Your Roku TV is about to get a major smart home upgrade - for free

Roku entered the smart home market a few years ago with affordable devices, including security cameras and video doorbells. Now, the streaming device manufacturer is announcing plans to make the smart home more accessible through devices that users use daily -- TVs, smartphones, and laptops.

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The updates include a new Camera Carousel accessible from your TV that automatically cycles through your security cameras' live feeds to display the one camera that's currently capturing the action. So, if you have cameras all around the outside of your home, you'll get a preview of each one in a carousel on your TV, and your screen will switch automatically to the camera where motion was detected. 

Roku is also bringing more smart home notifications to its smart TV platform, enabling users to receive an alert right on their TV screen when motion is detected on a camera, for example. Currently, these notifications are limited to doorbell alerts. I love this feature with my Apple TV 4K and Apple HomeKit, as I can instantly see a tiny notification on a corner of my TV when a smart lock is unlocked or someone is at the front door. 

The Camera Carousel and instant notifications will be available for all Roku Smart Home cameras and doorbells this week on Roku TV and Roku streaming devices. The company will also add a new Roku Smart Home Web View option later this winter. 

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The Roku Smart Home Web View will let users monitor their camera feeds from a centralized location on any computer or web device, like a smartphone or tablet. If you have any of these Roku products, you don't need to do anything to access these new features. Updates will roll out automatically.