Roku TV has been a popular smart TV platform for years now, but Roku itself hasn’t actually made a television set. Instead, the media streaming company licenses its platform to third-party manufacturers like Hisense and TCL, giving those TVs the same interface and features found on media streaming devices like the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+ and Roku Ultra. Roku is now dipping its toe into the first-party TV space with the budget-friendly Plus Series and Select Series. The Plus Series is the more premium (though still inexpensive) line; it has a QLED panel with wide colors and a hands-free remote.

At just $799.99 (and often available for less) for the 65-inch model we tested, the Roku Plus Series is a strong initial outing that hurtles past the Fire TV Omni, Amazon’s dim, undersaturated attempt at a first-party TV. Roku’s model, however, faces stiff competition from its own licensees as nearly a dozen other companies make Roku-enabled TVs. The TCL 4K Roku TV 6-Series ($999.99 for 65 inches, though often available for less), for example, remains the best inexpensive Roku TV thanks to a much brighter picture and more accurate color, even if it costs a bit more. And if you don’t mind trading Roku for Google TV, the Hisense U8H ($1,399.99 for 65 inches, but often much less) offers better picture quality than either of these Roku models, earning it our Editors’ Choice award.

A Standard, Sleek Look

The Plus Series takes the now almost universal approach to midrange and budget TV design. It has a nearly bezel-less screen framed by thin bands of dark gray material on the top and side edges, and a half-inch-wide brushed metallic strip along the bottom. A silver Roku logo sits centered below the screen with a black, trapezoidal bump that holds an infrared sensor and an LED that lights up whenever you press a button on the remote. A power/input button sits on the bottom surface of the bump.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

All connections apart from the power cable sit in a recessed cavity on the back of the TV. The cavity is pushed a bit too close to the middle of the TV; ports are often closer to one side or the other. The more central position here makes it sometimes awkward to reach the connections. Thankfully there aren’t any rear-facing ports that would limit wall mounting possibilities. Two HDMI ports (one eARC), an optical audio output, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a pinhole reset button face left. Two additional HDMI ports, a USB port, an Ethernet port, an RCA composite video input, and an antenna/cable connector face down. The permanently attached power cable is located away from these ports, about a third of the way in from the right side of the TV.

The TV can sit on flat surfaces thanks to a pair of legs, which are situated on the far left and right sides. The TV can also be wall mounted with the proper brackets.

Roku Voice Remote Pro

The Plus Series comes with a Roku Voice Remote Pro. It’s a thick, round-edged black remote control with a large, plus-shaped purple direction pad near the top and a purple fabric tag hanging from the bottom end. Power, Home, and Back buttons sit above the pad around a pinhole microphone, while playback controls, two programmable shortcut buttons, and dedicated service buttons for Apple TV, Disney+, HBO Max, and Netflix sit below.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

The remote is a significant upgrade from the Roku Voice Remote usually included with other Roku TV models thanks to the addition of several features. First, the microphone can pick up your voice if you’re nearby so you can control the TV and search for content by saying “Hey, Roku” without pressing any buttons. Second, the remote is rechargeable (a micro USB port is hiding under the tag). Third, a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left edge of the remote lets you plug in headphones and listen to the TV without disturbing anyone (headphones aren’t included, however). If you don’t want to plug into the remote, the TV also supports Bluetooth headphones for private listening.

Built by Roku

Just like third-party Roku TVs and Roku’s own media streamers, the Plus Series uses Roku OS as its smart TV platform. It’s a simple, direct interface with large tiles for apps and services (which Roku calls “channels”) that doesn’t attempt to be a whole-home hub or overwhelm you with multiple features on any given screen. Most major streaming names are available, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube (though Twitch is not currently available). It also features Apple AirPlay, so you can stream anything from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

(Credit: Will Greenwald)

Roku OS includes a voice search feature, and while it’s not a full voice assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, it continues to gain capabilities. Voice commands can help you search for content, control the TV, and interact with a handful of Roku-branded smart home products. Roku offers its own smart lights, smart plugs, home security cameras, and video doorbells—all accessible via the TV. The video devices can even display live feeds on the TV. It’s a limited selection compared with the hundreds of smart home devices Amazon and Google’s voice assistants can work with, but it’s an option if you want an inexpensive smart home system that works with your TV.

