Roku Express HD
Roku is the grandfather of streaming devices and deserves your respect pioneering or validating this market. They have grown over the years thanks to support from streaming giant Netflix which took interest in the company in its earlier years. The relationship has paid off handsomely for Roku whose devices were well integrated with Netflix. Now Roku has about 5 products in the streaming player line up with Roku Express HD being the cheap front-runner. The Roku Express HD supports Full HD Up to 1080p (1920 x 1080) with up-scaling from 720p. So you’ll enjoy quality picture from your Full HD TV. It supports Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos pass through over HDMI which just means good sound. It comes with the standard Roku remote that usually has dedicated Netflix or Apple, Hulu, TV+ hot buttons depending on the version. The remote doesn’t support voice control unfortunately although this can be found in the more premium version. Related post: Roku Express vs Fire TV vs Chromecast vs Apple TV vs Mi Box S: What Streaming Device Is Right for You? The Roku Express is a low-power device which can be powered via your TV’s USB port or wall power source. You also benefit from regular Roku TV OS updates, so you’ll always get the latest stuff from Roku. You get access to pretty much all popular streaming services including Netflix, Youtube, Prime Video, Hulu, Spotify, HBO, Pandora, ShowTime, Starz and Roku’s own Channel.
Mi TV Stick
Read more: Xiaomi Mi TV Stick Review: A pocket-friendly Android TV Box However, according our review, the Mi TV Stick falls short in performance compared to The Roku Express or Fire TV Stick. This Mi TV Stick is powered by Cortex-A53 Quad-core 64bit CPU, Mali-450 GPU, 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB eMMC ROM in storage sector. It supports Full HD 1080p just like the Fire TV stick and Roku Express. It runs on Android TV 9.0 which means it takes full advantage of all Google goodies you would expect. For instance is remote which has Netflix and Prime Video hot buttons also has voice control support powered by the Google assistant. You get access to the Google play store with has hundreds of streaming services and Apps. Compared to the Roku Express or Fire TV Stick, I would say the Mi TV Stick is much more universal product thanks to the Google-Xiaomi partnership. This wouldn’t mean much for readers in the U.S of course. In fact, you’re better off with a Roku or Fire TV in the states. But for the rest of the world, because of geo-restrictions, limited partnerships, you want to bet on a company that’s as global as Google. However, the Mi TV Stick is the most expensive of the trio. At $47.99 on Gearbest, it’s almost twice as much as its counterparts with mediocre performance. For an additional $10-20, you’re better off with the Mi Box S. Here’s a summary of hardware spec comparison of Roku Express vs Fire TV Stick vs Mi TV Stick
Walmart Onn Android UHD streaming player
For just $30 on walmart, you get all the Android TV goodies including several hundreds of streaming channels or apps such as Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Sling, Spotify, Pluto, Tubi etc. You get to control your TV with your voice through the Google Smart assistant. You get the built-in Chromecast so you cast videos and music from supported services.
Conclusion
