Roku also announced the Streambar, a $130 soundbar that doubles as a streaming video player, and has a fresh software upgrade coming to Roku devices later this year. The big new feature in Roku OS 9.4 is support for Apple AirPlay 2, which will let you send media to the Roku from an iPhone or iPad, but only on Roku players with 4K video support.

Looking at the new lineup, what strikes me most is how unwieldy it’s become. Roku has always erred on the side of maximalism with its streamers, catering to every conceivable need and budget, but this week’s announcements make things even more confusing. There are now two streaming soundbars to choose from at different prices—though Roku refuses to acknowledge any difference in audio quality between them—and the bifurcation in AirPlay support suddenly makes Roku’s non-4K streamers less appealing. Prospective Roku customers will need to choose their hardware wisely.

Over at TechHive, I’ve walked through where Roku’s lineup starts get messy, and what to do about it if you’re in the market for a new streamer. Read the full column on TechHive.

The hardware itself seems fine—it matches Roku’s Streaming Stick+ and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K on price, and it supports 4K video with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos decode—but what’s most interesting about the new Chromecast is the software. Instead of emphasizing individual apps, Google is providing a single menu for browsing through the catalogs of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and several other major streaming services. It’s the kind of unified TV guide I’ve been desperate to see on streaming devices this year, and it seems better executed than other attempts we’ve seen so far.

YouTube TV drops Fox Sports regionals (again): Not all the news was cheery in Google-land this week. The company has now dropped regional Fox Sports networks from YouTube TV, having been unable to reach an agreement with Sinclair, the owner of those channels.

Although YouTube had made a deal to carry Fox Sports regionals (but not everywhere) back in March, the company now says that was just a temporary arrangement, lasting only through the current MLB, NHL, and NBA seasons. Now that the regular seasons have come and gone, so too have the channels.

YouTube and Sinclair could still work out a new deal before those sports start back up again, but for now, Hulu + Live TV is a cheaper alternative that still carries Fox Sports regionals, starting at $55 per month.

AMC’s standalone streaming: AMC has added a couple new ways to get its latest shows without a cable bundle, but it’s asking a lot of money for the privilege. If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you can now add an AMC Plus subscription for $9 per month. You can also subscribe to the service via the Apple TV app for the same price. In on both cases, you’ll get access to AMC shows on-demand without ads, along with the live cable channels of AMC, BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV.

AMC Plus arrived on Comcast’s X1 cable box and Flex streaming box in June at a lower price of $5 per month, and it became a $7 per month add-on for Sling TV subscribers in July. Maybe AMC is trying to offset whatever cut Amazon and Apple take from subscription revenue by charging more on those platforms, but it’s going to scare a lot of folks off in the process.

As a consolation price, new subscribers to YouTube TV can get the new Chromecast for free with one month of service (at $65 per month).

Also worth noting: Amazon’s Fire TV Recast DVR is $100 off right now, bringing the price to $130 for the dual-tuner version with 500 GB of storage, and $180 for the quad-tuner model with 1 TB of storage. You can read my review of this over-the-air DVR here.