Wide Colors, Modest Contrast

The Roku Plus Series is a line of 4K TVs with a 60Hz refresh rate. It supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and hybrid log gamma (HLG). It has television tuners, but they are not ATSC 3.0.

We test TVs with a Klein K-80 colorimeter(Opens in a new window), a Murideo SIX-G signal generator(Opens in a new window), and Portrait Displays’ Calman software(Opens in a new window). The Roku Plus Series doesn’t get particularly bright in testing with either an SDR or HDR signal. It displays a peak brightness of approximately 412 nits with a full-screen white field and 650 nits with an 18% white field in both cases. Black levels are quite low at 0.01cd/m^2, though not the extreme, effectively perfect levels of black with no light bloom that we’ve seen on TVs like the Samsung QN95C ($3,299.99 for 65 inches). The screen also seems to pick up plenty of ambient light, which can lower the effective contrast ratio you’ll get in a room with moderate lighting well below the tested contrast ratio of 65,000:1.

(Credit: PCMag)

The above charts show the Roku Plus Series’ color levels with an SDR signal in Movie picture mode compared against Rec.709 broadcast standards and with an HDR signal in HDR Bright picture mode with Warm color temperature compared against DCI-P3 digital cinema standards. SDR colors are basically perfect, which is a welcome trend we’ve seen across even budget TVs of late. HDR colors reach even farther than digital cinema standards and are generally balanced, but magenta leans a bit red. While the wide reach might seem positive, oversaturation can sometimes lead to an unnatural look without tweaking the picture, which we’ve seen from time to time when viewing content on the TV.

For example, the TV’s wide color reach looks balanced but slightly overblown in “Growing Up Animal: A Baby Grizzly’s Story” in Dolby Vision. The greens of plants generally appear accurate, but some shades tend to appear slightly oversaturated and garish, even in Dolby Vision Dark mode. It doesn’t look cartoonish and other colors like the muted blues and grays of water don’t suffer, but it isn’t always a completely natural look.

The oversaturation only seems to affect some greens, as reds generally look spot-on. Deadpool’s costume in the opening scene of “Deadpool” is properly vivid and balanced without appearing unnatural or tinted. Later, in the burning lab fight, the yellows and oranges of the flames are bright and relatively varied.

The high contrast we measured in testing doesn’t seem to extend to actually viewing content, especially when there’s moderate or brighter ambient light in the room. In the aforementioned burning lab fight, shadow details appear slightly blown out against the flames, and not as dark as they should

The Godzilla attack in the opening of “Godzilla vs. Kong” looks colorful with strong blues, greens, ambers, and magentas both on the monsters and the scenery. However, the contrast issue appears here as well. While the lights are bright, shadow details often look muddy, with the contours of dark clothes often fading or disappearing altogether.

Low Input Lag, No Gaming Tricks

Gamers won’t be wowed by the Roku Plus Series’ gaming features, but it’s at least responsive. The 60Hz TV doesn’t have a variable refresh rate (VRR) in any form, which also means no AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync. It does have a Game Mode, at least, and it’s effective in reducing latency.

Using an HDFury Diva HDMI matrix(Opens in a new window), we measured an input lag of just 3.1 milliseconds in Game Mode, well under our 10ms threshold to consider a TV to be good for gaming. Make sure you turn the mode on when you want to play anything on the TV, though; without it, the input lag is a sluggish 143.1ms.

A Respectable First Effort

As one of the company’s first TVs, the Roku Plus Series is an admirable attempt to offer strong performance at a budget price. We already know that Roku’s smart TV platform is capable and accessible, and including the Roku Voice Remote Pro with the TV is a nice touch. The panel is brighter than Amazon’s TVs, though its shadow details can look muddy or washed out. It has a wide color range, but this can make HDR pictures occasionally appear unnatural. Even with these caveats, the Plus Series is a strong value that’s worth considering as a budget pick at $799.99 for 65 inches.

Competing TV manufacturers have more experience in implementing the Roku TV platform on better screens, though, and if you can spend a bit more, the TCL 4K 6-Series Roku TV is brighter and has more accurate colors, making it a stronger choice. If you aren’t committed to Roku, meanwhile, the Google TV-powered Hisense U8H has the best picture quality of all these models, making it our top pick for the price and our Editors’ Choice winner.