Roku picture quality issue

[MJ]

I have a Roku 3 I got 5 years ago. I understand this model came out 8 years ago. It has worked pretty well but recently I bought a great LG 75" TV and noticed that the picture quality when I view various programs through the LG interface is better and sharper. The Roku interface produces a picture that appears not to be as bright or sharp. I have the display set to 1080P. I use the Roku at night to connect my headphones. Are the newer Roku models better?

 

[USGrant1962]

It sounds like your are looking at the TV apps in 4K (aka 2160p) and the Roku in 1080p, which is the highest that model runs. Newer Roku's can run at 4K with HDR, so yes they will look much better.

The table on Wikipedia shows how many models have been produced since yours - six generations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku

 

[MJ]

While what you write makes sense, I was testing the quality while watching CBS Free News Streaming and I don't know if this free service has a higher resolution than 1080p?

 

[triangle]

I wonder how it would look if your TV was set 720P (or to autoselect based on the input signal). Maybe the way the LG scaling up/down is causing the distortion.

I was just testing out my old Roku 3 with an old LCD monitor this week. I watched a couple of clips using the CNBC and YouTube apps. Everything looked good but when watching youtube one time I got the purple screen "HDCP unauthorized content disabled" error, which I use to see with my old setup using a different TV and different Internet provider. So the Roku 3 must be a bit underpowered in some aspect of decoding.

 

[target2019]

Could there also be tech in the new LG tv that cleans up 1080 and improves it for viewing on the larger screen?