When looking for a video streamer, some people primarily pay attention to the technical specifications and the price and little to the possible performance. If you’re going the apps-per-pound route, the Roku Premiere will be at the top of your list of prospective purchases, not least because it gives you access to Apple’s unparalleled library of 4K HDR movies. But if you’re looking at things from a performance-per-pound perspective, it shouldn’t be on your list at all.
The Roku Premiere is physically odd. It’s compact and light, and you wonder why Roku didn’t turn it into a small stick. Instead, it looks like the front end of a streaming box cut into three pieces. It doesn’t even have the weight to stand flat on a surface, instead dangling out of your TV at the end of a bundled HDMI cable, with a USB cable and power plug providing power.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]The only other thing in the box is the remote, a pleasantly ergonomic affair with a pared-down selection of buttons that includes dedicated shortcuts for four key apps (in the UK, those are Netflix, Google Play Movies & TV, Rakuten, and Spotify). The remote control requires line-of-sight, which is a shame considering that the Premiere’s design otherwise invites you to hide it away. It also doesn’t have a microphone for voice control.
Both problems can be solved by downloading the Roku app, which lets you send touch and voice commands over the Internet. You can also use the app to turn your phone into an audio receiver that allows private listening through headphones: useful if you want to listen privately without plugging your headphones directly into the TV.
Behind the rudimentary design and low price is a spec sheet with some strong highlights, with Apple TV being prominent in the app selection. Whether or not you’re interested in the new Apple TV+ streaming service, Apple TV also gives you paid access to the best selection of 4K HDR movies available. If you own a 4K HDR TV, you should definitely have Apple TV in your life.
The real problem with the Roku Premiere, however, is its picture performance. In the past, video streamers had a more computer-like quality, but these days you can buy budget models (such as the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K) that deliver a proper, cinematic picture. Unfortunately, the Roku is not one of them.
It’s dull, unsubtle, and coarse. When played back via Apple TV, colors are garish, exaggerated, and lack any subtlety of shading, especially in the brightest parts of the picture. In the daylight scenes, the film has a warm, bright color palette, but the premiere ramps this up to a comic book-like unrealism.