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Gam2
Reel Rookie

Roku Ultra 2019 - support for Airplay 2 and Homekit support and .mkv videos

Hi. Planning to buy my first Roku Ultra (2019). Just wanted to ask the ff:

1.) Can or does it support Apple Airplay 2 and Homekit? I am deciding between this and an Apple TV for my HD/non 4k TV.

2) USB Port - can this play .mkv videos? 

 

Appreciate your inputs. Thanks.

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3 REPLIES 3
makaiguy
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku Ultra 2019 - support for Airplay 2 and Homekit support and .mkv videos


@Gam2 wrote:

1.) Can or does it support Apple Airplay 2 and Homekit? I am deciding between this and an Apple TV for my HD/non 4k TV.


Roku lists the devices below as supporting streaming with AirPlay 2 (the 2019 release of the Ultra you mention is model 4670):

Device Model

 Roku TV™ 

 Axxxx, Cxxxx, CxxGB, 7xxxx 

 Roku Streambar™

 9102 

 Roku Smart Soundbar 

 9101, 9100 

 Roku Ultra

 4800, 4670, 4661, 4662, 4660, 4640 

 Roku Premiere

 4630, 4620, 3920 

 Roku Streaming Stick®+ 

 3811, 3810 

 

See these links for help:

Roku page re Airplay 2: https://support.roku.com/article/360057488733

Helpful forum post re getting Airplay to work: https://community.roku.com/t5/Roku-Device-Features-Settings-Updates/Help-setting-up-Apple-Airplay-on...

Roku Community Streaming Expert
I am not a Roku employee, only a user like you.  Please, no support questions via private message -- post them publicly to the Community where others may benefit as well.
If this post solves your problem please help others find this answer by clicking "Accept as Solution.".

Ultra 4800 | Streaming Stick 4K+ 3821 | TCL Roku TV 43S245/C107X
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Gam2
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku Ultra 2019 - support for Airplay 2 and Homekit support and .mkv videos

Thank you very much for your help.

Comparing the 2 latest ULTRA versions, do you think it is worth getting the 2020/latest model vs the 2019? Im just planning to use it mostly for Airplay (instead of getting an Apple TV), Youtube and playing movies using the USB port. 

Your thoughts?

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku Ultra 2019 - support for Airplay 2 and Homekit support and .mkv videos

I have three Ultra models, the 4640, 4670 and the 4800. In my opinion, the 4800 is noticeably faster to use, and also has the Dolby encoder to convert DD+ to DD if your equipment doesn't support DD+. It does have a USB port for playing media. I noticed that when it downloads an update it loads almost twice as fast as my other Ultra models. 

Note that MKV is a container, not a type of media. Yes, a Roku can play a MKV file, but only if the codecs it contains are supported. For any Ultra, that would be MPEG2 (H.262), AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265) or MP4 video, and the audio has to be PCM, AAC (stereo only) or Dolby Digital. If your Roku is connected to an AVR that supports DTS, then that audio will bitstream as well. It cannot bitstream any lossless version of Dolby or DTS audio. I play media all the time, but it streams from my DLNA server, not from a local connected drive. That way I can transcode any unsupported video or audio. It also has the benefit of the media being available to any device on my network. A media drive connected to the Roku will only allow playing the media on that particular Roku, and nothing else can access it. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

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