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Roku launches Streambar and the new Ultra in time for holidays

Roku's family of streaming media players is welcoming two newcomers: The new Roku Ultra and the brand new Streambar.
roku ultra and streambar speaker in front of tv
Roku's new Roku Ultra and Streambar join its family of streaming devices, the former an improvement on a top-rated product and the latter a brand new and compact soundbar.Roku

Roku, maker of one of the best streaming devices around, is launching several updates to its existing products ahead of Amazon Prime Day 2020 and the holidays. The streaming device brand, which recently reached a long-awaited resolution with NBCUniversal on video distribution to bring NBCU's Peacock to Roku devices, has added two new devices to its lineup: Roku Ultra and the compact Streambar. Both devices are available for pre-order right now and will ship out on Oct. 15, the day after Prime Day.

New Roku Ultra 2020 Streaming Media Player (pre-order, ships Oct. 15)

Roku's new iteration of the Ultra improves on the highly-rated 2019 edition (which sports a cool 4.6-star average rating from nearly 12,000 reviewers on Amazon. The refresh will now support Dolby Vision HDR content, a normal for the brand's TVs but not its streaming devices. According to Roku, the new Ultra also features Wi-Fi performances that's up to 50 percent better than its predecessor. The Ultra is released against a backdrop of new Amazon streaming devices as well as Google's new streaming devices.

Roku Streambar Streaming Media Player with Soundbar (pre-order, ships Oct. 15)

Roku's other large release is a compact soundbar and smaller sibling to the Roku Smart Soundbar, which currently boasts a 4.6-star average rating from more than 950 reviewers on Amazon. The Streambar clocks in at 14 inches, a much easier and simpler soundbar to find rom for, all things considered. Though small, the soundbar equips four speakers into its body, two front-facing and two pivoted sideways to attempt a fuller sound, which will stream 4K HDR content and can work alongside both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. If the compact soundbar sounds alluring but you're looking for bigger sound, you'll be able to pair the Streambar with the highly-rated Roku Wireless Subwoofer as well as the brand's Wireless Surround Sound Speakers.

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