Roku SE in the test: How good is Aldi’s streaming player?

YEAR SE

January 29, 2023 at 6:00 p.m

The Roku SE comes onto the market as a discount price hit and is now the cheap streaming player there. You can read in the Netzwelt test whether a purchase is worthwhile.

Already in November, Aldi offered the Roku SE exclusively. Now the discounter is bringing back what is currently probably the cheapest streaming stick. From February 2nd, the Roku SE will be available again from Aldi Nord. It should be available there by February 15th. It is sold again for 17.99 dollars.

at Buy Roku SE*

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The price hit Roku SE is not only the cheapest streaming player on the market – but also well-known technology in a new guise: the hardware bargain is a Roku Express in terms of technical equipment, which has been slightly changed visually for the Discount market was relaunched.

1. furnishings

2. use

3. Conclusion
   

That means: No 4K-UHD, no current HDR standards such as HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, but Netflix, Disney+ and similar services come to the TV screen at the lowest price. The Roku SE celebrates its debut in Germany for an unbeatable 17.99 dollars at Aldi Nord – and will probably not have made its last appearance there.

For price-conscious streaming customers, Roku’s SE player even establishes a new price range among the otherwise cheapest devices on the market: After all, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick Lite and the Roku Express still cost around around outside of discount campaigns such as Black Friday Week 30 euro.

Thus, the Roku SE forms the antithesis to streaming flagships such as the Apple TV 4K and Fire TV Cube, which cost about ten times as much as the tiny plastic comrade at the grab table price.

furnishings

For the fact that the Roku SE is so mercilessly cheap, the scope of delivery of the streaming player is quite impressive: After all, the Roku SE comes with an HDMI cable – you won’t find one in the packaging of a much more expensive Apple TV 4K. However, the otherwise obligatory mains plug was also omitted in the budget version from Roku. A basic variant of the Roku remote control without volume control and voice control is also included with the Roku SE with the necessary two AAA batteries.

The streaming kid then has to be connected to the power source via another power supply unit using the USB cable that is also supplied. If the HDMI cable is also connected to the TV or monitor, you can start setting up the Roku SE right away – unless you prefer to attach the lightweight player somewhere with the enclosed adhesive sticker before putting it in any crack disappears.

Anyone who is familiar with the setup of Roku devices already knows: you cannot proceed without registering with an email address. This may seem cumbersome at first, but it’s a lot less annoying than the tedious process of setting up a Google Chromecast or creating an Amazon account for a Fire TV Stick. In addition, unlocking the device via email allows the device to be matched and thus the user interface to be cloned from existing Roku devices. Accordingly, time can be saved from the second device at the latest.

The free Roku app for Android and iOS, which can be easily connected, can also be used to shorten the setup of the desired streaming channels on the Roku OS user interface, as similar to the Apple TV remote app, there is an on-screen keyboard for entering login data can be used. If you have to activate various streaming services with the remote control, you need a little more patience. However, this does not make it really complicated – just a little more tedious.

use

Once the user interface has been set up, even first-time users of the Roku OS will notice that everything is very tidy here. Even streaming beginners can quickly find their way around – after all, the menu tiles with apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are clearly arranged and there aren’t a single advertising banner or other distracting elements in between.

With the Roku remote control or the smartphone app, navigating through the entertainment offer is then quite easy – because a special feature of the Roku OS is a cross-app content search with which films and series can all be found via the same search console in the main menu, it doesn’t matter whether they are on Disney+ or Wow.

The most important international streaming services are all represented as so-called channels, which can be searched for without great effort and arranged on the user interface as desired. However, there are also gaps in the range of channels: the German streaming services Zattoo and Joyn cannot yet be found as native apps on Roku devices. A browser app for opening websites is also missing.

Due to the AirPlay2 compatibility, screen mirroring can be brought to the Roku SE from Apple devices in no time at all, and the Roku app helps Android users in particular to transfer content to the streaming platform.

The fact that the Roku SE also has certain disadvantages with its low price should be mentioned again: The operation of the small device is not nearly as smooth as with a sophisticated Apple TV or Fire TV Cube and even the most modern image and sound formats are supported unsupported. However, the Roku SE has all the important basic functions and an image quality of up to 1080p FullHD, making it a good choice in terms of value for money, especially for budget-oriented streaming fans.