If you had a larger TV or if you wanted to keep the Express 4K+ anywhere other than right underneath the TV, you’re going to need another cord. It’s long enough to reach the ports of a 65-inch screen while still laying flat on the table, but just barely. The only corner that Roku cuts here is that the HDMI cord is on the shorter side. The inclusion of all these accessories is actually somewhat surprising – while other manufacturers are all too happy to send you out the door without all the necessary equipment in hand, the Roku Express 4K+ is a complete kit. Roku also includes a two-foot-long HDMI cable in every box, a remote and double-sided adhesive tape that will allow you to stick the Express 4K+ onto your TV or on any surface. But, the benefit to its small form factor is that you can throw it in a bag or store it on your media shelf without it taking up too much real estate. Long story short? Roku makes great products but its product lineup is getting a bit hard to follow – even for someone whose job is to cover streaming devices.ĭespite the potential to cause some confusion, it makes sense why Roku named it the Roku Express 4K+ – it looks exactly like the Roku Express.Īt 0.7 x 3.4 x 1.4 inches (H x W x D) it’s nearly the same size as the original Roku Streaming Stick and, funny enough, it’s even smaller than the remote that comes inside the box.
That’s not even mentioning the soundbar-streaming player hybrids, the Roku Streambar and Roku Streambar Pro (formerly called the Roku Smart Soundbar) or TVs that come with Roku built-in that can sometimes be found for around $150 like the TCL 3-Series TVs. It starts with the basic HD-only Roku Express ($29.99) that’s followed by the new Express 4K+ ($39.99), but then there’s the Roku Streaming Stick+ ($49.99) that also streams in 4K and often only costs $39.99 when it’s on sale and the Roku Ultra that also streams 4K content – but can do Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision as well.
Where things become slightly more confusing is when you talk about the new Roku lineup.
For an extra $5 it’s definitely worth buying the Bluetooth remote that can control the TV. Though the TV does not decode DTS, it will still pass it through, so the test is valid.The key difference between the two models is that the Roku Express 4K+ (reviewed here) uses a Bluetooth remote while the standard Express 4K uses an IR remote. To play back media, devices are connected to the TV with HDMI, and then the TOSLINK output of the TV is used to connect to the speakers. My speaker system only has Analog, TOSLINK, and Coaxial inputs, so it can accept bitstream audio up to 5.1 max (and most modern codecs fallback to this). The TV natively supports Dolby Audio and bitstream to passthrough over HDMI. The correct audio format plays through with no issues. TV reports that it is receiving Stereo audio.
Play content with DTS 5.1 or 7.1 audio, observe that DTS appears on home theatre receiver.
TV reports that it is receiving Dolby Audio over HDMI. Play content with Dolby 5.1 audio, observe that Dolby Digital appears on home theatre receiver.Any Dolby/non-DTS audio above 5.1 channels is automatically down mixed to Stereo.