You tell him about a movie you just saw and loved; he knows the director’s whole filmography, student films included, and can rattle off every movie that influenced the one you just saw. You compare favorite books; chances are he read yours in high school, while his, a long-list selection for some award, came out in the past year or two. His favorite band is the band from which your favorite band lifted their sound. The mediaphile is always two steps ahead — so how do you avoid gifting him something that’s two Christmases behind?
Just as there are countless subgenres within genres (which the mediaphile is sure to know by heart), there’s more than one breed of mediaphile, and each has a gap in their collection you can fill. See the vinyl geek with an extensive collection that he can only enjoy in whatever spot has become the de-facto listening room; the film geek whose makeshift home theater is equipped with the perfect projector-and-speaker setup, but lacks anything in the way of visual stimulation when the projector’s off and the lights are up; or those with deceptively selective taste, who know everything there is to know about a handful of creators but have some well-hidden holes in their field of research. The mediaphile is indeed always two steps ahead, but no one ever said you can’t clean up his stride.
Roku 4
As with previous Roku models, you can control the box with a smart device or cast content directly to the TV, and additional SD card storage is available for your mediaphile’s extensive digital collection. But the first-time features make this a must-have: a digital audio jack on the remote (so as not to disturb roommates during late-night Marvel TV show binges), a feature for locating lost remotes, and support for 4K screens.
