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Roku Streaming Stick 4K -- HOW TO SET UP + REVIEW
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Jun 22, 2024
Imagine a device small enough to fit into your pocket that has your Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, even your AppleTV+ accounts all set up, and can be easily plugged into a hotel TV, computer monitor, or any other television device, all logged in and ready to go. Tech and media expert Dave Taylro checks out the Roku Streaming Stick 4K and finds that it's super easy to set up - as he demonstrates in detail - and enjoy. Plus, there's an easily paired remote and smartphone app. It can even work with Google Home, Apple HomeKit or Amazon Alexa. Device from @TheRokuChannel Learn more about all the Roku streaming options at: https://www.Roku.com/ Visit Dave's Q&A Web site at: https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ #roku #streamingstick #streamingstick4k #rokusetup #askdavetaylor
View Transcript
0:00
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K. Let's pull one out of the box and get it all set up
0:12
Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this. This is the Roku Streaming Stick 4K
0:18
and it's a pretty marvelous device. The stick itself is basically the size of a very small
0:24
pack of gum. It's about the size of this opening knife that I use. And then there's a remote
0:28
control. It's actually a lot larger than the unit. And the idea is you can plug it into a TV
0:35
or in this case, a computer monitor, and then it gives you smart TV anywhere on any device
0:42
And it works really well, and it's compatible with a ton of different streaming apps, including
0:49
Hulu, Disney+, Max, Peacock, Netflix, Paramount+, even Apple TV+, now works on the Roku
0:58
So you can get all of those set up, all of them logged in, all of them knowing your favorite shows
1:04
and where you are in a series, and it then is entirely portable. So really, really cool. A
1:11
great solution for if you're traveling, because you just plug it into a hotel TV, switch to that
1:17
input, and boom, it's like you're at home, but you're on the road. Cool. Now, let's open this
1:23
thing up. And as I open it, I'll talk to you a little bit about its feature set. So let's get
1:29
that first important cut. And be careful if you do this at home. So the unit, here we go, this is
1:40
the actual streaming stick. And you can see it is astonishingly small. This works with HD, 4K, HDR
1:50
and Dolby Vision. And you plug it into the TV, and then it's basically hidden in the back of
1:56
the television. So there is some plastic on it. We're going to have to, actually, we probably
2:01
don't have to take it off, but I will anyway, because why not, right? So we'll take the plastic
2:08
off to have it look maximally, I guess, unshiny. So it goes from being shiny to being not shiny
2:17
which works for me. And that could probably have been a little easier, but there we go
2:27
So that's just an HDMI plug. And a remarkable number of devices have HDMI in, like this Acer
2:36
computer monitor. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to plug this in. Now, a lot of TVs have USB-A
2:43
which is the rectangular USB plug. And that means you can power this with that. But since this
2:51
doesn't, I'm going to have to give it separate power. But in a minute, I'm going to turn this
2:56
around and show you how it all plugs in. Let's keep with the unboxing. So now this piece is done
3:02
So now there's some instructions. So there's the streaming stick quick start guide. And this is
3:10
honestly, pretty darn easy. So we're going to put this aside and we're just going to wing it
3:16
Legal disclaimer, cool sticker to put on your car and an ad for the fact that Roku has audio
3:24
gear now too. And then the fun, right? Let's get you streaming and you take this out and there's
3:31
everything else that you want in the box. So most notably is the remote. And there's a pretty big
3:38
remote. There's a lot of buttons, but it's really well thought out. The design makes it really easy
3:44
to work with. And perhaps most importantly, there's a little purple tab on the back. And when
3:49
I pull that, it includes batteries and they're already installed. So once I pull that, then the
3:56
remote will have battery power and it'll be able to pair with the stick, but we're not quite ready
4:02
there. So we're going to do that. And then this supplies power to the stick. And you can see
4:09
there's USB-A on one end, and then there's surprisingly micro USB on the other. You don't
4:15
see a lot of those connectors nowadays. So I expect at some point Roku will just switch to USB-C
4:22
which then you don't have to worry about which orientation, which is far superior. But for now
4:28
this is what we got. So that's everything in the box. So I'm going to close the box and we're going
4:34
to just put all this aside because I don't think we need that anymore. So now we have the remote
4:40
we have the power, and then we have the stick. Now let me switch things around so you can see the
4:47
back of the monitor and I'll show you how everything plugs in. This is the back of the Acer monitor
4:52
and you can see HDMI right there. There's some other inputs that are more typical for PCs and
4:57
computers. There's a 3.5 millimeter audio out, but we have a different solution. Roku offers a very
5:04
elegant solution if you want private listening when you're actually using the Roku stick
