Roku Streaming Stick+

I have a rather large collection of TV streaming sticks. This is ranging from the Apple TV 4k, to the Nvidia Shield (which is still the best) and now this. During the lockdown, I was in desperate need of a new streaming stick so that my girlfriend could watch a number of mind numbing episodes from MTV (need I name them, you can probably guess...) and the only way we found we could do that (in the UK, and legitimately) was to use NowTV. Believe it or not, with out costing an arm or a leg, the only answer was to get the Roku stick. We did try the Amazon FireStick 4K, but unfortunately that had no Now TV, nor did it have MTV. So that wasn't suffice for us/her. Setup was an absolute breeze. A friendly, intuitive user interface, which just works perfectly. No lag, no headaches, everything is exactly where you expect it to be. Installing new apps/channels is a one click process whether it be from the app on your phone, or navigating the channel store on the Roku. I didn't need to Google anything (Win!) The features of this user friendly streaming stick is perfect for all of our needs. Admittedly, a lot less features than an Android TV equivalent. But as I said, no headaches, and no lag. It keeps all app/channels up to date in a seamless manner, and did I say? It has NowTV! Included in the box is a WiFi range extender which allows us to connect to our 5Ghz WiFi with a solid connection. Which itself is super. No waiting for anything to load, it's instant and ready to go. The included controller has an IR blaster, so when you've set it up correctly, you can turn your TV off and on, aswell as make adjustments to the audio volume. This is a sweet feature to have. We now only need one remote. The app (for you smartphone) be it iPhone/Android allows you to listen to the TV privately through your connected earphones. This feature is a godsend. Remember I mentioned those mind numbing episodes. Alternatively, I guess you could use this feature whilst your other half is trying to sleep. One other noteable feature was the IFFFT capability. Meaning that you can ask Google/Alexa to turn the TV off/on (which it actually does through CEC) you can play & pause video etc, I've not tried too much more. But I though that was a great feature. Who needs a smartplug aye? I'm quite happy with this purchase and it's simplicity.

Ive been caught in a dilema whether to get shot of Virgin Media as our most expensive bill in the house, so for months I have been weighing up my options! This is the reason why... So unless I get rid of my husband, we need ALL the sports channels - ie Sky Sports and BT Sports etc - He watches all his TV downstairs and I like to chill out in the bedroom watching box sets, dramas and films so there is no need to have any Sports for me - We have the biggest package so Broadband, Phone, and ALL TV with Virgin but at £130 a month its a little ridiculous considering a lot of the channels are wasted, so I checked out BT and Sky AND some other smaller less known companies but the problem was, that to use one of these companies we would lose something! This is what I did - I uploaded the NOW TV app for me upstairs. I pay 7.99 a month for the entertainment pass and purchased a Roku plus stick (a one off payment) at £65.14, ok so a little more expensive than some of the other sticks out there but very worth it! I have ALL the channels and LOADS more ie Sky Atlantic via the NOW TV pass (which Virgin dont have and neither do BT so unless I went with Sky I would never have got) I called Virgin and told them I wanted to downgrade my package - My broadband speeds were never ever what Virgin said I was gettingm, so that may as well be downgraded. I never found any of their boxsets much good and I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime TV so they could get shot of Sky Cinema. The two extra box sets upstairs were a waste of time (one in my room) so they also could go! Oh and we NEVER use our landline - The response from Virgin was "dont worry keep everything you have including the two box sets and we will upgrade you to the absolute highest broadband! £87 all in a month! Ok, so if you work out a monthly cost Im paying £6.80 for Prime (but thats not just TV as most of you on here will know) £6.99 for Netflix £7.99 for NOW TV (but it has Sky Atlantic) ;) Total 21.78 I now pay Virgin £87 so all in £108.78 thats a monthly saving of £21.22 (£254.64) a year! That makes my Roku Stick that I paid £65.14 for £5.43 a month over a year and then thats paid off... If I had just moved in to my house and was looking for a Phone, Broadband, Sports/TV package I would 100% not go with one company! I would find the best of each! This Roku stick is amazing - The interface is so easy to use and love the voice control. To give you a idea it takes usually 20-30 seconds for lets say BBCi Player to load via my Virgin box and almost just as long if I used the already installed app on my TV - It sometimes lags badly or jumps back to normal TV - With Roku its pretty much instant! Ive tested a lot of the apps and going through Roku to Netfix and Amazon Video is also a lot quicker - There is no lag and the stick takes you to all the app options you want... For Example: your looking to play a film, lets say The Greatest Showman - Search the film - It then gives you a list of all the apps that you have installed with that film on! I cant praise Roku enough for this little gem of a stick - Its non obtrusive and the remote can pic it up instantly even hiding behind the TV Sorry for the long winded review and I may have lost track at the beginning but I know there are a lot of people like me in a similar situation! - Ps you can only get SKY ATLANTIC via SKY so that means signing up to their TV or Via the NOW TV app (which Im new too but thats brilliant too) Just get a ROKU - its far better than any other stick or streaming devise Ive ever tried -

