Do you have an old, dumb TV? For years now, buying a Roku device has been the best way to give it new life. You plug in a cheap box or dongle, adding thousands of streaming channels to an old set---in a way that’s generally better than most smart TVs out there.
But for the past year or so, Roku has struck up a few partnerships aimed at replacing that old, dumb TV entirely. The company is expanding beyond its boxes and dongles to bake its features right into new sets. Chinese TV giants TCL and Hisense were the first two companies to offer “Roku TVs” last year, aiming at making an introductory splash in the U.S. market. And at CES this year, Roku announced some new partners with its integrated features: Best Buy house brand Insignia and another major Chinese brand in Haier.
“TCL and Hisense and Haier are looking at the US market very strategically in terms of building market share,” says Chas Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Roku’s OEM team. “They’re using Roku in many ways to help them do that.”
Now Roku has another TV partner in its stable, and it’s a brand that should be a lot more recognizable stateside. Sharp will be offering its own Roku TV sets in the next month, in both the U.S. and Canada, exclusively through Best Buy. The sets will come with their own Roku-style remote, and the Roku homescreen will let you select connected components such as game consoles and cable boxes. The version of Roku OS running on the set also has the latest UI goodies announced by Roku, including personal feeds and voice search. However, the included remote doesn't have a microphone; you'll need to use an iOS or Android app for the voice features.
Although Sharp offers some really high-end sets, including several mega-screened 4K models, the Roku-capable models will be geared to the low end. They’ll be 1080p panels, and they'll be priced to move.
The two Sharp Roku TV models announced today are a 43-inch 1080p TV for $380 and a 50-inch 1080p TV for $500. Roku’s Smith says there are no plans for Roku’s ecosystem to become Sharp’s smart platform across the board; for now, it’ll only be available on those two affordable sets.
Along with those new Sharp TVs, Roku also announced a couple of new Insignia models that would have its baked-in features. There’s a new 32-inch Insignia Roku TV priced at $230 and a new 55-incher for $550. Those will also be available at Best Buy stores and Best Buy's website.
These latest Roku TV models contribute to a television market that is certainly in flux. On the low end, great deals on 1080p TVs abound; manufacturers are shifting their R&D focus to 4K, high dynamic range (HDR) video, and color-enhancing technology such as quantum dot. Sets with those features now comprise the mid- to high-end of each major company’s lineups, meaning you can get a solid large-screen HDTV for less than $1,000.
Depending on how patient you are, waiting out the 4K transition with your existing set or a bargain-priced one may be wise. We’re still waiting for streaming 4K content to be plentiful, and HD is likely to be the broadcast-resolution ceiling for many years to come.
Ironically, given Roku’s concentration on 1080p resolution and the bargain side of the market, what Ultra HD really needs is a cheap-and-easy, smart-platform-independent 4K box like the Roku to help speed adoption. No Roku plug-and-play device like that has been announced, but the company did tease an Ultra HD TV with its features built into it at CES 2015. That upcoming TCL 4K TV with built-in Roku streaming is still in development, and Roku’s Smith says the plan is for that set to come to market in 2016.
