Key Takeaways
- Roku introduces Mini-LED TVs for stunning visuals with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision IQ technology.
- Voice Remote Pro comes with backlit buttons, personal shortcuts, and a remote finder feature for convenience.
- Enhance your TV experience with Roku Smart Picture for automatic adjustments and IMDB ratings integration.
Known for its streaming simplicity, easy UI, and beautiful content library, Roku is one of the top names in the TV industry. And today, Roku announced its not only releasing elevated software features to improve quality of life, but new hardware to round out the Roku-ecoystem experience.
Roku will sell Mini-LED TVs
The innovative technology is getting a lot of attention
Roku
Roku announced a new line of Roku Pro Series TVs, which will feature Mini-LED backlighting on 4K, QLED screens. Mini-LED screens are popping up everywhere as companies try to rival the deepest blacks and stunning contrast achieved by OLED screens without actually making an OLED screen. The Roku Pro Series will also feature HDR10+ for impressive brightness as well as Dolby Vision IQ, a feature designed to optimize Dolby Vision based on the lighting in the room.
The TV also prioritizes aesthetics. With a thin frame less than two inches wide, the TV can sit flush against a wall with Roku’s Slim-profile Wall Mount Kit.
Roku Pro Series TVs are available in 55″, 65″ and 75″ models with pricing ranging from $899.99 to $1699.99 with the Roku Slim-profile Wall Mount Kit available for $99.99 beginning this month at Best Buy stores nationwide and online.
Improved remote offers more convenience and control
Never lose your remote again
Roku
Backlighting, a USB-C rechargeable battery, and personalized shortcut buttons all promise to make the new Roku Voice Remote Pro even more useful and adaptive to your viewing experience. I personally enjoy the addition of the remote finder feature, which when prompted by the app, a button on the TV, or simply your voice, will produce a chime on the remote, so you can find it where it fell between the cushions or under the couch.
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Roku Voice Remote Pro (2nd Edition) is available at Roku.com for $29.99 and will be available in major retailers in the coming months. Roku Voice Remote Pro 2nd edition is included with all Roku Pro Series TV.
Enhanced picture adjustments and better organization
Optimize and organize your content
Roku
There has been a lot of chatter lately about TV calibration and optimizing content to achieve cinematic fidelity, with filmmakers telling consumers what to turn off on their TVs and manufacturers racing to create a theater-like experience at home. For its part, Roku is introducing Roku Smart Picture, a feature that automatically adjusts the basic settings on your TV, such as backlighting, uniformity, and color based on the type TV you have (I assume this to mean based on screen type, resolution, and video format). For some apps, a specific picture mode will be selected in order to optimize brightness and color as well.
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There will also be new features to better understand and organize what you want to watch. Roku will be integrating IMDB ratings and introducing trailers to better help viewers get a sense for all the content that’s available. Roku also says a new “What to Watch” section will feature highly-rated movies, and updates to your Save List will make it easier to track what you’re watching and what you want to watch. An upgraded mobile app also promises search function improvements.
An emphasis on aesthetic
Backdrops bring beauty to the screen
Roku
Following in the footsteps of Samsung and LG, among others, Roku is introducing an ambient mode, so your TV can be ‘on’ even when it’s ‘off,’ perhaps joining our list of the best TVs for art display. Backdrops offers access to an extensive catalog of artwork, from classic masterpieces to more eye-catching abstractions, similar to The Frame.
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Backdrops will also allow users to upload their own images to display on the TV as well. All of this is made as part of an effort to enhance the aesthetic of the TV, with consumers wanting not only a screen that looks good, but a device that looks good too.
Roku City grows
Look both ways before crossing the street
Roku
Perhaps one of the most staple Roku features — the screensaver that automatically displays after pausing — Roku City — is getting even more detailed. Roku announced that cars will coming to its screensaver city, including an ice cream and James Bond’s Aston Martin (if the suggestive press release can be believed).
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It’s a fun addition for what was initially a screen saver intended to be filled with advertisements for new movies and TV shows. Now, it’s a beautiful, fantastical escape that users are drawn to. Whether cars make the city more or less appealing remains to be seen.
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