This was an upgrade, I’ve used Roku for oooh a long time, it just works, never any problems. It’s list of big name streaming apps is second to none plus thousands of niche content tv channel apps. Even if you don’t yet have a 4K tv, I’d still recommend getting this model, why?, the remote. It’s wireless so you don’t have to point it at one “sweet spot” it just works. Also this remote has voice search built in. As it’s wireless it means your streaming stick hides neatly away behind your tv, no other boxes to find space for. A great feature in the app you can download is private listening, you use your phone or tablets headphones and turn your tv sound down. I believe more than one person can use it. It’s great for late night tv listening or that fuller audio experience when watching movies. I use it all the time, no noticeable delays or other issues, it just works. Roku is a very long standing reliable, trustworthy company in my opinion, so if it asks for your card details or PayPal details, that’s only to give you the option to buy things in the future.....if you wish. They’re not in the habit of doing anything shady. I have several Roku devices one on every tv. Far, far better than any built in smart tv system. As for content, at time of review, Amazon Prime Video is on there as is AppleTV, iPlayer, Netflix, ITV and STV players, All4, My5, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Play Movies, Sky Tore, Rakuten TV, UKTV Play, Pluto, Cinematio, NowTV, Spotify, HayU, TubeIn, VEVO, Box+, RedBull TV, WWE, Deezer, lots of news channels, just tons and tons of things and some games too. You can also, using the app, mirror videos, music or fire over a photo slideshow to the device. It does a heck of a lot, works very well, I love it.

Disclaimer **Brutal honesty and shade throwing included where applicable** The Roku Streaming Stick+ is a good product my initial thoughts when i bought it were 'holy ****' that's insane as I had just moved from amazon prime stick to Roku and found the speed a dramatic improvement. I was very pleased with this and have since then recommended it to all of my friends and passing strangers. Speed is such a desirable factor when you are watching TV it even improved the speed of the amazon prime app. For those who are not familiar with Prime Video (it's slower than a tortoise with two broken legs and about as reliable as telling a young adult who just passed their GCSE's to organise the family's financial accounts - it works maybe 70% of the time). Voice Recognition it self is functional, however it's function is limited. You can't for example search within apps; or search for an app and be taken directly into the app. You can't say things like "Search Youtube For: 'Hello - Adele'", recursive searching is not a thing, it's more like 'Netflix', and then it shows you the app Netflix in your app section, for which you then have to press select on the remote to go to Netflix (perhaps Roku can work on developing Endpoints that integrate with app searches as typing out searches is frustrating in apps like youtube). Remote Control is pretty good, however it could use with a prime video button :) get rid of the less important ones like google-play; like there has to be nearly no one watching that. There are some initial connection issues with the remote when you boot up and it's connecting to the wifi, but i think that can't be avoided. Should also add a youtube button; people spend hours on youtube for entertainment. All other streaming services accessed through Roku such as Netflix etc and now TV were lightening as well and work 100% of the time no issues whatsoever. The stick gets very hot though. Roku is the god of all streaming sticks, it literally smashes them to bits in order from best = 1 to worst = 10 - Roku = 1 - Now TV = 6 - Fire Stick = 10 The only issue is providers like amazon who integrate with Roku (i.e. you can watch prime video on roku, but the integration code breaks) they release breaking changes to prime video specific to roku streaming devices, because to amazon that's low risk and then fail to compensate amazon prime customers when they stop usage as the facility to watch prime is only blocked on one demographic you can use it on other devices. Still quite disgruntled with amazon on this (if amazon is reading this...), a while ago i complained and has no suitable resolution. That's not a fault with Roku so to speak, but Roku should maybe do more to fight amazon video breaking their app. I've given Roku a 4/5 simply because the price could be slightly more affordable, as people may want to buy more than one for their household. I plan to wait until after Christmas to purchase my second Roku device. £25-35 pounds would be just right. I also would love for the GEO-block to be removed from many of the streaming services such as Netflix to watch flash & arrow; however this is probably beyond Roku's control. Bottom line, i'd buy again and continue to recommend, makes my life easier.

