Roku Introduces New Roku Premiere and Roku Premiere+ 4K Streaming Players Starting at $39.99 MSRP

I swore I would never buy another 4K Roku box due to all the issues I've encountered with the 2016 Ultra model, but I need another Roku box for a small display I want to install in our basement recreation room (I need a Roku there for the Xfinity app to get cable TV). I was thinking about adding another Apple TV 4K to our master bedroom, but that 4K Premiere at $40 is too attractive a price to pass up. I can connect it to the Samsung 4K display in our master bedroom and then move the non-HDR older model Premiere currently in that room to the basement.

 

I pre-ordered one, but just cancelled the order. I'm going to try the Amazon Fire TV 4K with their $12 price after trade-in first. The Fire TV will replace a Roku Ultra in my main setup, which I am only using for Amazon anyway -- all other streaming is through an Apple TV 4K. The Ultra will get moved to the master bedroom, and the Premiere from the bedroom to the basement.

I feel much better not giving Roku more money after all the issues I've had with the Ultra. It's working right now, but it's like playing Russian Roulette every time a new firmware update is released.

 

If you check the Roku thread of that "other" forum, you will see that some lucky people never had any issues with the their 2016 Ultras or Premiere+ units, while others have been hit with numerous bugs. Unfortunately, I am in the latter group. My 1080p models have been trouble-free, but the 4K Ultra has been hit with one problem after another - - and I am on my 2nd unit. The first one got bricked after a firmware update, and I had to pay $15 to ship it to Roku in California for a warranty replacement. Sony, on the other hand, paid for shipping both ways when my X800 UHD player needed to be replaced under warranty (it stopped recognizing UHD discs).

Since I am only using the Ultra for Amazon in the main system now (Apple TV has inferior audio for this app), the Fire TV should hopefully work as a replace, and I hope the Ultra will continue to work in our bedroom. I need Roku units in our other rooms for the Xfinity app so I don't need to pay Comcast for cable box rentals. That app is not available on other brands of streaming boxes.

 

Well, I ended up re-ordering the new 4K Roku Premiere because the Amazon Fire TV trade-in deal didn't work out. The box showed up last week, and it worked fine for 1080p material, but I had issues getting the device to recognize the 4K HDR10 capabilities of the Samsung MU8000 display in our bedroom. The issue ended up being with the Samsung display -- there is an option buried in the setup menu where you have to enable HDR capabilities for each input. Why this isn't just on by default is a mystery to me -- it's a 4K display, so why would you want to disable that if the input is capable of processing HDR?

Anyway, the Roku seems to work properly with the three streaming apps I have tried -- Amazon, Vudu and NHL.tv. For $40, if you don't need Dolby Vision, it's tough to beat this device for the price. It even came with a high speed HDMI cable that works for 4K + HDR10.

 

I might be adding a Roku this year to the new 4K HT setup. My only criticism is that none of the Rokus have a second HDMI output for sound only ( like my Sony X700 4K Blu player) to my now obsolete Denon X2000. Of course that hopefully will be upgraded soon as the old Denon won’t pass HDR and DV information.

Any advice welcome as this is a first for me.

 

None of the current model streaming boxes from Roku, Amazon or Apple have dual HDMI outputs. My 2016 model Roku Ultra has a secondary optical digital output for audio, if you can find one somewhere. The current Ultra model dropped the optical output.

Your best bet, as already suggested, it to go ahead with your planned AVR upgrade.

 

Todd,

The new Premiere's remote is IR based. It will work fine with your Harmony 650.

 

I use a HDFury AVR Key to separate the video and audio coming from my nVidia Shield TV. It splits the full UHD video to my TV while sending the sound (and a lower res picture) to my old Denon X4000.

 

Plans underway when the Christmas funds are released. Either the Denon AVR-X3400 or AVR-X4400 would nicely fill my needs but I’m really wanting the X4400.

As for a Roku, not so sure now that I even need one now that my Sony UBP-X700 is up and running nicely. Looks like the X700 can handle all 4K digital streaming & download work (correct me if I’m wrong). Opinions?

 

I prefer a dedicated streaming box instead of using the built-in apps from our Sony X800 UHD player or display. With a streaming box such as a Roku or Apple TV, you will get a lot more streaming apps, and those apps will continue to be updated over time. Using a disc player or smart TV for streaming will limit which apps are available, and those apps will tend to not get updates as often and will eventually be abandoned by the manufacturer of the disc player or display.

At $40 for a 4K streaming device from Roku, cost should no longer be much of a concern with buying a dedicated streaming device. The new Roku Premiere even comes with the proper high speed HDMI cable needed for 4K + HDR10 video, saving the buyer another $6 or $7 dollars.