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. (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 .

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. (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 .

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. (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 .