TV Boxes

Looking for a set-top box to supplement your new high-end TV? Start with these picks. Note: we sometimes pin affiliate links directly to the best deals, so we may earn a commission if you buy something. You can find our ethics policy here: https://www.theverge.com/ethics-statement

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Apple TV 4K: The premium experience

At $179, the Apple TV 4K is on a completely different pricing tier than Roku and Amazon. But if you’re willing to spend that much, in return you’ll get the most polished experience of any set-top box on the market. It does it all: 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, and Dolby Atmos. It also includes free upgrades to 4K for existing iTunes movie library. The bad stuff: YouTube doesn’t play in 4K, and some apps don’t allow direct rentals or purchases.

an amazon fire tv cube sitting on top of a wooden table

Amazon Fire TV Cube: A smarter streaming box

Amazon's $119.99 Fire TV Cube is best thought of as the offspring of an Echo and a Fire TV 4K. It has all of the same content options as a Fire TV 4K — Netflix, Hulu, PS Vue, Amazon Prime Video, and so on — but it brings the Echo’s extensive far-field voice control capabilities to your TV and much more. It also supports 4K HDR content. The bad stuff: It doesn’t come with the necessary HDMI cable, doesn’t offer any Dolby Atmos content or a YouTube app, and the included remote is too simple.

an amazon fire tv stick is plugged in to the back of a black box

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K: hold the remote

Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick 4K supports Dolby Vision, Atmos, HDR10+, and HDR10 for 50 bucks. It can now power TV on/off, control volume, and change channels on some cable boxes, the stream quality is excellent, and the performance is fast. The bad stuff: Amazon needs to chill with the self-promotion, No Vudu means few choices for Dolby Vision movies, and Alexa’s abilities in certain apps remain limited.

the roku premiere is connected to an external charger and power strip

Roku Premiere: the cheapest way to 4K

Roku continues to push the price of 4K streaming down with the new $40 Premiere. The device supports 4K, HDR10, and Dolby Atmos playback, features an easy-to-use interface, fast performance and good stream reliability. The bad stuff: There's no Dolby Vision support, the IR remote requires line of sight, lacks voice support and volume / power buttons, and it doesn't support 5GHz Wi-Fi networks.