Having never heard of Roku, I was pleasantly surprised to discover it as an alternative to other well known streaming sticks. Our LG TV is now ageing and the apps are slowing being discontinued, failing to work properly or just lacking the latest features. As the TV works stills works and as 3D model not something we want to replace, a stick seemed like the best solution. The other brands didn't really appeal as they focus on their own streaming service, I opted for the Roku. For the price, it's really rather fantastic. All the core streaming services are there BBC, Disney, Netflix and Sky plus loads of others offering free or ad based TV. Plus, the BBC Sounds app is there - which I love. In terms of the hardware, the wifi has been good to excellent quality with none of the apps having any issue at HD on our fibre broadband. The stick is quick and responsive BUT that is if it's running already. We started by plugging it into the TVs USB and it turns on with the TV. This was frequently causing the stick to respond sluggishly so I switched it to a permanent power source and now it fine but always on. It may be that the USB wasn't providing enough power.

Arrived quickly, easy to set up - even for a tech dummy like me.

Marked improvement over the previous Roku stick (3500 EU). 4K display with a much more responsive OS. Boot times and app loading are much faster whereas the 3500 predecessor tested your patience. Incorporates better WiFi reception using MIMO and an off-board antenna arrangement whose only negative is that there's more cabling clutter but still easy to live with. The included remote control also has a useful additional IR remote incorporated to allow you to turn your TV ON/OFF and control the volume, your ROKU's remote is all you need next to you. Remote also has a fairly basic voice-search function, hold down the mic button and tell it what you want, what you really really want and in most cases it saves you having to type in what you're looking for. The Stick+ is a worthwhile improvement just for the MIMO benefits it offers. Promo prices hover at around the £55 mark and it's a worthy addition to your TV setup. Even if you end up not enrolling to any subscription services, this Roku stick provides a fairly reliable casting function to allow you to watch content from your smartphone or your computer. Roku's interface makes looking for content a breeze and they haven't had a dispute with YouTube like AtoZ has. A solid thumbs up. Only disappointment is some of the content channels don't appear to be functioning anymore perhaps Roku don't update what's available all that frequently. It's nothing major, you simply remove the content channel.

This is the second one of these streaming sticks we have had and they work pretty well overall. My advice is get one with 4K capability to help future proof it if you have to replace your TV later. Pros: 1) Great picture, Customised Themes and Screensavers, Easy to Setup, Voice Control Works, Zillions of Apps, Lots of Free Content, Youtube, Netflix, Disney +, Prime Video and all the others big channels are available. 2) Easy to use remote, no overcomplicated buttons. Cons (Niggles more than anything): 1) There is no separate power off for the Roku itself, so the unit stays on all the time. Mine can get quite warm and this has led to a few occasions where it has frozen and needs a reset. This is especially so if you switch from the Roku input to say your Blu-ray or DVD or other input source to say watch a movie. The Roku stays on unnecessarily. I think it only switches to a low power mode when the TV itself is switched off. 2) The volume / mute control is badly designed. They have the up / down and mute buttons on the right side of the remote. This is awkward and I have lost count of the times we have jumped out the chair when the volume has been turned to maximum accidentally as the buttons are all close together. Note the Roku is also very likely to be louder than your other sources attached to the TV. One example is the Youtube App on the Smart TV. We often have to have the volume up to 60-75 to hear content when using the App on the TV. When somebody switches over to the Roku system - it needs to be turned down to about 35! So beware. Apart from that, if you find that companies like Samsung and Sony (2 of the worst) can't be bothered to update your Smart TV firmware or Apps anymore because they can't be bothered and want you to spend out on a new model, then the Roku is a great way to flick 2 fingers back up at them and give your Smart TV a new lease of life.

Easy to use but doesn't have all the streaming Apps for Australian. Has a very good Media Steamer...

For context, I live in Australia. Of my content subscriptions, only YouTube and Netflix works. Unfortunately, hardware VPN won't work for me since I'm currently on Nest WiFi. For reference - Viki, Disney+, Prime Video, Stan doesn't work in Australia. I'd list more but the stupid thing lacks a search function. Another annoying thing - you can't use this without putting in a credit card. Anyway, too many annoying things about this product for me to recommend anything from Roku. This thing is a sack of schnitz for anyone outside of US & Canada.

Google Chromecast with remote is a much better product.

Netflix, spotify and apple tv are the only real options for streaming tv. No support for: prime, disney+, stan, hulu, tenplay, abc iview, sbs on demand, 9now or 7plus. Save your money, either get a smart tv or an amazon fire stick. N.B. Even the rokuapp is not available on Google play store

Great product but useless in Australia. Only Netflix and YouTube available. No disney+, no stan, no amazon prime video, no aus TV channels. Waste of money for an Aussie. Only good for US and Canada