Following Apple and Amazon who recently offered updates to their own streaming boxes, Roku has announced it will provide updates to five of its TV streaming products. The revamp will include a new operating system which will blend access to over-the-air TV with video streaming services.
Roku, Amazon and Apple have all advanced with improvements such as 4K, better search functionality and voice control support.
Roku’s basic low-cost steaming stock (US$49.99) will receive an improved processor which the company states is 50% faster. The remote will also receive voice control support and will include power and volume buttons capable of controlling a TV set.
Roku’s Streaming Stick Plus will now support HDR & 4K Ultra HD.
Roku’s compact boxes, the Roku Express and Roku Express Plus, will also receive processor upgrades.
The company’s highest-end box, the Roku Ultra, is now less than the US$130 starting price it held last year, at US$99 – therefore undercutting the new 4K Apple TV, but more costly than Amazon’s newest Fire TV device.
Roku prides itself on its differentiated streaming approach, which unlike Amazon and Apple TV, does not have its own content platform, nor does it produce its own content. The company now boasts over 5,000 streaming channels across its product suite.
The newly unveiled free operating system update, Roku OS 8, will offer a significant change in the way the OS interacts with over-the-air TV. Now, streaming results and live TV results will list on the same page.
