Streaming platform Roku today announced a trio of new Roku TVs that it hopes will elevate its standing in the smart TV market, which until now has mostly been in the affordable-but-not-outstanding range.
While technical specs are still sparse on the new 55-, 65-, and 75-inch televisions, we do have the obvious inclusion of 4K resolution and a mini-LED system to control the local dimming zones. This isn’t the first time Roku TVs have featured mini-LED tech — that stretches back to the 8-Series sets from 2019, as part of its partnership with TCL.
In any event, the inclusion of mini-LED means that the TV will have more local dimming zones, and each of those zones is smaller, which gives the entire package more control over which parts of the screen (and thus what you’re watching) are bright, and which parts are dark. That’s a good thing, even if it’s still not quite as great as OLED. But it’s also not as expensive.
“Roku Pro Series’ picture and audio quality, polished design, unique features, and ease-of-use bring the market leadership and innovation that Roku is known for to a TV made for streaming,” Chris Larson, Vice President of Retail Strategy for Roku, said in a press release. “As we hit 10 years of the Roku TV program, we believe this new line of TVs will set a new standard for an elevated streaming experience.”
There is no word yet on the exact pricing or when the new Roku TV Pro Series sets will be available in the U.S., other than sometime this spring and “under $1,500.” So stay tuned for more on that. But note that the Pro Series will live alongside the Roku Select and Roku Plus Series televisions, which will enjoy greater availability in 2024.
And coming to the greater Roku TV lineup — which is celebrating its 10th birthday — is a new feature called Roku Smart Picture, which will automatically adjust the picture mode by determining what kind of content you’re watching. Roku says it’ll identify that through “artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data from content partners.”
The flip side of that, of course, is that it gives Roku — which is more of an advertising company these days than a low-cost hardware company — that much more information about what it is you’re watching on its products. But in any event, Roku says that the Smart Picture feature will ensure “that consumers are getting the best presentation of their favorite content every time.”
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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