LOYAL AG said:
I was thinking about this thread today. I don't see where Roku fits as a product. We just bought a new TV. $900 for an 85" TCL TV with all the apps built in. It's connected to a Roku Sound Bar and their woofer but if it wasn't I'd still be streaming Predator on Max with a Sonos Sound system. As far as I can tell I lose nothing if a didn't have Roku. I say that as all of our TV are on that platform but right now I doubt any of the replacements will be. What am I missing?
So it's a smart tv using what system? It has to run something. Or did you mean that it is one that has roku built in? In which case, that's why it has all the apps built in, running through roku. So that is where it fits as a product, as you are asking about. Roku is running the apps that allow you to watch, as an operating system. Like how you can't use a web browser without having windows or MacOS to run any program. You can't just buy a blank computer and expect anything to work without an operating system to do it. Max will work with any of the streaming devices/systems, but it needs one of them for it to function. Roku is just one of the options.
Generally tcl has roku or Google interface for all the apps. I don't think tcl has their own software, or maybe they do? So some system is running all those apps on your tv, even if you don't realize it. The roku interface is quite good from my experience. Both my tcl tvs have roku built in, and I love it. I can run every app I need through it. Another tv I have has a firestick running things, since Samsungs smart tv system is garbage. I tried to use the Samsung system first, but it was a piece of ****, so I plugged in a $25 firestick to get things working. And my main tv has an Apple TV running everything, because the LG smart system is also garbage (but better than the brand new Samsung TVs system I just bought), and doesn't even have all the apps I need. So to answer your question, if you want a tv to run all the apps effectively it is best to have one of the streaming devices attached to them (or built in), as the TVs without those systems, while still having functionality as a smart tv, are vastly inferior in every way. And that's where roku fits in. From my experience using all of them extensively, Apple TV is the best, followed by roku, and then amazon firestick. But some of that is personal preference. They all run everything I need, whereas the built in systems don't, or are basically afterthoughts by the tv manufacturers, so generally just aren't that good. Also, as the tv gets older, if you want to update systems, it's quite easy and cheap to replace these streaming devices basically as updates whenever you want to improve that hardware.
So while some TVs have their own systems that can run many apps we use, they are vastly inferior in quality of user experience as well as the ability to run apps that work on them. In some circumstances, for some people, that is sufficient. But for me, if I can't run apps I use all the time, or if they're slow and buggy, then it's not worth it. So I plug in a roku or firestick, which does everything I need, and they do it well.
Roku is now also building their own TVs, which is an interesting development. I'd imagine the quality will be comparable to TCLs, but I have no first hand experience. They're pretty cheap through Best Buy, so I'm actually tempted to pick one up and see how it compares to a similar system from tcl. I'm not sure if this change in rokus business model will be significant, but if it works, then it could be a good step in the right direction for the company to expand their business and add stability in a very competitive field.
