Roku Pro Series OLED TV Review (2026)

While I had the Apple TV app running, I tuned into immoderate unrecorded MLB soccer. The action: crisp and creaseless (and dull, obviously, due to the fact that soccer), and the aforesaid was existent erstwhile I switched implicit to an NFL crippled connected DirecTV. That’s arsenic expected with a 120-Hz refresh rate.

Speaking of which, that rate, coupled with low-latency crippled mode (which kicked connected 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 accelerated effect times and zero blur.

For my colour investigations, I clicked into Planet Earth II connected HBO Max, Pixar’s Coco connected Disney+, assorted “8K” quality videos connected YouTube, and an Inglorious Basterds 4K Blu-ray played connected the Xbox. Across the board, the Roku Pro Series produced vibrant, richly elaborate color—but with little of the “pop” I’ve witnessed connected high-end LG and Sony OLEDs. That’s partially owed to the panel’s constricted brightness.

Whether that’s a atrocious happening is unfastened for debate; immoderate would reason that higher-end OLEDs oversaturate, the shiny colors much of a distraction than an enhancement. Discuss.

A notable Roku innovation is Smart Picture Max, which automatically detects the benignant of contented you’re watching and adjusts assorted show settings accordingly. Though it’s hard to gauge the interaction of this connected things similar colour and brightness, there’s 1 intelligibly quantifiable benefit: motion-smoothing. Smart Picture Max disables it for astir TV shows and movies, meaning you don’t get the dreaded soap-opera effect. That unsocial gives the Pro Series a limb up implicit astir OLEDs, which necessitate manual tinkering to disable this heinous diagnostic (and again to re-enable it for sports and gaming, the lone situations successful which it’s not heinous).

The 1 drawback present is that immoderate Dolby Vision contented overrides Smart Picture Max, leaving motion-smoothing switched on. Fortunately, Roku makes it refreshingly casual to modify that and different representation settings; conscionable property the prima fastener connected the remote. I recovered (and toggled off) smoothing with conscionable a fewer clicks. Another bully perk: Any alteration you marque applies instantly to immoderate you’re viewing, truthful you tin instantly gauge whether it’s what you want; you don’t person to exit the paper to spot the results.

On the audio front, the beingness of Dolby Atmos does thing to amended the TV’s speakers, which nutrient plentifulness of measurement but get harsh and shrill the higher you go. Indeed, the opening measures of Nick Perito’s “The Green Leaves of Summer” successful Inglorious Basterds were profoundly unpleasant, adjacent astatine a humble volume. This came arsenic thing of a surprise, arsenic Roku’s erstwhile Pro Series TV sounded overmuch amended overall. The speakers present are tolerable astatine debased volumes successful a tiny room; for everything else, you’re going to privation a soundbar.

In the end, Roku’s archetypal OLED won’t triumph implicit immoderate die-hard fans of premium panels; it’s a fund exemplary done and through, astir apt connected par with LG’s likewise affordable B6. But it’s inactive an OLED, with each the vivid color, pitch-black black, and beardown opposition that exertion affords. And the Roku remote, interface, and automated representation adjustments lend to a splendid idiosyncratic experience. Watch for the adjacent merchantability (Black Friday, anyone?) and you’ll consciousness similar you’re getting a steal.