From WIRED · Rick Broida · · 4m
Roku's first OLED TV delivers user-friendly picture at budget price
Roku's Pro Series OLED starts at $1,000 with strong colors and deep blacks, but limited brightness and few size options hold it back from premium rivals.
In brief
Roku's Pro Series OLED starts at $1,000 with strong colors and deep blacks, but limited brightness and few size options hold it back from premium rivals. Roku released its first OLED TV starting at one thousand dollars with excellent color and contrast, though limited brightness and only two sizes available keep it…
Roku enters the OLED market
Roku released its first OLED TV, the Pro Series, starting at one thousand dollars. Recent discounts like October Prime Day knocked three hundred dollars off the price.
Strong picture quality with real compromises
The Roku Pro Series OLED delivers very good picture quality with rich colors and deep blacks, but it is not blazingly bright. Size options are limited to fifty five or sixty five inches.
Easy setup with tool-free installation
The two feet attach with large thumbscrews and can be set at two different heights. Roku's friendly interface walks you through configuration steps, many of which you can complete on your phone.
Ports and connectivity options
Four H D M I ports sit on the left side.The top one is labeled eARC and painted purple.The bottom two are white one hundred twenty hertz ports for gaming.
Wi-Fi 5 instead of newer standard
Roku chose Wi-Fi five instead of Wi-Fi six or later. The reviewer encountered zero issues with connection reliability, stability, or performance using an Eero Pro router that also tops out at Wi-Fi five.
Intuitive Roku operating system
The Roku operating system offers colorful oversize app icons and simple menus. More UI customization is available now, like displaying icons in four columns instead of three. The Roku City screensaver adds whimsy.
Ads present but not obnoxious
Ads appear in various places, nearly a third of the home screen and a banner at the bottom of the menu. They are mostly streaming related, not obnoxiously product oriented like Amazon and Google UIs.
Remote is excellent but not rechargeable
Roku's remote has a purple navigation pad, dedicated play slash pause and shuttle buttons, a programmable shortcut button, and backlit controls. It is not rechargeable, an annoying oversight for a Pro Series T V.
Limited brightness reveals itself in testing
Testing Solo: A Star Wars Story on Disney Plus revealed suboptimal brightness in dark scenes. Even in a relatively dark room, moments when Han lays out his plan and confronts Lady Proxima lacked visibility.
Contrast and black levels excel
The white hallway scene in Mythic Quest season three episode one showed excellent contrast and black levels. Ian Grimm's shirt appeared dark as night against smooth white walls, with different shades expertly contrasted throughout.
Gaming performance is crisp and responsive
The one hundred twenty hertz refresh rate and low latency game mode served Xbox experiences well. From Cuphead to Burnout: Paradise, everything looked crisp and vivid with fast response times and zero blur.
Smart Picture Max automates picture settings
Smart Picture Max automatically detects content type and adjusts display settings. It disables motion smoothing for most T V shows and movies, eliminating the soap opera effect without manual tinkering required on most O L…
Audio quality disappoints at higher volumes
The speakers produce plenty of volume but get harsh and shrill at higher levels.The opening of Nick Perito's The Green Leaves of Summer in Inglorious Basterds was deeply unpleasant even at modest volume.
Budget OLED delivers strong value proposition
The Roku Pro Series is a budget model probably on par with LG's similarly affordable B six.It offers vivid color, pitch black blacks, and strong contrast.
What to remember
Roku released its first OLED TV starting at one thousand dollars with excellent color and contrast, though limited brightness and only two sizes available keep it from matching high-end models.
