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Streaming boxes are all grown up. Being an adult is boring.
We’ve made it through the infancy of the set top box category—when we were excited just to have a way to stream anything to a TV—and through adolescence—when we hoped to make it all the way through a stream without it crashing. Let’s not discuss those terrible teens when we tried to play Angry Birds with a TV remote.
Roku was a pioneer in set top boxes, and it’s been a favorite of mine as it took each step toward a mature product. Now, looking at Roku’s new lineup of set top boxes, I find all of them to be solid streamers than get the job done. Yawn. This is not a criticism of the products, just a reality check.
The past few years have seen some pretty great innovation in streaming boxes. With Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV, we have more options than ever. We can pick a platform that matched the rest of our digital lives, whether we’re iOS focused or Amazon Prime subscribers. Features like 4K, voice search, and faster Wifi made us eager to upgrade to get the best experience.
With little need for new features this year, Roku instead looked at giving people more for less.
Its latest generation of products aims to provide something for every sized wallet, with six different models ranging from $30 to $130. I tested the flagship Roku Ultra and the inexpensive Roku Express. Both do what you expect for the money, but neither inspire enthusiasm.

AGE OF ULTRA

With few new features available, Roku instead created a streaming box that has just about every feature you can imagine. The $130 Roku Ultra displays 4K HDR video—that’s quadruple the resolution of HD with millions more colors. It uses fast 802.11AC Wifi, which has less congestion that 802.11N networks. It packs a quad-core processor, which means it takes a blink of the eye from the time you press the remote until you start a stream. The list goes on; it even has a digital optical output so you can connect it straight to a soundbar, because why not?
The result is very fast streaming experience. Channels launch quickly and streams start almost immediately. It reacts faster than last year’s Roku 4; in direct comparison, the Ultra did a better job rendering 4K video than the 4.
The unit’s only shortcoming is its voice search. I asked for Luke Cage, and it gave me Kate Beckinsale. Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa do a better job interpreting what I say and getting me closer to what I’m trying to find.

EXPRESS YOURSELF

The Roku Express, the least expensive streamer you can buy, is cheap and its streams videos. What else is there to say?
The $30 unit also comes with a remote control, which is perfect if you don’t carry your phone at all times or just want to add a streaming box in the guest bedroom. The remote is nothing special. It feels kind of cheap and requires a direct line-of-sight to the Express (the Ultra’s remote uses Wifi so you can point it anywhere). But it works.
For the money you get what most people need from a streamer, including 1080p quality and access to all those Netflix channels. Several reviewers had issues with the Express being slow to load channels and displaying interface issues. I didn’t experience those, though Netflix takes about twice as long to load and start a stream as the Roku Ultra. (And by twice as long, I mean a couple of seconds.) The Ultra is really fast. It’s worth considering that the Express is slower than the latest Chromecast, which costs just $5 more—though it doesn’t come with a remote. The remote is the key here.

BUYING ADVICE

Roku remains the best streaming box for people who aren’t dedicated to Apple, Amazon, or Android, and the latest models offer a good mix of price and features. For most of us, Roku’s other products, the $50 Roku Streaming Stick or $80 Roku Premiere set top box, will be the right choice. Both are faster than the Express, but have fewer features than the Ultra.
The competition is keeping up. Amazon will soon release a $40 Fire TV streaming stick and Google’s got a 4K Chromecast on the way. Expect Amazon to also release a new Fire TV box before the holidays. But if you got a new streamer last year, you probably don’t need to upgrade yet. Go buy yourself a treat instead—or put it into an IRA like adults do.
[Purchase a Roku Ultra at Amazon.com]
[Purchase a Roku Express at Amazon.com]
Michael Gowan impatiently waits for somebody—anybody!—to stream the complete Moonlighting series. You can follow him on Twitter @zebgowan.