Roku Pro
I’ve been a fan of Roku ever since their TCL-made TV came to my house a few years ago. The interface was simple but effective, allowing everyone in the house to find what they needed without frustration.
This “simple but effective” language extended to the remote control. The TV itself offered a good picture, more than adequate for a lower to mid-range TV. The sound…let’s just say I’m glad I was able to purchase a complementary soundbar. For a cheap TV, it was much better than I expected. The software alone ended up being much more expensive than the TVs I had tested.
That’s why I’m thrilled that Roku took a well-calculated gamble earlier this year and got into hardware manufacturing with its own line of Roku Pro TVs.
“We wanted to extend the simplicity and ease of use we had with software to hardware,” said Paul Nangeroni, senior director of product management at Roku.
Roku achieved this by making the TVs they wanted to make, with the best-in-class features and quality-of-life improvements they wanted to deliver, without the restrictions of third-party manufacturers.
Quality of life improvements
It’s the little touches that add up to elevate the entire Roku Pro package.
Integrated chains and cable ties? Yes please.
Even before you turn on the TV, you know it’s a different product. Anyone who’s ever dealt with the jellyfish-like profusion of cables and wires that come from plugging video game consoles and soundbars into a TV will be relieved. Roku has designed spacious routing channels with a convenient exit point at the bottom of the unit. Velcro straps for bundling cables are built in.
Moving toward the top of the set, you’ll notice a strange cutout. This is the flush mount specifically designed for the Roku Pro (don’t worry, there are mounting holes for standard VESA mounts as well). The flush mount is impressive. It’s much less complicated than other mounting solutions I’ve used, allowing you to hang the Roku Pro flush against the wall. It’s a great synergy with the physical design of the set, making cable channels even more useful. There are even built-in kickstands on the bottom of the set so you can easily pull the bottom of the TV away from the wall, giving you plenty of room to connect new devices.
Roku Pro in Backdrops mode (coming soon)
This makes the already slim assembly look like a framed picture rather than a TV hanging on the wall. The lines will be even more blurred when Roku launches Backdrops later this year, a new feature that displays high-resolution artwork on your set when not in use.
As you walk towards the side of the TV, you’ll find an oblong button that looks like a remote control. Press it and your Roku Pro sends a signal for your lost remote to ring (you can also do this with voice commands). This is a very practical and well thought out touch.
It doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but the small improvements add up.
The remote itself has been greatly improved over the original Roku models. In addition to the search function mentioned above, the improved remote now has backlit buttons (which are motion activated) and is rechargeable via USB-C. It’s also customizable, with a rocket button that you can configure to do… just about anything. There are a variety of built-in commands, but you can also have it perform your last voice command.
The only thing you won’t see on the new remote is an AUX port for headphones. But don’t worry, Roku still has you covered. More on this in the next section.
Who needs a soundbar anyway?
Usually this would require a dedicated soundbar to hear anything clearly
I’m a fan of soundbars for good reason. Despite their best efforts, the speakers built into any TV rarely, if ever, come close to matching their sound quality.
Roku completely changed that with the Pro. By developing their own set, they were able to experiment. The traditional placement of TV speakers at the bottom of the unit is the cause of the muddy, muffled sound you often hear. Roku wanted clear, full sound, even when the Pro was flush-mounted. There’s a large air gap at the top of the array that provides a vast soundstage for the keyboard-sized speaker. Even flush-mounted (there’s a setting specifically for that), the upgraded speakers deliver clear dialogue and satisfying (though perhaps not quite room-filling) thumps.
This is the best audio performance I’ve ever experienced with built-in speakers. The dialogue clarity surpasses even my Sonos Ace soundbar.
If you don’t want everyone in the house to hear your show, you’ll be happy to know that the Roku Pro is still compatible with headphones. But instead of forcing you to keep a pair of wired headphones plugged into your remote, you can pair any wireless headphones directly to the set. I was even able to connect my AirPods Max (which are notoriously difficult to pair with anything but Apple products) to the Roku Pro. It’s a solution that just makes sense.
Do not touch these settings
I haven’t talked about the photo yet and that’s intentional.
Unless you’re a regular on the A/V Forum, you probably never touch your TV’s settings. You can tap into the presets for sports or movies if you remember, but 99% of the time, you turn on your TV, find the show you want to watch, and that’s it.
Set it and forget it.
Roku Pro’s Dynamic Smart Picture Adjustment is here to enhance your 4K TV viewing experience without you needing to adjust anything. Roku used 100 billion hours of streaming data to train its AI models, enabling dynamic image optimization on a scene-by-scene basis. All this is done directly on your device.
You’ll notice that the picture looks great no matter what you’re watching. Sporting events (like the upcoming Olympics) are tuned for high refresh and low latency. Movies have deeper colors and high contrast in dark scenes. You don’t have to do anything. Roku Pro adjusts it for you.
If you wish, there are many manual settings you can tweak to get the “optimal” picture. But this is only for type A TV aficionados, those for whom picture adjustment East entertainment. For the rest of us who just want to enjoy the show, Roku’s Auto-Tuning AI delivers an absolutely stunning picture that “just works” to deliver a truly enjoyable TV experience.
With the Olympics coming up in about a month (I’m enjoying the trials right now), I can’t think of a better TV to have on my wall. I can watch Noah Lyles (the fastest CCG player in the world) run a 200m dash, then switch to the latest episode of “The Acolyte” without having to worry about switching between a sports setting to catch all the action and a movie mode to give me the contrast I need for the dark and moody scenes of the brooding Jedi.
All this in a package that costs less than $900 for a 55-inch TV. Not big enough? You can get up to a 75-inch screen for less than $1,700. That’s a crazy price for a TV of this quality.
It can be scary to set out on your own to create something new, but Roku has proven unequivocally that he has the knowledge and talent to do it himself and do it better than anyone else. Visit the Roku website to learn more.