Roku is making smart home products now, and they’re designed to work with your Roku streaming device as well as numerous voice assistants.
In addition to streaming TV shows and movies, Roku will also give you the option to stream live video feeds from its new lineup of smart home cameras (and a smart doorbell). And there are other smart home devices, such as lighting and plugs, you’ll be able to control through Roku TV or a new Roku Smart Home mobile app as well.
The initial assortment includes a floodlight camera, indoor and outdoor cameras, an indoor 360-degree camera, a video doorbell, smart bulbs, smart light strips, and smart plugs for inside and outside. And you’ll be able to control all of it using the app, a Roku voice remote, or “third party voice integrations”—which probably means Alexa and the like.
Granted, Roku isn’t exactly known for its smart home devices, but all of these new products were co-developed with smart home security veteran Wyze Labs. Yes, that Wyze Labs. So while Roku’s new devices claim user data encryption and 2FA options, you might also want to pay attention to any security updates (or lack thereof) as the years go by.
Without a subscription you’ll still be able to live stream the camera feed and record images to the cloud, along with smoke and carbon dioxide warnings, and alerts for motion and sound. However, with a subscription you’ll also get person, package, vehicle, and pet detection along with event filtering. And if you subscribe by November 30th, it’ll run you $2.99 per camera (normally $3.99) for the first three months, or $29.99 per camera (usually $39.99) for the first year.
Some of the devices that are part of Roku’s smart home lineup are available now through Walmart.com and directly from Roku. That said, the full compliment of Roku smart home devices will be available exclusively in Walmart stores starting Monday, October 17th.
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