no issues understanding what I was saying even with complex words like
Mandalorian.
Jared Newman / IDG
Saying “Hey Roku” brings up a visual prompt on the TV, just like when you hold the remote’s microphone button.
Similar to Alexa on Fire TV, Siri on Apple TV, or Google Assistant on Google TV, Roku’s hands-free system feels magical when everything works properly. You can ask to play a movie or show, load the Roku Channel guide, turn the volume up or down, play or pause, and rewind or fast forward by a specific amount of time. Saying “Hey Roku, replay” is also useful, as it rewinds the current video by 10 seconds with closed captioning temporarily enabled.