You Can Now Buy a TV That’s Entirely Made by Roku
Roku now makes its own TVs.?
Roku
Roku now makes its own?TVs. The Roku Select and Plus series televisions were announced at CES in January and hit shelves this week. There are 11 Roku TVs in total, spanning two different lineups and ranging between 24 and 75 inches. Prices start at $150 and top out at $1,200. These new Roku models are currently available only in Best Buy stores or online.
The Roku Select series is the basic line, available in a mix of HD and 4K models. The HD versions start at $150 for a 24-inch TV and offer sizes up to 40 inches, which costs $280. 4K offerings begin at 43 inches for $320 and continues up to 75 inches for $800. The HD TVs come equipped with Roku Voice remotes, while the 4K sets offer an Enhanced Roku Voice Remote, which adds private listening via wired headphones and a lost remote finder — a feature that once was exclusive to the Voice Remote Pro. Both remotes are superior to the basic versions found on competing entry-level Roku smart TVs like the TCL 4-Series.
See at Best Buy
The Roku Plus series is the step-up option with a lineup entirely in 4K, featuring picture-enhancing extras like Dolby Vision high dynamic range, local dimming,?QLED?for enhanced color, Dolby Atmos-certified speakers and a Voice Remote Pro. The Plus series also support private listening via Bluetooth headphones paired directly to the TV, a feature long available from rival Google TV and Amazon Fire TV models. The Roku Plus series comes in a 55-inch model for $650, a 65-inch version for $800 and a 75-inch option for $1,200.?
These TVs are Roku’s first foray into TV manufacturing. Previously, Roku had been content to work closely with its partners to bring Roku-branded TVs to the market. Those TVs from TCL, Hisense, Sharp and others offer a range of sizes and picture enhancements. According to Roku, those partnerships are not going away.?
“These Roku-branded TVs will not only complement the current lineup of partner-branded Roku TV models, but also allow us to enable future smart TV innovations,” Mustafa Ozgen, the president of devices at Roku, said in a January press release.?
Roku has partnered with Best Buy to offer its new products exclusively, so for now they won’t be available at Amazon, Walmart, Target or other retailers. Amazon followed a similar path when it released its own branded TVs in 2021. The Fire TV Omni and Fire TV 4 series were initially sold only at Best Buy and on Amazon, while Fire TVs from other partners were sold at different retail outlets.?
So far, it looks like Roku will not be pushing the technical limits on its TVs, so don’t expect top-level image quality. While the Plus series TVs do come with local dimming and QLED, which should help improve image quality, the company has not revealed many more details about these TVs’ picture-enhancing extras. We don’t know exactly how many zones there are, for example.
Currently, TCL’s 6-series Roku TV is the most technologically advanced Roku-branded TV available — and CNET’s pick for the best TV for the money. The newest version includes mini-LED technology with up to 448 local dimming zones, a native 120Hz refresh rate?and gaming-friendly options including a 4K/120Hz input. Pricing is higher than the new Roku-branded TVs, however, with a 65-inch model going for $1,000.
We look forward to reviewing the new Roku TV soon.