Check out this handy list of the main Roku Ultra specs: During our testing, we found most media was easy to find with a simple search and apps were easy to install. It’s fun to see how Roku changes the background image to match events of the day. On Halloween, for example, they used a simple spooky theme. On election night recently, the interface took on a presidential theme. This all happens automatically. For unique features, it all starts with the remote. It’s thick like a candy bar and the Roku Voice Remote Pro has an earbud jack on the side so you can watch The Mandolorian in peace with your own audio delivered right into your ear canals. There are four obvious buttons to access Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and Hulu with one click. If that doesn’t salve the soul when it comes to popcorn night, there’s also the Roku Channel, which contains free shows, Roku originals, and access to premium content. It’s amazing. (By the way, you don’t even need a Roku Ultra to access the Roku Channel app—it’s available for phones and tablets.) We decided to do a little content test on the Roku Ultra to see if it was the content maven we imagined. Are there any gripes here? Sure. A small one is that, by default, the Roku Ultra beeps too often. Almost every menu, search, and back button produces an annoying beep. You can turn it off, and it’s easy to find in the settings menu, but it’s a bit obnoxious. One of the downsides to pristine, loud, and room-filling audio with a soundbar (we tested the Sonos Arc) is that every beep and error message is also louder and more annoying. Which means: quality is inconsistent. Older movies and shows looked a bit dated in how they look, not to mention the plot lines and acting. Newer shows on HBO Max, meanwhile, look stunning because they were filmed at higher quality. While some older movies are in 4K, the quality of the 4K doesn’t look the same as it does now. (Technically, 4K is always the same resolution, but trust us—older movies still look a bit obsolete.)
