The app can send notifications to your phone or tablet when new content arrives, and you can use the app to launch videos on the Roku itself. Amazon’s new Fire TV and Nvidia’s Shield can also stream 4K video, but Google’s new Chromecast, the updated Apple TV and Roku’s older boxes can’t. Users will now be able to follow individual movies, shows, actors and directors, and get updates on when new content featuring their followed subjects becomes accessible through the Roku players (or the price of existing content changes).
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Roku has unveiled a brand new 4K-ready set-top-box, the Roku 4. The new console comes with a dedicated button to find your remote which is handy if you are one of the many that tends to lose them. But the bigger story is what Roku is doing at the ground level to prepare for the Ultra HD onslaught: It’s making it easy to find things to watch in 4K, it’s beefing up its components to handle the load, and it’s opening up its universal search capabilities wider than any competing player. Klarke said that Roku will let users customize their remote finder sound, and said that the company worked a while on perfecting this feature. Called Hotel and Dorm connect, the new functionality allows Roku users to connect to Wi-Fi networks that require login credentials through a Web browser.
It should be noted that neither Amazon Fire TV nor the new Apple TV can stream 4K videos at 60fps, though TiVo Bolt does have that particular feature enabled. The Roku 4 also comes with headphones that connect to the remote, as on the Roku 3, allowing you to keep watching without disturbing those around you (or if you just prefer listening on headphones).
The Roku 4 is also a serious addition to the Saratoga company’s product lineup in a year when Roku is facing stiffer competition in the market it pioneered.
Roku’s mobile app for Android and iOS also gets a refresh.
Roku is planning to spotlight the 4K videos available through the device.
Major hardware updates to the system include an optical audio out port, an 802.11ac WiFi antenna and a beefier quad-core processor, all of which will be housed in a flat, elongated puck. Those are now grouped together and updated in the user’s individual feed.
Roku 4 owners can display their 4k photos on their TV screens, and make screen savers using their own photos.
Roku had a head start in the streaming set-top box business, and has seen monster viewing numbers from those with devices in their houses already.
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During a demonstration last week, senior product vice president Sharad Sundaresan showed how the remote beeped when he pressed the Remote Finder button atop the Roku 4 unit. It doesn’t care whether you buy shows from Amazon or Apple; the Roku 4 just serves up as much content as it can from as many apps as possible, and makes it all easy to search and discover. Under the Roku Powered™ program, Roku licenses its streaming platform to Pay TV providers around the world who want to use the Internet to deliver entertainment services through streaming players. We’ll see how it all plays out in real life when we get our hands on one.
