While I had the Apple TV app running, I tuned into some live MLB soccer. The action: sharp and smooth (and dull, obviously, because soccer), and the same was true when I switched over to an NFL game on DirecTV. That’s as expected with a 120-Hz refresh rate.
Speaking of which, that rate, coupled with low-latency game mode (which kicked on automatically) served my Xbox experiences well. From the 1930s palette of the cartoonish Cuphead to the candy-colored arcade racing of Burnout: Paradise, everything looked crisp and vivid, with fast response times and zero blur.
For my color investigations, I clicked into Planet Earth II on HBO Max, Pixar’s Coco on Disney+, various “8K” nature videos on YouTube, and an Inglorious Basterds 4K Blu-ray played on the Xbox. Across the board, the Roku Pro Series produced vibrant, richly detailed color—but with less of the “pop” I’ve witnessed on high-end LG and Sony OLEDs. That’s partially due to the panel’s limited brightness.
Whether that’s a bad thing is open for debate; some would argue that higher-end OLEDs oversaturate, the shiny colors more of a distraction than an enhancement. Discuss.
A notable Roku innovation is Smart Picture Max, which automatically detects the type of content you’re watching and adjusts various display settings accordingly. Though it’s hard to gauge the impact of this on things like color and brightness, there’s one clearly quantifiable benefit: motion-smoothing. Smart Picture Max disables it for most TV shows and movies, meaning you don’t get the dreaded soap-opera effect. That alone gives the Pro Series a leg up over most OLEDs, which require manual tinkering to disable this heinous feature (and again to re-enable it for sports and gaming, the only situations in which it’s not heinous).
The one catch here is that any Dolby Vision content overrides Smart Picture Max, leaving motion-smoothing switched on. Fortunately, Roku makes it refreshingly easy to modify that and other picture settings; just press the star button on the remote. I found (and toggled off) smoothing with just a few clicks. Another nice perk: Any change you make applies instantly to whatever you’re viewing, so you can immediately gauge whether it’s what you want; you don’t have to exit the menu to see the results.
On the audio front, the presence of Dolby Atmos does nothing to improve the TV’s speakers, which produce plenty of volume but get harsh and shrill the higher you go. Indeed, the opening measures of Nick Perito’s “The Green Leaves of Summer” in Inglorious Basterds were deeply unpleasant, even at a modest volume. This came as something of a surprise, as Roku’s previous Pro Series TV sounded much better overall. The speakers here are tolerable at low volumes in a small room; for everything else, you’re going to want a soundbar.
In the end, Roku’s first OLED won’t win over any die-hard fans of premium panels; it’s a budget model through and through, probably on par with LG’s similarly affordable B6. But it’s still an OLED, with all the vivid color, pitch-black black, and strong contrast that technology affords. And the Roku remote, interface, and automated image adjustments contribute to a splendid user experience. Watch for the next sale (Black Friday, anyone?) and you’ll feel like you’re getting a steal.
