When my husband and i changed our places Vizio OLED for Roku’s Pro Series QLED and turned it on, we both gasped. Even my two kids (ages 7 and 9) were mesmerized when they turned it on. Steven Universe. “Why does it look like this? better “Now?” my daughter asked.
The difference between OLED and QLED is clear (as you can also read in How to buy a TV OLED technology is beautiful, but it’s only good for true blacks; it’s best if you’re watching movies or playing games in an optimal environment, like a home theater. QLED is just a little brighter. That makes a big difference when you’re a 7 or 9-year-old watching cartoons while jumping on the couch waiting for dinner, or when you’re a mom trying to catch a bit of Copa America action on the couch with the dog while you work.
This is the first TV that Roku has made itself (Roku TVs before last year were made by other companies, just with a Roku brain). My colleague Parker Hall has been testing the base Roku TV, the Plus Series, and was impressed. For a month now, my family and I have been testing the upgraded Roku Pro Series and are also very pleased.
User friendly
Specs and performance aside, one of the main reasons you buy a Roku whatever because it’s easy to use. I really like my Vizio OLED and accept that every time I turn it on, I have to spend five minutes sorting through the Vizio Smart interface and fiddling with cables if I want to play on my gaming PC.
Photo: Adrienne So
I breathed a sigh of relief when I plugged the Sonos soundbar, PS5, and gaming PC into the Roku TV and watched everything just… pop up on the Roku interface. (It has two HDMI 2.1 ports, HDMI eARC, USB-A, USB-C, and a cable input.)
Even though you Maybe Mounting it, I just placed it on our console with the included feet and it fit easily. Adding all your apps—Netflix, Disney+, Fubo—is a matter of clicking the Add Channel button and logging in on your computer, which is basically no time at all unless you forget your login information.
Having an easy-to-navigate interface also makes it much easier to figure out what else to watch. Vizio’s interface is so cluttered that my kids often point straight at it. Steven Universe. On Roku, the CuriosityStream and PBS Kids tiles are so easy to find that the kids have been watching more educational content just out of curiosity. It was a nice surprise in the summer when all the neighborhood kids were just watching TV in our house in the air conditioning.
