Roku Streaming Stick Video Review

Above is my full initial video review of the New Roku Streaming Stick that comes complete with a physical remote. In case you missed it you can check out the unboxing by clicking here if that’s your thing. After the unboxing the entire setup took roughly about 45 minutes which as most of you know is pretty standard for Roku and will depend on what channels you want installed and need to initially sign into. I wasn’t impressed at all by the design, etc. but I was excited to see how it would handle compared to a recent Roku box I setup at my parents’ house. Here are some pictures of the Roku Streaming Stick –

Overall the Roku Streaming Stick is responsive to move through the settings and channels, but where I experienced a large amount of lag was when using Netflix. I’m not 100% positive it was the Roku Streaming Stick, but afterwards I started up Netflix on my Galaxy S4 and I got right in without any lag. Plex, Media Browser, Amazon VOD were all very responsive and I didn’t have any issues moving through the content and/or playing the content. Unless you missed it, Media Browser recently updated their Roku channel to allow Live TV, which upon attempting to use it the Roku Streaming Stick rebooted and the second and third attempt resulted in the channel hanging as you can see in the video above; Looks like I need to do some troubleshooting, it’s a bug or it’s not supported on the Roku Streaming Stick. I liked seeing casting functionality built into the Roku Streaming Stick which allows you to cast videos, photos and music from any device with the Roku app installed, a nice functionality to include however I see it being limited to just that unlike Chromecast.

Not that I thought I’d have problems but I was excited to use the physical remote without any missed signals as my Roku Streaming Stick resides behind my TV. If you’ve ever used or seen a Roku remote, then there’s nothing new here other than not having a headphone jack built in for private listening like the Roku 2 & Roku 3 boxes.

For reference here’s the specs on the Roku Streaming Stick –

Networking:
802.11 dual-band (a/b/g/n compatible) with WEP, WPA, and WPA2 support
Video Outputs:
720p
1080p
Audio Output:
Digital over HDMI (7.1 and 5.1 surround pass through)
Power Consumption:
Less than 2W (typical) when streaming HD video
Power Input:
5V – 1A power adapter
Size:
3.1 x 1.1 x .5 inches
Weight:
0.64 ounces

Roku Streaming Stick Quick Start Guide

For those of you interested, stay tuned and I’ll be doing a full comparison between Chromecast and The Roku Streaming Stick.

You can pick up a Roku Streaming Stick below: