![YouTube TV Roku support arrives, but Apple TV is still pending [UPDATE]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/youtube_TV_main.jpg)
As promised back in December, the first quarter of this year has brought YouTube TV to the Roku platform. The service's app launched in the Roku Channel Store this morning, giving streaming stick, set-top-box, and smart TV owners the opportunity to watch YouTube's livestreaming TV service via their favorite media device. Support for Apple TV is schedule to arrive in coming weeks, too.
As expected, TCL has unveiled a bunch of new Roku-based products at CES 2018, not the least of which is the new TCL Roku Smart Soundbar that Roku recently teased in its own announcement. The new lineup includes refreshed Roku smart TVs for the 2018 year, including models that pack Dolby Vision HDR support and the new iPQ Engine. The TVs span two different series: the 6-Series and the 5-Series.
Roku has announced several big changes that underscore the company's own push into the smart home market. The company has officially unveiled Roku Entertainment Assistant, its own voice assistant for verbally controlling Roku OS devices. In addition, Roku has launched a new licensing program for "whole home entertainment" that will allow OEM brands to make smart home entertainment devices that work with Roku OS.
In the market for a smart TV? Philips has launched the first of what will eventually be a lineup of smart TVs running Roku's platform. This smart TV joins the Roku models available from RCA and TCL, giving buyers on a budget another choice in which television they get. The move puts more competition on Amazon, which itself is getting in on the smart TV market via the arrival of some Westinghouse models packing its Fire TV platform.
Roku has confirmed the acquisition of Dynastrom, a Danish multi-room audio startup that will continue to operate out of Denmark as a Roku subsidiary. In confirming the acquisition, Roku said the business move was a way to expand its own engineering team, but the talent grab comes amid a wider rumor: that Roku is planning to launch its own smart speaker to take on Echo, Google Home and more.
RCA previously announced new Roku TV models, but they hit their budget price point by eliminating a key coveted feature: 4K resolution. Now the company is back with new Roku TV models that do include Ultra HD, ensuring buyers can watch their favorite shows in the highest resolution offered. You will be paying more for this extra feature, though.
DirecTV has another free-device promotion for its over-the-Internet TV service DirecTV NOW, and it covers all four tiers of service, including the cheapest plan. Unlike the Apple TV promotion that was offered back in August, this latest one targets holiday shoppers and offers a Roku Streaming Stick for free. The catch? You've got to prepay two months of service upfront.
Plex's Live TV feature now supports Roku devices, enabling users to fast-forward, rewind and pause live television delivered over-the-air via an antenna. Plex announced the new support today, saying that the only exception to it is the current inability to schedule a DVR to record shows from the Roku. However, already existing DVR'd content from other devices can be watched on the platform.
There are hundreds, no, thousands of movies available almost literally at our fingertips, on smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and more. But these naturally come from different sources via different channels, almost all of which are in competition with one another. Wouldn't it be grand if there was just one place to find and watch them all? That nearly impossible dream has suddenly come true with the new Movies Anywhere platform that brings together five Hollywood studios and four digital retailers under one roof, coexisting in peace and harmony.
While some TV makers are flaunting curves, TCL is now flaunting size instead. Announcing what has got to be one of the largest panels designed for living rooms, the new TCL C-Series is bringing more than just size to your home. It is also bringing crisp and bright visual paired with theater-grade audio. But more than that, it is also bringing thousands of channels, movies, and episodes via Roku OS, making it the largest Roku TV in the market.
Roku recently announced multiple new devices as well as Roku OS 8, the latest version of the company's media box firmware. That new operating system will be released soon for certain Roku devices, and will later make its way to Roku smart TVs starting next month. Ahead of that release comes an update to both the Android and iOS Roku apps that brings support for Roku OS 8.
Just a few days after Amazon unveiled its new Fire TV, Roku is hitting back by refreshing much of its device lineup. Today Roku is introducing new devices in the Express, Streaming Stick, and Ultra lines, and though it may not be making sweeping changes to all of them, what's new is definitely worth a look. On top of all of that, the company is also revealed what will be changing in Roku OS 8.