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Roku TVs offer several picture modes accessible via the remote's star button, including Standard, Movie, Vivid, and Roku Smart Picture, each affecting color saturation, brightness, and processing differently. Users can further adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, and backlight in the Customize picture menu to fine-tune image quality beyond the preset modes.
A tech review explains that standalone streaming devices such as Roku, Fire TV Stick and Chromecast can meaningfully improve on a smart TV's built-in software. Because smart TV manufacturers license operating systems from companies like Amazon, Google and Roku, performance varies widely and often degrades as the hardware ages, leading to lag and crashes. Adding a modern streaming device can restore speed and reliability at a fraction of the cost of replacing an entire television.
Roku introduced more than 30 channel bundles combining services like Starz, HBO Max, AMC Plus and its own Howdy platform, offering discounts of up to 33% off monthly rates compared to subscribing separately. The bundles are permanent offerings, not limited-time promotions, and are purchasable through Roku devices, the mobile app or the Roku Channel website.
Roku introduced more than 30 subscription bundles that combine services like HBO Max, Starz, Hallmark+, and Fox One, offering savings of up to 30% off individual prices. The company also launched a Labs section where users can test in-development apps and features and provide feedback, alongside upgrades to Roku Voice and search.
Roku rolled out a Roku OS update adding a new 'Roku Labs' section to the Home Screen, giving U.S. users access to experimental in-house apps including weather and stock trackers plus a game called Roku Dash set in its Roku City screensaver. The company also expanded its personalized Home Screen to Mexico and Brazil, added weather queries to its voice assistant, introduced mix-and-match streaming bundles with smaller services, and open-sourced the software behind its remote, Roku LT OS.
Roku introduced Roku Labs, a new home-screen tile giving any Roku user access to in-development apps without needing an invite-only beta program. The initial lineup includes Backdrops Studio for custom backgrounds, Roku Immerse for custom screensavers, plus dedicated Weather and Stocks apps. Roku also announced it will open-source Roku LT OS, the software behind its remotes and smart home devices, along with free developer tools and training videos.
Aurzen's D1R Cube projector, which includes built-in Roku TV and native 1080p resolution, is currently discounted to $169.96, a 32% reduction that ties its previous lowest recorded price. The deal offers buyers a streaming-ready projector without needing a separate media device.
Roku streaming devices include an auto power saving setting that puts the device into low power mode and attempts to turn off the connected TV after 20 minutes of inactivity. Users experiencing unexpected shutdowns can wake the device via the TV, remote, mobile app, or casting tools, or disable the setting entirely to prevent it from happening again.
The Justice Department has formally asked Fox and Roku to submit additional documents and data as part of a deeper antitrust review of Fox's proposed $22 billion acquisition of Roku. The move, known as a second request, is a standard but significant step signaling regulators have unresolved questions after reviewing the companies' initial filings.
Roku streaming devices contain several hidden diagnostic and configuration menus accessible through specific sequences of remote button presses, starting with repeated Home button taps. These include a developer menu for sideloading apps, network and wireless diagnostic screens, an ad-preference menu, a platform screen showing memory and temperature data, and an HDMI settings panel.
Roku has debuted a free, ad-supported channel called Fairground AI Creator TV, streaming round-the-clock content billed as 'AI Cinema' from over 100 contributors, some recruited from social media. While some creators like Frank Houbre wrote scripts and mythology before using AI tools for animation, voices and music, critics including the Guardian, The Verge and Futurism have panned the results as low-quality and unsettling.
A tech guide lays out several ways to responsibly get rid of an old but functional TV, including giving or selling it to friends, family, or via Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, donating to charities or thrift stores, or repurposing it at home with a streaming stick like Apple TV, Roku, or Chromecast. It also warns that CRT televisions are typically rejected by thrift stores because of hazardous materials inside them.