Product Comparison: Roku Ultra vs Apple TV

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Roku Ultra HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player with HDR

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Best Pick

Apple TV 32GB, 4th generation

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General Specifications

Brand

Roku

Apple

Model

Ultra

Origin

China

About the Product

Looking for our ultimate streaming player? Meet the new Roku Ultra for HD and 4K Ultra HD TVs. It comes fully loaded and delivers a powerful streaming experience with a quad core processor, 802.11ac dual band wireless, and the latest streaming technology.

From TV shows, movies, and live sports to thousands of games and apps, it’s all available on Apple TV. Enjoy content from iTunes and apps like Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, Hulu, and Netflix — or use the Siri Remote to find just what you want.

Key Specs

Max Resolution

2160 p

1080 p

CPU Cores

CPU Speed

1.5 GHz

1.4 GHz

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Roku Ultra HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player with HDR

The display at 4K resolution is stunning on a 65" display, it is a pleasure to use.
The screen resolution is an improvement over my old Roku 3 which I do really appreciate.
Really enjoying this new ultra. The sound and picture quality are both great. Even normal resolution looks better from the Roku than my Apple TV, Direct TV stb, or streamed content from my oppo BDP-103.
The 4K works really well. Though it took some fiddling to set up. It's been pretty solid since. Very happy overall.
The unit is under 4 months old and has up to date firmware. Many apps lag subtitles up to 3 seconds. The unit is now flickering all the time.

Apple TV 32GB, 4th generation

Great speed compared to other streaming boxes. You can’t use Siri inside apps but the talk to text feature is rarely ever wrong.
Great picture and quick response. Very happy with the purchase.
Great speed and good resolution. It’s rare when you come across these two combinations at once.
Seeing the low resolution image is quick enough -- but unsatisfying when casting to a large audience.
It doesn't seem to keep up with HD streaming very well and starts showing low-resolution video.

Size & Weight

Color

Black

Height

0.85 in.

1.4 in.

Width

4.9 in.

3.9 in.

Depth

4.9 in.

3.9 in.

Weight

8 oz.

15 oz.

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

Hardware

Processor & GPU

ARM Cortex A53

A8 chip with 64-bit architecture

RAM

1 GB

2 GB

Storage

0.512 GB

32 GB

Interfaces

Power, HDMI 2.0a, Ethernet 10/100, microSD card, USB

HDMI 1.4, USB‑C for service and support, Built‑in power supply, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet

RAM
Storage

Roku Ultra

Apple TV

What customers say about "Hardware"

Roku Ultra HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player with HDR

The main reasons I chose the ultra over the premiere+ was the optical audio out, usb port, and voice search on the remote.
I was impressed with the ability to remove some categories on the left like the "store" for movies and TV shows and news, further simplifying the interface.
No problems with it, works great. I wanted a new roku for the faster processor than roku 3 and greater support for upcoming live TV through plex via a cablecard network tuner.
The downloads are capped at 3.5 mb a second and unit blanks the screen as if it is resetting the screen resolution all the time.
As soon as I plug in the USB drive, the unit starts rebooting. Over and over again.

Apple TV 32GB, 4th generation

The fast apple processer and 3mb of ram. It makes the app fly. Better experience.
It has a really easy interface to use has voice recognition and it has an easy remote control
Interface is a bit different but easy enough to learn and voice search works well.
Apple hardware is always incredibly well designed. The interface worked pretty well.
The delay between casting a photo from an iPhone to the TV in full resolution is annoying (10-15 seconds). Sometimes casting a video clip takes minutes!

Software

Operating System

Roku OS

tvOS

Compatibility With Other OS

iOS / Android

iOS 7.0 and higher

Included Apps

Roku, PBS, NBC News, Tubi, Hulu, SlingPlayer, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeartRadio

Hulu, ESPN, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Apple TV

What customers say about "Software"

Roku Ultra HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player with HDR

The roku interface is simple, intuitive, and mostly uncluttered. Setup was a breeze.
Apps open almost instantly and I have yet to have an app crash. The settings are easy to work with.
It is phenomenal with the Harmony Hub remotes, every app shows up as an icon on the remote and you can just tap the icon to swap "sources". No idiotic inaccurate wiping like stupid AppleTV4.
I had constant issues with the Plex app crashing or saying my server was too slow to stream a given video, etc.
Roku's apps all have crippled search functions, if even they do have a search.

Apple TV 32GB, 4th generation

The interface and software is user-friendly and incredibly quick and navigation, UX/UI..well thought-out.
The software on the Apple is definitely more sophisticated. If you are in the Apple ecosystem it will integrate very easily for you.
The software has worked flawlessly. Highly recommend this item.
My software is up to date. My device used to work, but suddenly stopped working this week.
Also many of the apps on the TVos App Store are terrible. For the price theres too many flaws here.

Features

Form Factor

Desktop

Additional Modes

Gaming

Supported Formats

H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP9, AAC, MP3, WMA, FLAC, PCM, AC3/EAC3, DTS, ALAC, JPG, PNG, GIF

HEVC SDR, H.264, MPEG-4, HE-AAC, AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, WAV, AC-3, E-AC-3, HEIF, JPEG, GIF, TIFF

Wireless Standart

802.11ac MIMO dual-band wireless

Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n/ac)

Remote

Enhanced voice remote with personal shortcut buttons, TV power, volume, and mute buttons, plus headphone jack for private listening

Siri Remote

Extras

Includes Premium JBL headphones, Works with Google Assistant, Works with Alexa

Accelerometer and three-axis gyro, IR receiver, iTunes, Accessibility features for people with disabilities, BFR‑free, PVC‑free

What customers say about "Features"

Roku Ultra HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player with HDR

The remote control built in audio jack for headphones is perfect. Volume is easily loud enough and audio quality is decent.
The Android remote control app is very good and offers the ability to do private listening.
I love the remote, which I think is bluetooth based, rather than IR. Don't have to point it at anything, very responsive, and it has a headphone jack right on the remote.
Headphone jack in the remote - That's a nice feature and it stops arguments for a number of reasons especially if you have a TV in the bedroom that you share with someone.
The remote has a volume lever on it so you can adjust the volume. The earbuds are pretty nice too and you can use a different set of headphones if you like.

Apple TV 32GB, 4th generation

The remote is smart, simple, track-pad for your finger and button depression, mic to tell it what you want to see/search for..simply flawless.
The Apple also supports Dolby Vision HDR format which the Roku does not. This was the primary reason I purchased it.
Apple TV was easy to set up and connect to home wifi. Performance of the device left some gaps.
I really dislike the touch-pad on the remote though. The tactile feedback of the old silver button wheel was much better.
This is an absolutely horrible product that barely works properly, cannot receive wifi good at all, and is almost impossible to get tech support help from Apple!

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Certifications