TV Stick for 1080p HEVC 8/10bit Direct play

[honelnik 1]

Hi,

as I was not able to buy the official Emby app on my old Android TV, I am looking for a cheap HW in order to be able to Direct Play from my Emby server.
I am using Rpi4 as server so I really do need the Direct Play. Most of the content is 1080p HEVC 8/10bit with AAC/Atmos.

I found a response to a different thread from cayars that basically says that the Amazon FireStick should do the trick:

But I am wondering about any other of the plethora of Roku Express 4k/Chromecast with Google TV/Fire Stick/Mi TV Stick options. I'd be using it for Emby/casting Youtube only so unless the interface is total trash, I should be fine.

Just wondering which cheap device gives the developers the least amount of headache.

Thanks

Edited November 10, 2021 by honelnik
updated device list

[GrimReaper 3294]

There was recently a similar thread, gimme a minute to find it. 

Edit:

 

If it were me, I'd go with any of the AndroidTV devices; kudos to Roku app, but ATV is still THE client app. Of course some will disagree, I guess. 

Edited November 10, 2021 by GrimReaper
Link

[honelnik 1]

Thank you. That thread was de-railed into encoding discussion though

27 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

If it were me, I'd go with any of the AndroidTV devices; kudos to Roku app, but ATV is still THE client app. Of course some will disagree, I guess. 

I guess it makes sense, that I'd have a higher chance of staying within ATV eco-system than Roku.

So it would come down to Fire Tv Stick (the non-4k one, unless it'll go on sale) or Mi Tv Stick.

Do you have experience with any of these two?

 

[GrimReaper 3294]

Yeah, went a bit OT somewhere down the line, but you got the gist of it. 

26 minutes ago, honelnik said:

So it would come down to Fire Tv Stick (the non-4k one, unless it'll go on sale) or Mi Tv Stick.

Do you have experience with any of these two?

Nope, I have Fire Stick 4K and Mi Box S. They offer very similar experience, though I'm more inclined towards Mi device. 

However, for your usage case, Fire Stick gen 3 might be a better buy, as it lists Atmos support:

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/fire-tv/device-specifications-fire-tv-streaming-media-player.html?v=ftvstickgen3

whereas Mi Stick doesn't:

https://www.mi.com/global/mi-tv-stick/specs/

as per:

1 hour ago, honelnik said:

Most of the content is 1080p HEVC 8/10bit with AAC/Atmos.

But someone with actual Mi Stick experience might chime in, as some reviews DO mention Atmos as supported. 

Edited November 10, 2021 by GrimReaper
Scratch that

[Carlo 4330]

Fire stick is OK and I have one.  I also have a couple MiBox S, Vbox and Shield TV all running the same Android TV version app. My favorite as well!

The Fire stick is my least favorite for 2 reasons.  One is the home page is full of stuff I'm not interested in.  It's not a big deal as I quickly enter Emby and don't see it as much.
But it's WIFI only. I prefer to use Ethernet connections for all my clients so I have zero issues with high bitrate files and don't tie up my WIFI with video.

Vbox and Shield have built in Ethernet.  MiBox S can use $10 Ethernet dongle (works great).

So that's my reasoning for putting the Fire Stick or any other WIFI only device in last place on my personal list.

I have other clients as well but prefer the Androids as they offer more functionality IMHO.

[honelnik 1]

Thanks for the detailed response. 

Ethernet would be nice but I got a pretty good 5G coverage and don’t have many BD images so WiFi should be enough for my content. 
 

I think I’ll go with the Fire TV Stick (3rd Gen) as the Mi Box S is twice the price in EU and I have 1080p TV anyway. Plus I’ll use it exclusively for Emby so if the interface won’t actively try to stop me, I will be fine

Thanks again 

[honelnik 1]

just to report - if anyone is having a similar dilemma - Fire Tv Stick 4k is great.

The UI is a mess, but it does not matter as I use it for Emby only, and can get into Emby in 3 seconds. So far it played everything I threw on it without a stutter.
Surprisingly, even BluRay rips work fine over wifi.

The only thing that grinds my gears is the subtitle look, not sure if I can do anything about that, but for 25bucks, I'll take it.

[rodainas 188]

With a custom launcher you can fix the UI problem.

About the subtitle looks those are limited by the options the emby for android tv app gives, you can alternatively sideload the android standard app and try how those looks.

 

[RanmaCanada 345]

14 hours ago, honelnik said:

just to report - if anyone is having a similar dilemma - Fire Tv Stick 4k is great.

The UI is a mess, but it does not matter as I use it for Emby only, and can get into Emby in 3 seconds. So far it played everything I threw on it without a stutter.
Surprisingly, even BluRay rips work fine over wifi.

The only thing that grinds my gears is the subtitle look, not sure if I can do anything about that, but for 25bucks, I'll take it.

For the menu, you can install appstarter and it will get rid of all that Amazon garbage.  As for the subtitles, that is a limitation of the Android TV app as mentioned.  You could always install Kodi and use the Emby Addon for more features if you don't want to sideload the mobile app.

[emdubya77 30]

[deleted]

Edited July 6, 2022 by emdubya77

[ebr 14913]

7 hours ago, emdubya77 said:

Out of interest what do you mean by "the subtitle look"? I use them every day and have never noticed any problems.

I have the same question as I'm not aware of any "limitation of the Android TV app" here...  Please explain.  Thanks.