Credit:
Reviewed.com / TJ Donegan
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Credit:
Reviewed.com / TJ Donegan
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
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The latest flagship model of the Roku lineup is easy to use, supports 4K, HDR and Dolby Atmos sound, has the best remote, and every app you need. Read More
We like that the affordable Google Chromecast supports Android apps, while still letting you cast from a phone, laptop, or anything with a Chrome browser. Read More
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is one of the best you can buy, with a superb remote, plenty of streaming options, 4K HDR, Dolby Atmos, and more. Read More
The Apple TV 4K (2021) has an improved remote and all the bells and whistles you could ask for, making it well worth considering for Apple fans. Read More
The Roku Express 4K+ isn’t perfect, but in this price range, it’s a serious bargain thanks to its solid interface and excellent smart home support. Read More
We’ve spent years testing (and living with) all the streaming devices, dongles, boxes, and sticks from Amazon, Roku, Google, Apple, and Nvidia, and we're certain that the best streaming device for most people is (still) the Roku Ultra (2022) (available at Amazon for $98.54) . The latest Ultra supports 4K and HDR video, offers an intuitive interface, the excellent Voice Remote Pro, and support for every major streaming service. It's the creme de la creme of streaming devices, and we feel the price is worth the quality of the experience.
If you’re looking to save a little bit of money, or you prefer Android, our favorite budget-friendly pick is the redesigned Google Chromecast with Google TV (available at Best Buy) which boasts its own excellent remote, streaming apps, and support for a very wide range of Android apps. But if neither of those are your style, we're certain there's a good streaming device for everyone on our list below.
The Roku Ultra offers everything we want in a streaming box.
The Google Chromecast with Google TV is a top-notch streamer and one of the best values around.
Simple and intuitive interface
Dolby Vision and HDR10+
Great remote
No Ethernet option
No onboard storage
Great remote
Has Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
Works great with Apple gear
Stale design
Pricier than competition
Simple interface
Excellent smart home support
AirPlay 2
No Dolby Vision
No headphones jack on remote
Supports all major streaming services
Excellent remote
Favors Amazon content
Access to Roku's full platform
Remote lacks voice-control, power/volume buttons
Video maxes at 1080p
Requires HDMI
Hi, my name is TJ Donegan. I'm a former Executive Editor at Reviewed and have been testing consumer electronics for a decade. In my time at Reviewed, I’ve covered cameras, tablets, smartphones, televisions, laptops, headphones, and—of course—streaming boxes. My personal experience with streaming boxes stretches back to the earliest days of the Roku, and I personally own a streaming device from every major manufacturer. Though I still have a cable subscription, the majority of my own TV diet includes Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Max, and I frequently switch to live TV services like Youtube TV and Sling TV for months at a time.
These days, nearly every streaming device has access to most major streaming services. To that end, our tests focus primarily on the hardware—the remote, the device itself, how it connects to your TV, how fast it is and how it feels to use it. On the software side, we also evaluate things like ease of use, the presence of ads, the ability to use things like voice search to discover content, and any other relevant features such as the ability for the device to install and use mobile apps.
Our goal is to find the best possible streaming box for most people. Though there are a few devices that are more specialized if you’re into, say, PC gaming, our top pick is based on what we think is the best option for the vast majority of people streaming TV and movies.
There are a few key things to keep in mind when selecting a streaming box or streaming stick. The first is making sure you get a device that works with your TV.
In short, yes. Almost every new TV is going to come with a 4K screen these days, which means that it has four times as many pixels as older 1080p Full HD screens. Nearly every device on this list supports 4K (and it’ll say so on the box and in the model name, typically).
Even if you don’t have a 4K TV yet, you’re likely to have one at some point and it’s not worth pinching pennies on a 1080p device just to have to replace it with a 4K-ready one later.
While 4K is fairly simple, HDR (or High Dynamic Range) is much more complex. Basically, it is a format that lets your TV adapt to make part of the screen brighter or darker depending on what is playing. This, in turn, affects the color shading and vibrancy, allowing the best TVs to better display the attributes that make great video content sing.
HDR TVs also typically support wider color gamuts, meaning you get more vivid colors that are beyond what older TVs were capable of displaying. There is a lot of detail we’re skipping here, but in a nutshell, if you have an HDR TV you’ll want a streaming box that supports HDR so you can get the most out of it.
4K devices from Roku, Apple, Chromecast, and Fire TV support HDR with supported TVs. As long as you are using a newer HDMI cable, you should be able to just play HDR content through these boxes without having to change anything in the menus. That said, only some of those devices support Dolby Vision HDR, which we'll discuss in more detail below.
Among picture purists, Dolby Vision has a slightly better reputation, but both formats are evolving and have their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, a newer version of HDR10, HDR10+, is on the move in hopes of upending Dolby Vision's place at the top of videophiles' lists, but for now, it's a two-way race between HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and not all streaming devices support both formats.
HDR10 is supported by every HDR streaming device, but Dolby Vision is only found on select on;y a few devices of the devices in this guide. The same is generally true for HDR TVs. The majority support HDR10, while some also support Dolby Vision. You’ll need a TV that supports Dolby Vision to utilize it, so if your TV only supports HDR10, Dolby Vision shouldn’t be a concern.
Reviewed takes data privacy extremely seriously, and unfortunately, most streaming services do not. In most cases, you can opt out by going to your streaming device's account or settings pages and navigating to the section on privacy. After doing so, you may still see ads and such, but at least the streaming box manufacturer and their partners won't be able to track and monetize your viewing habits.
Just be aware that each streaming service may have its own ad tracking built-in, and this is often not something you can avoid.
We don’t typically evaluate each streaming box for how well they handle any individual service, the Roku Ultra is the best for Netflix in our opinion. Though the app experience isn’t any better than on other devices, the ability to plug into ethernet for a stutter-free experience at a still-excellent price puts this over the top for us. It also comes standard with the Voice Remote Pro, our favorite remote on the block.
It's a small win, and any of our top choices will be great options for Netflix and any other streaming services, but the Ultra experience and pricing make it our go-to pick here.
Dolby Atmos is a fancy audio codec that promises even more immersive sound than traditional surround sound if you have an audio system like a Dolby Atmos soundbar and other hardware to take advantage of it. This differs from Dolby Vision HDR, which exclusively refers to the picture format. Support for Atmos does not guarantee support for Dolby Vision.
Many of the models we have tested support Dolby Atmos sound. Occasionally, select apps will fail to pass it through properly on some devices and you may need to have other compatible equipment to handle the conversion, along with Atmos-compatible speakers or soundbars. You can learn more about Dolby Atmos and how to get it in our comprehensive Dolby Atmos guide.
TJ is the former Director of Content Development at Reviewed. He is a Massachusetts native and has covered electronics, cameras, TVs, smartphones, parenting, and more for Reviewed. He is from the self-styled "Cranberry Capitol of the World," which is, in fact, a real thing.
Hailing originally from Montana, Ryan parlayed his time working as a musician and audio engineer into a career in digital media in 2012. Since then he's had extensive experience as a writer and editor, including everything from op-eds and features to reviews on TVs, audio gear, smart home devices, and more.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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