Roku is adding new features that are designed to improve the sports and live TV experiences, as well as content discovery in general. While these new Roku OS 12.5 features have been announced today, they are expected to roll out to Roku devices in stages over the coming months.
For sports fans, Roku is making it easier to follow a user’s favorite team by favoriting them. Through the new Favorite support, fans can keep track of the teams they’re interested in, including keeping track of upcoming games. In addition, a new Sports Highlights feature will offer a way for fans to catch up after the game through access to must-see clips and analysis within the Roku Sports experience.
Speaking of the Roku Sports experience, this is also being expanded to include additional content. Specifically, the Sports experience will support sports content from Max in the coming weeks, and will then gain support for motorsports in early 2024.
In terms of live TV in general, Roku is also making some improvements to the live guide. Basically, Roku is adding the option for users to personalize the experience by ordering the channels however they want. This also includes the option to remove channels to cut down the list.
For those that often use What to Watch to find and watch content, Roku is adding new categories to make it even easier and quicker to filter content. These new categories are due to arrive in the coming weeks, and include TV Shows, Movies, New & Popular, and Free.
Another notable improvement is Roku Photo Streams support for Google Photos. Thanks to this improvement, Roku users will be able to connect their Google Photos account and add photos from their Google account to a Roku Photo Stream to use them as screensavers.
For those that like to fine-tune the viewing experience, Roku is also adding deeper picture settings to 4K devices. Once available, users will be able to customize color temperature, color space, gamma correction, and noise reduction directly from the TV.
Other new mobile and smart home features and improvements include:
- Roku Mobile App Search: Visual Search is coming to the Roku Mobile app, allowing users to discover new entertainment in a more visual and immersive way than before. Users can simply navigate to the “Search” tab on the mobile app and search for content with ease.
- Event History: With all new support for Roku Smart Home Video Doorbell events, users with a Camera subscription can now go back and see who was at their front door using the Cameras app on any Roku streaming players and Roku TV™ models. As previously announced, users can also access Smart Home Camera events history within the Cameras app.
- Notifications: No need to pause your favorite show to see if your package has arrived — Roku Cameras and Doorbell owners with a Camera subscription will now get instant notifications on their Roku streaming players and Roku TV™ models.
Once again, these Roku OS 12.5 enhancements are due to roll out over the coming months and in stages, so some features may arrive sooner than others.
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