The best streaming device deals for Super Bowl LVI

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The dust has settled from the NFL conference championships, and it’s time once again to get ready for the Super Bowl — also known as the “big game” if you’re an American or an advertiser legally barred from using the trademarked term. Whether you’re into the actual game of football and rooting for the Los Angeles Rams or Cincinnati Bengals — or you’re just there for the commercials, snacks, and halftime show — you want to ensure the stream you’re watching looks good.

The Super Bowl may not be broadcast natively in 4K, but you want to have a streaming device that stacks up to whatever performance your TV is capable of. The big finale of the football season drums up all sorts of discounts, so you can save money in the process. Here are the best deals right now on streaming devices to get you ready for Super Bowl Sunday (which is February 13th, by the way).

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Roku’s alternative to the Fire Stick is its Streaming Stick 4K — released in 2021, it added Dolby Vision to round out the features of this affordable streamer. It also ticks the boxes with HDR support, 4K resolution, and compatibility with Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa. It is on sale for $39 (about $10 off) at Amazon, making it just a touch more expensive than the Fire Stick 4K for a device that was fully revamped last year. It’s very compact and super simple to use, and that ease of use helped land it on the number two spot of our best streaming devices list. If you don’t already have a familiarity or preference for Amazon’s Fire TV interface, then the Roku can make for a better platform-agnostic experience. Read our review.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Back over in Amazon’s camp, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the newest and greatest of the Fire Stick options. At its regular price of $55, it is recommendable to nearly anyone as a solid all-rounder unless you’re on the very tightest of budgets. This advice is even easier to heed now that it’s down to $40 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. One of the big standout features that sets it apart in this price range is support for faster Wi-Fi 6 speeds, making it future-proof if your home network is already Wi-Fi 6-enabled. It’s essentially the best route to go if you prefer (or don’t mind) Amazon’s interface or if you already have other Amazon devices in your home, but overall it is a great streamer with excellent performance at this tier. Read our review.

Roku Ultra

Shifting from streaming dongles to mini set-tops, the Ultra is Roku’s top-end streamer, and it’s currently $30 off at Walmart and Best Buy. This brings it down to about $69, matching its all-time low price since first released in 2020. The Roku Ultra has plenty of bells and whistles now found in other streaming sticks launched more recently, but some conveniences that Ultra maintains are its built-in ethernet port for a faster wired connection and a USB port for local video playback via external storage. If those features and Roku’s streamlined interface appeal to you, this older model is worth a look now that it’s at this lowered price.

Apple TV 4K (second-gen)

If you prefer playing in Apple’s garden, there is one optimal solution for a streaming device: the Apple TV 4K (second-gen), released in 2021. The latest Apple TV has a big emphasis on speed and performance, thanks to its A12 Bionic processor, Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, and HDMI 2.1. It also has one major update over the older models that is a welcome change — a remote that isn’t terrible. The Apple TV 4K doesn’t often go on huge sales, but right now, it’s $20 off in its 32GB storage configuration at Amazon. That brings the price down to $159.99 at checkout. Costco also has it discounted to the same price, though that’s exclusive for members. Read our review.