Your Roku TV is getting 5 useful updates for free – including a Roku City shortcut – ZDNet
2025-04-28T14:23:00Z
If you often have trouble finding something to watch, Roku’s new features aim to make it easier.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Your Roku TV is getting a slew of updates to make finding something to watch easier — including one for your favorite purple city.
At an event in New York City last week, Roku introduced its new TVs and streaming devices, smart home products, and TVs, but it also announced some new additions that will be coming to all existing Roku TVs.
Also: Your TV’s USB port has an underrated benefit that can revitalize an old system – here’s how it works
Here’s what’s on the way.
What’s coming to all Roku TVs
Roku understands the struggle of finding something to watch, it says, so it’s rolling out several ways to make content more personal. These include:
“Coming Soon to Theaters,” a row that shows you what’s currently in theaters. If you’d rather wait until you can watch it at home, you can add a movie to your saved list and Roku will alert you when it’s available.
Short-form content rows are headed to the All Things Food and All Things Home tabs, letting you browse videos like recipes, home cleaning hacks, and more one after the other (essentially TikTok or Reels for your TV).
A personalized highlight row in the Sports Zone lets you follow the latest action from your favorite teams and players. You can also get notifications when it’s gametime for your favorite teams.
If you want to see the best of the best, watch for Roku’s new badges that will identify award-winning films.
Missing your favorite purple-hued cityscape? Instead of having to wait for your set to go idle to visit, you can now head to Roku City with one click with a dedicated tile. This fake city, complete with its own mass transit, homes, restaurants, and even a city hall, has become a fan-favorite over the past few years, and now it’s even easier to pay a visit.
Hardware updates
On the hardware side, new versions of the Roku Streaming Stick and Roku Streaming Stick Plus are on the way. The new models are so power-efficient, Roku says, that they are powered directly by your TV — meaning no more hanging cables. The new sticks are also getting a sleek redesign that ensures they don’t block neighboring HDMI ports. The classic Roku Streaming Stick is also getting a voice remote.
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
Two battery-powered outdoor/indoor security cameras, the Roku Battery Camera and Roku Battery Camera Plus, are also on the way. You can view them remotely with the Roku Smart Home Mobile App or Roku Web View or directly on your Roku TV.
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
And speaking of TVs, the new Roku TV lineup is getting a new massive 85″ option, improved visuals and improved sound, the company explained, with improved contrast and color accuracy and deeper bass that brings your favorite movies and shows to life.
The Roku Plus series of TVs is getting Smart Picture Max, which automatically adjusts picture settings on a scene-by-scene basis, mini-LED backlighting, a new remote finder button on the TV itself, and the integrated cable management system that was included with last year’s Pro Series.
Also: You should probably clear your TV cache right now
The higher-end Roku Pro series is getting custom factory calibration that the company promises will deliver a stellar picture right out of the box.
Lastly, all Roku-made TVs will now have Bluetooth Headphone Mode, which lets you pair headphones directly to the TV.
Auto-posted from news source
About The Author
