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Best Streaming box/device in your opinion ?


ng4ever

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ng4ever

This forum did say general after all was not sure where else to put this question sorry. If not the right area please move.

So which streaming box/device is the best? Mainly for Emby of course but for other stuff too.

 

 

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rbjtech
17 minutes ago, ng4ever said:

Cool.

 

That is the latest one right ?

Yes, I've not heard of any rumours of a new one.

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Gilgamesh_48
1 hour ago, ng4ever said:

This forum did say general after all was not sure where else to put this question sorry. If not the right area please move.

So which streaming box/device is the best? Mainly for Emby of course but for other stuff too.

 

While I mostly agree with others about the Shield I do not think that "best" should be based solely on the technical abilities of a device. There are also the factors like "ease of use" that should be considered.

I own a Shield TV and a Fire 4K and a Roku Ultra. For me I have found that no matter what I try just about any time I have a choice I choose to use the Ultra. It does have a few formats that must be transcoded to play but I only have videos in my libraries that will direct play. I simply find that my Ultra is the easiest device to use and its picture is every bit as good as my other streaming devices.

Yes, if I wanted or needed to stream files of high bit rates and or of very large size I might need the Shield but I can see little or no difference between regular bit rate files and high bit rate ones.

Just my personal opinion but I find the Roku Ultra the best streaming box there is.

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RanmaCanada

Best device is personal.  I use Roku, Firestick, PC, Iphone, Firetablet and generic Android box.  They all do what I want for what I use them for.

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20 hours ago, rbjtech said:

Shield Pro 2019

What's the benefit of the Pro comparing to the standard 2019 Shield, is it the high bitrate issue?

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rbjtech
4 hours ago, neik said:

What's the benefit of the Pro comparing to the standard 2019 Shield, is it the high bitrate issue?

Yes - the Pro has more memory, 64bit and as you say doesn't have any issues streaming Max bitrate UHD media.

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Would agree with the shield and i have tried all sorts, and the benfit of the shield is it pretty much does everything with solid updates.

Sure plenty of cheaper boxes about but i have seriously learnt you get what you pay for, for example in my experience of devices i tested:

  • Amazon Cube - Decent enough, no voice search in Emby with remote, DTS HD /True HD not passtrough but does framerate change
  • Beelink Devices - Crap software and barely works yet more expensive than a shield (Gt King Pro)
  • Meccol KM2 - Again sounds great certified device but poor software and abandonment means crap experience
  • CCWGT - No auto frame rate had various other issues albeith only owned for a day as sent back
  • Odroid N2+ - Powerful device but hacked together unofficial android builds, okay overall but too flakey especially multiboot firmware

The shield is pretty much the only one that really ticks all the boxes for me, not tried Roku so cannot comment

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rbjtech
On 10/12/2021 at 16:11, CassTG said:

Would agree with the shield and i have tried all sorts, and the benfit of the shield is it pretty much does everything with solid updates.

Sure plenty of cheaper boxes about but i have seriously learnt you get what you pay for, for example in my experience of devices i tested:

  • Amazon Cube - Decent enough, no voice search in Emby with remote, DTS HD /True HD not passtrough but does framerate change
  • Beelink Devices - Crap software and barely works yet more expensive than a shield (Gt King Pro)
  • Meccol KM2 - Again sounds great certified device but poor software and abandonment means crap experience
  • CCWGT - No auto frame rate had various other issues albeith only owned for a day as sent back
  • Odroid N2+ - Powerful device but hacked together unofficial android builds, okay overall but too flakey especially multiboot firmware

The shield is pretty much the only one that really ticks all the boxes for me, not tried Roku so cannot comment

A good summary of cheap clones - and important fact that powerful hardware is useless without software support.  Android Phones are no different, you may get more for your money on the initial outlay, but after 2 years when it's no longer supported but much older Samsung/mainstream phones are still getting official updates - then you realise it's not such good value afterall... 

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FrostByte

According to the article below nVidia may be sending another major update to all Shields including the 2015.  Can't say that about too many of the others after 6 years, especially when they have newer models on the shelf

Shield TV Android 11 upgrade appears to be imminent - 9to5Google

Edited by FrostByte
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  • 8 months later...
playloud

Would a PC running Emby Theater be able to handle all the formats that the Shield can?  I am currently running that setup, but am about to upgrade TV and venture into HDR contents etc.

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RanmaCanada
On 26/08/2022 at 14:51, playloud said:

Would a PC running Emby Theater be able to handle all the formats that the Shield can?  I am currently running that setup, but am about to upgrade TV and venture into HDR contents etc.

HDR and DolbyVision on PC are completely broken.  Even in the HTPC sub on reddit people are told to buy a Shield because of how broken HDR is on PC.

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I just got a Shield Pro 2019 and am struggling with the available resolutions in the settings, all I am getting is 720p.
I'm using the HDMI cable of my MiBox S where I can select 4K@60 without issues but with the Shield I can't select anything past 720p.

TV is a LG G1, already tried a different HDMI cable (the one from my Sony HT-A9) but same result.
On reddit I read that a HDMI certified cable is required, the one from my MiBox probably isn't but the HT-A9 should be certified as it should be able to handle 4K@120.

Anyone else had issues like this?

I was thinking of:

1. Trying factory reset
2. Sign up for the latest hotfix of 9.x
3. Buy a certified cable to test.

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RanmaCanada
On 29/08/2022 at 03:49, neik said:

I just got a Shield Pro 2019 and am struggling with the available resolutions in the settings, all I am getting is 720p.
I'm using the HDMI cable of my MiBox S where I can select 4K@60 without issues but with the Shield I can't select anything past 720p.

TV is a LG G1, already tried a different HDMI cable (the one from my Sony HT-A9) but same result.
On reddit I read that a HDMI certified cable is required, the one from my MiBox probably isn't but the HT-A9 should be certified as it should be able to handle 4K@120.

Anyone else had issues like this?

I was thinking of:

1. Trying factory reset
2. Sign up for the latest hotfix of 9.x
3. Buy a certified cable to test.

From what I understand the LG tv's are a PITA to get 4k to work properly.  They even needed a firmware update to work with the 3000 series of nvidia cards.  I would honestly say to buy a new, certified cable that comes with the QR code that you can scan.  You may think Sony would ship a certified cable, but it's easy to cut corners and not.

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33 minutes ago, RanmaCanada said:

From what I understand the LG tv's are a PITA to get 4k to work properly.  They even needed a firmware update to work with the 3000 series of nvidia cards.  I would honestly say to buy a new, certified cable that comes with the QR code that you can scan.  You may think Sony would ship a certified cable, but it's easy to cut corners and not.

Did that, bought a new ultra high speed HDMI cable (2.1 certified) and verified it via the app but the result is the same... Stuck at 720p.

Did a factory reset afterwards, same result.

Now, I enrolled my Shield for the latest hotfix, my hopes aren't very high though.

Would a downgrade to 8.x help as 9.x seems to have caused lots of trouble?

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RanmaCanada

I am honestly not sure, but even a quick google search shows that the shield and LG tv's don't exactly get along.  It appears to be a common problem that Nvidia has decided to ignore.  Another "you're using it wrong" moment from a mfg.  I'm sorry I can't be more help.

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I contacted Nvidia support they decided to start the RMA process, so I will get a replacement from them.
Seems like known issue to me as the RMA was directly initiated.

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