A 4K streaming player with HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and a rechargeable remote. Best for Roku ecosystem users or budget buyers willing to tolerate ad-heavy navigation.
9 mentions · 5 threadslast mention Oct 2024
Real comments from Reddit, linked to the original thread. Nothing paraphrased.
The ultra has been very buggy for me using apps like youtube. The sound will play, but just have a purple screen or only half of the video will come through. Apparently a known problem for larger Tv's. I've loved ROKU for years, but super annoyed by the poor support and poor performance out of their flagship product.
I have the Ultra. The article is on point. Good but not perfect device. Ads are obnoxious on a high end device. There's no other device I know of with all the streaming apps and has a remote control. I believe it's worth it even for 1080p because its much faster than the gen1 Roku
Roku can do 4K, and HDR formats like Dolby Vision just fine. But it's also slow and littered with ads. As another user said... Hyundai vs. Lamborghini.
Roku is okay if you're used to Roku and already in the Roku ecosystem, but if you want the best streaming device to pair with your freaking awesome G4, then you want to go with the Apple TV. I'm an installer and deal with setting up so many devices and the Apple TV is in a league of its own.
Roku has worse codec support, worse subtitle support, worse DV support, is slower, and has really bad networking. If you can afford it, the Apple TV is better in nearly every way.
I'd go for the Apple TV just based upon recent Roku changes in how they serve ads and treat their customer's. The ATV is well worth the cost.
Have had mine for a few days. Replaced a 2017 Premiere+. MUCH faster (4+x) no lag or buffering. Noticeably improved pic quality. Get this one, not the one being disco'd.
I was a big Roku fan up until my Premier + began to get sluggish. I was willing to pay more for better performance but the new-at-the-time Ultra was only a slight improvement in hardware specs and I was sick of having to upgrade my streaming device every year or two. Imagine my surprise when I went from that outdated Roku to the 2nd gen ATV 4K. 3 years later and it feels every bit as snappy as day 1.
I'm really surprised so many people are saying the Apple TV is better for Plex. I have every streamer available and the Roku by far has had the least issues with Plex, other than that I don't like it that much, I prefer to use my 4k apple TV.
Of 9 tracked mentions, 5 are negative and 2 mixed, largely centered on ads and long-term performance decay. Multiple owners describe Roku devices — including the Ultra — getting noticeably sluggish over a few years of use, a pattern several say pushed them toward Apple TV instead; one described 3-year-old Apple TV hardware still feeling "snappy as day 1" by comparison, unlike their aging Roku. Ads on the home screen are repeatedly called out as "obnoxious... on a high-end device." Buggy app playback (purple screen, partial video) on some larger TVs is also reported. That said, several owners say the newest Ultra is meaningfully faster than older Roku hardware and works well with Plex specifically. Fine if you want a straightforward, app-rich interface and can tolerate ads and eventual slowdown; the Apple TV 4K is the more consistently recommended alternative among owners who've used both.