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Now here's the stick, but first we need power. So we're going to need to start by plugging this in
5:16
and I just happen to have an extension cord. So there's our power option. And then we have this
5:23
cable, and it has USB-A, and that's the end we're going to plug into the power adapter
5:30
And then it has micro USB, and that's going to plug into the stick. So on one side of the stick
5:37
there's a button, and on the other side is that micro USB. So let's go ahead and plug that in
5:44
And so now this is powered, and you can see there's a little white light showing you it has power
5:50
And now I'm going to plug it into the HDMI, and we're done. So now it's ready to go. So let me switch this monitor around, and we'll get back
6:02
to our setup. The next step is to pair the remote, and to do that we need to pull the purple tab on
6:08
the back of the remote. So I'm going to do that, and that now means the battery is connected to
6:15
the remote, and the remote is powered up. So you can see it automatically is pairing the remote
6:20
It showed me that I needed to push a button, but I don't have to even push a button. I'm literally
6:25
just holding the remote. And now it's ready to go. So let's get started. Let's see. So we want
6:32
English. Let's do that. And now it's looking for wireless networks, and I'm going to have to plug
6:41
in my own Wi-Fi. So give me a second to enter my password. It's a little tedious, and I'll be right
6:47
back. Okay, well, let's find out if I entered my password correctly by pushing connect. And probably
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there'll be some sort of firmware update. One of the cool things about the Roku Streaming Stick is
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that it does auto updates, so you'll always be on the latest software. Now one of the things they
7:06
talk about, see, there we go. It's going to get the latest software, so we'll just let it do that
7:11
And so it has 2x faster Wi-Fi, and it's also a fast startup. So one of the things that Roku heard
7:20
loud and clear from customers is that it took too long from pushing the button to having your screen
7:26
on Roku and ready to watch content. So they have worked on that. Now one interesting thing is this
7:32
is a voice remote. You can see here there's a little microphone button, and if you push that
7:37
you can talk to the remote. So you can say something like, show me the latest comedies
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So you'll want to learn what kind of things you can say, but it certainly makes it easy to do
7:47
something like launch Netflix. Now as I said, it's plugged into the TV or plugged into a computer
7:54
monitor. This is just a computer monitor. You can imagine having this in a dorm room or an apartment
7:59
or a bedroom, and boom, you could have it at work and not tell anyone. And then when it's really
8:05
quiet, you can just switch your monitor to actually being a TV. And then you can go on to something
8:11
like Peacock and watch the latest soccer match. How cool is that, right? So let's see. I've told
8:18
you all the streaming channels it gets. It works with Apple Airplay. It has Alexa, Apple Home
8:25
and Google Home compatibility, so you can hook it up with your larger system. And let's see when
8:31
we go to continue. Continue. There we go. The remote can control the power and volume of your TV
8:38
Well, that is not going to work because this doesn't actually have any speakers, but that's okay
8:44
I have an Acer TV. Sure. And no, there's no music playing. So we'll just cancel that, and we're
8:54
going to sign up. Now, I already have a Roku account. To make your life a little easier, I would recommend
9:00
you set up a Roku account at roku.com with your computer or your mobile device, and then log in
9:07
to your stick. And that just makes it easier than having to come up with a new password on your
9:13
television. So I already have that. Again, give me a second to enter that, and then we'll be ready
9:19
to actually start looking at all the channel lineup. Turns out there's an easy QR code that
9:24
this can display that I just used my phone to scan, and it's setting up. I've indicated my
9:30
interests. I haven't said that I already subscribed to any services, even though I do
9:35
So it's just trying to figure out what are all the interesting things I can give you now
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So again, it's chugging along, and I have the option on my phone to sign up for four free
9:47
trials. I don't think I'm going to do any of those, so there must be some way to say I don't
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want to do that. Continue. There we go. So setup complete. Now I can go to my account, or I can get
10:01
the app. Now I already have the app, so I'm going to go into the Roku app, and the Roku app should
10:09
see this device. Let's see. Devices in account. And so let me go ahead, and I'll be able to show you what I'm seeing on my phone. So devices in
10:23
account, you can see that I have Media Room Streaming Stick 4K. So we'll turn that on
10:29
and let's see. This all looks good, and this, meanwhile, is all done. So let's okay
10:39
And let's get you streaming. So I think we have a video here that gives us a little training
10:49
but honestly, Roku is pretty darn easy to use. So here we are. And so now, of course
10:55
what I have to do is I have to figure out all the hassles of signing into all these different
11:01
