Review: Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version)

Into the world of pucks, a stick arrives.

This stick is no stooge. It has the brains of a puck, and most of the brawn. It also has a few unique tricks of its own. But because it's a stick, it's cheaper and simpler, and therefore a great option for people new to the whole puck-and-stick streaming game.

The stick in question is the new Roku Streaming Stick, a simple $50 device that's roughly double the size of a USB thumb drive. It plugs into the HDMI port on your television (any HDMI port — it doesn't require an MHL port like last year's version did) and it gives you all of the core functionality of the larger, more expensive $100 Roku set-top box. It has nearly everything a modern cable-cutter desires: it'll do Netflix, you can watch Amazon Instant Video, you can use it to run Plex. In short, you have access to all of the same content that you'd get with any other Roku device, and at the same quality; up to 1080p.

There are a few trade-offs. Most notably, the remote on the Streaming Stick isn't as advanced as the ones that come with Roku's fancier set-top boxes. It's an RF remote, so you don't have to point it at the device to control it, which is nice since the device is hidden behind your TV. But you don't get the headphone jack – the Roku 2 and 3 come with a remote that allows you to plug in a set of headphones and watch TV while listening privately, so you can avoid distracting or disturbing the others in your household as you binge on Weeds. It's a great feature, and one of the coolest parts of the Roku puck experience. The Streaming Stick doesn't offer this nicety. Also, there's no motion sensor in the remote like there is in the Roku 3, so you can't use the Streaming Stick to play Angry Birds. This doesn't matter nearly as much – while I know many people who love being able to watch TV with their headphones late at night and not wake their spouse, I don't know anyone who uses their set-top box to play games.

When I first took delivery of Roku's stick, I had low expectations. It's very small, and I figured there was no way it could stand on equal ground with the power-packed Roku 3. I've owned several Rokus, and the company's earlier, cheaper boxes were anemic. On my first Roku, the Wi-Fi reception wasn't great, so HD streams would often buffer or get stuck or just crash. The early boxes also didn't have the processing power to handle 1080p videos without stutters or hiccups. I guessed the stick would show the same weaknesses of Roku's lesser hardware. After all, it's just so impossibly small.

But running Netflix, Plex, and Vimeo – all at the highest quality – never presented any major issues. It was a bit slow to load Netflix, taking 20 or 30 seconds, but once the app was running, the stick didn't stutter. You're reliant on Wi-Fi, since unlike the larger puck, there is no RJ-45 jack to plug a network cable into when things get choppy. But the stick's dual-band N capability proved entirely adequate during my week of testing.

I was also curious about how it was powered when I first saw it, since HDMI ports don't transmit voltage, and the stick lacks a traditional power supply. Turns out, there's a tiny micro USB port on the tip of the stick. You have to run a cable (included) from the end of the stick to your TV's USB port to give it the juice to operate. If you don't have a USB port, or if the quality of the stick is sucking, you can plug the USB cable into a wall-socket adapter (also included). It takes away some of the magic ("Wow, it's just a tiny stick!"), but it gets the job done.

A bit more about that remote. It comes with dedicated buttons for some popular services. I'm actually not a fan of this. Sure, there's a Netflix button and an Amazon button. I'll use those. But also one for Blockbuster, which I've never used and probably never will. There's also a dedicated button for MGO, which I just learned existed (it's a movie service) and will also never use. I'd much rather have a remote with programmable buttons, or a simpler remote with fewer buttons.

You don't have to use the remote if you don't want to. You can use your phone or tablet by just downloading the Roku app. Once you do that, you can tap your touchscreen to change channels, perform searches, and browse for things to watch. You can also throw videos from your mobile to the Streaming Stick, letting you watch something on the big screen instead of the small one. It's here where the Roku Streaming Stick most clearly butts up against Google's own stick, the Chromecast. Both devices let you "cast" videos up onto the television, but it's much easier with the Chromecast. The Roku can only throw videos from the YouTube and Netflix apps on your Android or iOS phone, though the company says support for more apps is coming soon. I had trouble getting HD videos from YouTube to cast properly, and the Netflix app crashed often enough that I just picked up the remote and went straight through Roku's menus to watch the video I wanted.

Still, casting isn't why you want to buy one of these. You want one because it's a cheap way into the Roku platform for streaming video. The company still offers the best ecosystem, giving you a dizzying array of programming options. There's a way to watch just about anything you can think of on Roku, either through one of the subscription streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, one of the free app-based content portals like PBS or Vimeo, or one of the media server apps like Plex. What you can't watch is stuff you buy on iTunes, since it's protected with DRM and will only play properly on an Apple TV or some other trusted, Apple-sanctioned environment. But everything else is fair game.

If you're going to buy just one device, I would still recommend the Roku 3. It has the best hardware features, and it has the private audio option. But if you have an Apple TV and you just want some additional programming choices, or if you want to experiment in puckland but you don't want to spend the $100 to buy in at the top tier, the Streaming Stick makes a great entry-level choice.