Roku Stick vs. Roku 4/3: Play Movies via Roku on (4K) TV

Velemoochi

Roku Stick vs. Roku 4/3: Play Movies via Roku on (4K) TV

Roku’s line of streaming boxes are still the most popular, beating out Google’s Chromecast and the Apple TV. We get a lot of questions about the Roku Stick and how it compares to the Roku 3 and Roku 4. Which Roku will be the smart choice? The choice here isn’t as simple as it seems. Before we decide which Roku you should get, let’s took some time to perform a side-by-side test.



Hardware

Speaking of the hardware, the Roku 3 and 4 have several advantages over the Roku Stick. Both the Roku 3 and 4 have USB ports that allow you to play files on a flash drive on your Roku. They also have a micro SD card slot that allows you to add extra storage to your Roku while Roku Stick doesn’t have a micro SD card slot.

However, the Roku Stick also has the advantages of being small, and it can be easily hidden behind your TV. The Roku Stick also comes with a USB cable that allows you to power your Roku with the USB port on your TV. This enables you to use the TV’s sleep timer to turn off your Roku, stopping any stream that may be running and saving GB of data from being wasted.

User Experience

After tested all these three Roku products, we find that both the Roku 3 and the Roku 4 are considerably faster than the Roku Stick, but the Roku Stick has the new Netflix Channel that allows you to select the Netflix profile you would like to watch and so does the Roku 3 and Roku 4.

Although the Roku Stick is slower than the Roku 3 and 4, it is still a fast device for a Stick. You should be able to stream content without any issues. However, if you want the fastest available device the Roku 3 and Roku 4 are what you want.

4K Streaming

It will be the 4K era. So a nice choice among Roku Stick and Roku 3/4 should take 4K streaming into consideration. Roku Stick and Roku 3 supports HD 1080p video while only Roku 4 supports to streaming 4K content to 4K TV. Learn >> 4K Streamer: Roku 4 vs. Fire TV(2015)

Verdict

If you want speed or you have a 4K TV, Roku 3 and 4 will be great while the Roku Stick is nice for hiding your Roku behind your TV. In the end get what is right for you.

Related Software Recommended:

Since Roku 3/4 have USB ports and a micro SD card slot, you can put your local video to USB Flash Drive and Micro SD Card to play on Roku. However, when you play videos with Plex on Roku 3/4 via USB, the media is limited:

USB Media Formats

Video: MP4 (H.264), MKV (H.264)
Audio: AAC, MP3

Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate can convert H.265, MOEG, WMV, MOV, FLV, 3GP, TS, VOB, M2TS, MKV, AVI, etc to H.264 MKV/MP4 for Roku 3/4 playback. It can change DTS, AC3 audio to AAC, MP3 for Roku. Batch conversion and GPU acceleration are supported.

Pavtube ByteCopy is a Blu-ray/DVD Ripper that helps you rip and convert any copy & region protected Blu-ray/DVD discs, Blu-ray/DVD folder, Blu-ray/DVD ISO, DVD IFO to H.264 MKV/MP4 with AAC/MP3 audio for Roku 3/4. It also can rip Blu-ray/DVD to lossless MKV with multiple subtitle/audio tracks and all chapter markers and encoded MP4 with multi-track audio. A/V parameters and aspect ratio adjustment are supported.

Money Saving Tips: There is a bundle software promotion to help you save money:
ByteCopy($42) + Video Converter Ultimate($65) = Only $79.9, Save $27.1



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Roku Stick vs. Roku 4/3: Play Movies via Roku on (4K) TV