channels, and you can move things around, and you can add new apps and all sorts of stuff
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So super convenient. Again, notice on the remote control close-up, there are shortcuts for Netflix
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Disney+, Apple TV+, and Paramount+. So those are four premium, really perfect apps to get
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so that you can just jump right to them. Kids like Disney, I gotta say
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And one of the cool things I like about the Roku app is that when you do have this all set up
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and they have videos to show you this, you can use the app for the audio. So since my monitor
11:40
doesn't have any audio, I can have it come out of my phone, and then I can plug in headphones or use
11:46
Bluetooth earbuds or something, and then I'm watching content. I'm hearing content through
11:52
my phone, and no one else has any idea that's going on. So that's the whole Roku deal. I think
11:59
they've done an amazing job with this of making it fast and super easy to work with. And live TV
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you want live TV? They got a ton of live TV. And you can also get to a grid if you prefer a grid
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sort of view. So there's really a lot going on here, and you can see it's super snappy as I push
12:21
the remote. So that's really everything I wanted to show you with the Streaming Stick 4K. I hope
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you can see it's really easy to get this thing out of the box and all set up. And once you've got
12:33
it set up, then you can just relax on your couch and get things the way you want them to. We'll go
12:39
back to home. And, you know, if you're a Netflix person, you can get Netflix hooked up, or Hulu
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or Showtime, or Max, or all of them. And then all you have to do is take the stick and the remote
12:54
You don't even need the remote. You could actually use your phone. And then when you get to grandma's
12:58
house, or your summer vacation cabin, or something, then plug everything into the TV. Make sure it's
13:05
all on the new Wi-Fi network, and you're good to go. Now, disclaimer, is that some of the streaming
13:11
channels are a little testy about you using your service in multiple addresses. But even Netflix
13:18
which at this point I think is the pickiest of them, still allows you to use it for a couple
13:23
of weeks in a different address without any hassles. So if you relocate for the whole summer
13:28
you might need to update your address. But if you're just going on a week holiday, and you
13:33
got a beautiful Airbnb in the Bahamas, or something, imagine something like this, you know, hopefully
13:39
with good Wi-Fi. But something like this would let you watch all your favorite shows and movies
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all from anywhere in the world. And all you have to do is carry that little stick, and you don't
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even need the remote. But yeah, you probably will take the remote too, because it's so easy to work
13:53
with. That's everything. This is definitely one to check out. Roku has a ton of different options
13:59
and a lot of different devices that give you different features and capabilities. So you'll
14:04
want to look at their comparison grid. But this one's a keeper. Now, we should talk about the
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price. But before we get to the price, I'm going to invite you to subscribe to my channel. As
14:14
hopefully you can see, I put a lot of effort into being really fair, and honest, and straightforward
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and informative in my reviews. So there's no secrets. There's no, boom, I had to cut to another
14:27
camera angle. So I forgot to tell you something. So why not subscribe to my channel? And if you're
14:34
going to subscribe, don't forget to hit that bell icon, so you get notifications of my new content
14:39
And I appreciate a thumbs up. Excellent. Now this, and I'm going to unplug it, just pull this out
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So this, and the remote, and the other stuff you've seen, is the Roku Streaming Stick 4K
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And it's $49.99 at Roku.com. Currently discounted down to $39.99. Now, when you look at the cost of
15:06
your streaming services, this is about the cost of two streaming services for one month. And you
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now have a device you can put in your pocket, and carry with you anywhere. And if you have a television
15:20
then your TV probably has that USB out. So you can literally just plug this in
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plug it into the USB port, and there's no need to have any external power. And that makes it
15:34
an extraordinarily flexible device. I'm a big fan. I've been a fan of Roku for a long time, and this
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is a really nice addition to their lineup. That's all I got. I'm going to plug things back in, and I
15:45
think I'm going to start hooking up my favorite streaming channels. So I'll catch you in my next video
16:04
Bye
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