What you need to know
- Roku TV rolls out new Backdrops as part of the new update rollout.
- The rollout also includes Roku smart picture, which adjusts the picture based on the content users are watching.
- The content browsing experience on Roku TV models is set to improve with the addition of IMDB ratings and trailers.
Roku is rolling out new updates to improve your TV-watching experience. The optimizations include new backdrops, Roku smart picture, and several other updates for users who browse, discovery sections, and also across the mobile app for devices in the U.S.
Backdrops display a series of paintings or artwork, including a collection of classics, museum collections, and abstract designs, which users can choose from, adding to the living room's aesthetic. Additionally, users can select their personal artwork or family photos to display on the TV screen.
For users who don’t often want to fiddle with the display settings for the best picture quality while watching different types of content, new automatic optimizations will be in place, like adjustments to brightness and colors applying the best picture mode, which includes sports, movies, vivid, and standard for the content users are watching. Moreover, this feature will also adjust the backlighting, uniformity, and colors based on the type of TV users are using.
The browsing content experience is likely to improve on Roku TV as the company is adding an IMDB rating for the content available on the platform. Accompanying trailers will also be added in the entails pane. For users who often use the Save List for a TV show or a movie, a new badge will be available whenever a new season drops or episode drops.
The Roku mobile app is also getting useful updates, like a new navigation bar allowing users to browse between five tabs: Home, Search, Remote, Devices, and Account. There is a new “Top Searched TV and Movies” row to browse popular content, showcasing daily searched TV shows and movies. The search update will now have a full keyboard for users to search content across categories, actors, and other topics. The search results are believed to be more visually immersive than before.
Lastly, the popular Roku City screensaver is gaining new TV and movie cars for users to play around with. There are supposedly dynamic additions that will include a new layer of easter egg fun for the TV screens.
The announced software updates will ship to Roku users in the coming weeks and months. Roku Smart Picture is going to ship for all Roku TV models. It will be the default for the latest Roku models of this year, whereas the older Roku owners will have to enable it after the update in picture settings. Roku also notes that the OS 13 will roll out to all supported devices in the U.S. in the coming months.
