Channels & viewing

[atc98092]

True, Internet streaming speed is unlikely to be the limiting factor with most players. It's the applications themselves that continue to require more powerful equipment. And while the Roku 4 is 4K (it was their first 4K player) it's lacking one key feature that virtually all 4K streams include, and that's HDR. So yes, unfortunately it really is obsolete. Watching HDR content in SDR really looks bad, as it's dim and the colors are washed out. The only way to get the streaming providers to send an SDR version is to set the screen resolution to 1080, and then you lose the 4K resolution. 

Another issue is Roku used a processor for the Roku 4 that they never used in any other player, and it's likely not capable of supporting some of the planned features of future versions of the Roku OS. I have a Roku 4 that my granddaughter uses in her bedroom, although I'm not certain it actually gets much use. Yes, it still functions, but it's almost eight years old now and I'm not surprised Roku is discontinuing support for it. 

[Strega]

In 40 years, I’ve owned 3 family room TVs.  Yet during that time, I’ve connected quite a few VCRs (Beta, VHS, BetaHi-Fi, SuperBeta, and S-VHS), two Laserdisc players, two DVD players, one Blu-Ray player, an SD satellite receiver, an SD DVR (TiVo), and an HD satellite receiver with DVR, and then, most recently, streaming devices.

TVs can generally be kept for a very long time, if you wish, but the devices do come and go.  On the plus side, a streaming device like the Roku Express 4K+ costs about $40 and is tiny, whereas many of the media devices that have come and gone before were over $1000, and needed special furniture to hold them. (And the Express 4K+ isn’t even their cheapest model.)

If you view “My offers” on your Roku, you may occasionally see some discount deals.  I wouldn’t expect huuuuge discounts though, because as far as I can tell, Roku makes little on selling hardware.

[andyross]

To add: Unless you need Ethernet, USB port, Dolby Vision, possibly some higher-end audio, an Express 4K+ is a good replacement. It has plenty of built-in memory (more than the Roku 4), so need for an SD card. The main price is US$39.99, but you might find it cheaper elsewhere (be careful with eScam eBay or similar.) Amazon has it for $39.00, with some other sellers at lower prices, but some seem to be older models with the non-voice remote. I think the Roku itself is the same, just which remote it's bundled with.

[Malkavian]

Yeah I got this error today too, I paid $230CAD 6 years ago for the Roku 4, I’m sorry but that’s a lot of money specially 6 years ago, it was mostly useless because apparently US content is way superior than the Canadian so I never used it, it was disappointing.

I just got Disney+ less than a year ago, and here I thought finally some use to this Roku! so I’ve been really using this Roku for less than 1 year and finding this is really disappointing. I don’t know where the actual support issue is coming from, Roku or Disney? Someone said Disney but i didn’t find anything online, so it could be either or. In any case this is me not buying another Roku but replacing it with another brand altogether. 

PS. I Just checked Disney+ official site for device support, xBox One (I checked this cause I have it) is still supported and it came out in 2013, 10 years ago and still supported! so this about other devices having a span of  2 year supports or so and making it sound like Roku has the best support sounds like bull to me. 

[atc98092]

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@Malkavian wrote:

Yeah I got this error today too, I paid $230CAD 6 years ago for the Roku 4, I’m sorry but that’s a lot of money specially 6 years ago, it was mostly useless because apparently US content is way superior than the Canadian so I never used it, it was disappointing.

I just got Disney+ less than a year ago, and here I thought finally some use to this Roku! so I’ve been really using this Roku for less than 1 year and finding this is really disappointing. I don’t know where the actual support issue is coming from, Roku or Disney? 

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Ouch, that was really pricy. I got mine in 2015 at the Roku price of $99, and the exchange rate isn't that crazy between us. Whomever you purchased from really marked it up big time.

The support issue is both Roku and Disney. Roku is dropping support for the Roku 4 (4400) for reasons mentioned previously. Disney is dropping support because Roku is dropping support. While I'm sure there'd be no issue with Disney allowing the 4400 to be used for a while longer, since it won't receive any further Roku OS updates they probably feel it's wise for them to shut it off. It's possible that the Disney+ channel actually continues working on the 4400 for a while (just can't be added to a player), but I would expect that it could stop working at any time after their publicized stop date. 

While you may be unhappy with Roku over this, the same thing can happen with other players as well. While you have had your 4400 for six years, it's actually almost eight years old, and many electronic devices lose their support in less time than that. While using a different brand is certainly your choice, I simply advise looking closely at the other options available before buying one. A Fire TV player is really Amazon-centric in their user interface, which I really don't care for. Apple TV has a clean interface, but it's really expensive and Apple is far more strict on what is permitted to be installed on their devices. 

[andyross]

 It's up to the developers to continue supporting older platforms. Roku has ceased support and the 4 will not get OS13. The 4 was a bit of an oddball and used a different processor than previous or newer Roku's. AppleTV+ was never supported by Apple.

I paid US$139 back in 2016. It is now used in a bedroom, but rarely used. I have an Ultra on my main TV. That TV is from 2010 and was an early Smart TV. All the main services dropped it years ago, and I don't even have it network connected anymore 

[Malkavian]

Ahhhh thanks! That does explain a lot! I checked in Disney+ the roku devices supported and it goes something like this:

Roku2, Roku 3, Roku4k

skipping Roku 4 altogether, so that comment about the odd one out makes sense and now I feel cheated. I had to pay a lot because it was very hard to get Roku in Canada and the only place was Amazon, how unfortunately, the more reasons for them to support it to make it up to us….

[Strega]

Wikipedia says the Xbox One was originally priced at $499 (USD.) I do generally expect more expensive/higher-end/more-powerful things to be useful for longer.  Or, to put it another way, the Xbox One was overkill for streaming, so it’s no surprise that it’s still usable for that, years later.

Anyway since you have the Xbox One already, I would just use that for as long as you can. 

[scubasteve69]

I got this message on my 4K Roku.  Why? 

[atc98092]

@scubasteve69 we're glad you're here, but please read the responses above. There's only one 4K Roku player that is being dropped from support, and it's getting close to eight years old. It's the Roku 4, model 4400. It doesn't support HDR, and has other reasons it is being dropped from support.