Roku’s new lights, doorbells, and switches are TV-centered (and very familiar)

Roku's cameras can (like Wyze) alert you to certain specific things, like people and pets, when they appear on your camera. The alerts appear on a new phone app, but also Roku TVs and streaming devices.

Roku's cameras can (like Wyze) alert you to certain specific things, like people and pets, when they appear on your camera. The alerts appear on a new phone app, but also Roku TVs and streaming devices. (credit: Roku)

Today, Connected TV-maker Roku unveiled eight new low-cost lights, cameras, doorbells, and plugs, all centered on being easy to install and operate from the company's "Roku TV Operating System." It marks the entrance of a new player in the smart home field, one with no particularly novel gadgets yet, but already a sizable gateway into many homes.

The products, available exclusively through Roku and Walmart, can be controlled with a new Roku Smart Home phone app, but Roku is positioning the devices as tightly integrated with their TVs and streaming boxes and sticks. The Roku video doorbell can trigger a picture-in-picture view on a Roku-powered TV and alert you to dedicated events like packages or pets. Using the voice function on a Roku remote can bring up live camera streams, activate switches, or turn on lights.

Roku's Doorbell Pro can pop up on a Roku TV to show who's at the door—in this case, the takeout delivery.

Roku's Doorbell Pro can pop up on a Roku TV to show who's at the door—in this case, the takeout delivery. (credit: Roku)

The products will be familiar to anyone who has browsed the Wyze lineup, and that's intentional. Roku partnered with Wyze to build its first non-streaming-focused products, and some of them are dead-ringers for existing Wyze gear, especially the cameras. Wyze is a well-known brand, but also one with some security breaches and heavily delayed vulnerability responses in its past. Roku states that its products will offer two-factor authentication, user data encryption, and secure boot and will be certified by the ioXt Alliance.

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