What’s the best streaming box for Emby?

[ShoutingMan 101]

I run Emby client on an nVidia Shield (2017). It’s been great, supporting most audio andvideo formats natively. But lately it seems like Shield + Emby are crashing more often. It’s just less stable that I recall it being five years ago. And maybe there are newer, faster, better streaming boxes than one that’s approach a decade old.

What’s the best streaming box for just running Emby? I

I need Dolby Atmos.

I don’t need Dolby Vision (using a JVC Projector which doesn’t support DV.)

$200 or less price preferred.

Don’t want something filled with ads, marketing, or sales junk. 

Don’t care about games, Netflix, etc. I use an AppleTV for all subscription services.

 

What’s your experience? Thanks!

Edited June 9, 2024 by ShoutingMan

[Neminem 898]

Have you ever factory reset it ?

Might be a good thing to try, after years of use.

[Kyrunner 72]

1 hour ago, ShoutingMan said:

I run Emby client on an nVidia Shield (2017). It’s been great, supporting most audio andvideo formats natively. But lately it seems like Shield + Emby are crashing more often. It’s just less stable that I recall it being five years ago. And maybe there are newer, faster, better streaming boxes than one that’s approach a decade old.

What’s the best streaming box for just running Emby? I

I need Dolby Atmos.

I don’t need Dolby Vision (using a JVC Projector which doesn’t support DV.)

$200 or less price preferred.

Don’t want something filled with ads, marketing, or sales junk. 

Don’t care about games, Netflix, etc. I use an AppleTV for all subscription services.

 

What’s your experience? Thanks!

The best experience I have ever had is using Kodi on my pc with the plugin emby for Kodi next gen. 

[Spaceboy 2565]

2 hours ago, ShoutingMan said:

I run Emby client on an nVidia Shield (2017). It’s been great, supporting most audio andvideo formats natively. But lately it seems like Shield + Emby are crashing more often. It’s just less stable that I recall it being five years ago. And maybe there are newer, faster, better streaming boxes than one that’s approach a decade old.

What’s the best streaming box for just running Emby? I

I need Dolby Atmos.

I don’t need Dolby Vision (using a JVC Projector which doesn’t support DV.)

$200 or less price preferred.

Don’t want something filled with ads, marketing, or sales junk. 

Don’t care about games, Netflix, etc. I use an AppleTV for all subscription services.

 

What’s your experience? Thanks!

shield still the best

[RanmaCanada 457]

Shield is sadly still the best. Amazon Firecube 3rd gen is a distant second.

[MohamedKhaldi 7]

depends on what you want, if you need Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL, then ugoos AM6b plus with corelec nightly build and emby for kodi plugin (and a nice skin of course) is the only way to watch them (absolutely no other box can decode the FEL, not even Dune or Zidoo, despite their price, only bluray players do)

if you don't know what FEL is, then go with the nVidia shield, the best experience you'll have

[RanmaCanada 457]

On 10/06/2024 at 12:06, MohamedKhaldi said:

depends on what you want, if you need Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL, then ugoos AM6b plus with corelec nightly build and emby for kodi plugin (and a nice skin of course) is the only way to watch them (absolutely no other box can decode the FEL, not even Dune or Zidoo, despite their price, only bluray players do)

if you don't know what FEL is, then go with the nVidia shield, the best experience you'll have

If you're going to play the FEL game, then you would just use an Oppo bluray player instead, or you could use MakeMKV to properly handle your DV layer rips. No one really cares about DV Profile 7, especialy as physical media is disappearing. If you have these files, they should be from your own backups, which means you can still play your discs, and any device will have HDR fallback for your rips. If you pirated them, that's not an Emby problem, and it is honestly not something they should even be working on because of the nature of the profile. There is a reason it is a bluray player only layer, and expecting any device to play it back properly is just plain ignorance.

[MohamedKhaldi 7]

3 hours ago, RanmaCanada said:

If you're going to play the FEL game, then you would just use an Oppo bluray player instead, or you could use MakeMKV to properly handle your DV layer rips. No one really cares about DV Profile 7, especialy as physical media is disappearing. If you have these files, they should be from your own backups, which means you can still play your discs, and any device will have HDR fallback for your rips. If you pirated them, that's not an Emby problem, and it is honestly not something they should even be working on because of the nature of the profile. There is a reason it is a bluray player only layer, and expecting any device to play it back properly is just plain ignorance.

what are you talking about? profile 7 has nothing to do with piracy, it's the dual layer DV that comes with bluray rips, so, for people (like me) who want to backup their blurays in their NAS for conviniency, way better than having to handle discs each time. pirated stuff comes generally in profile 5 (if webdl) or profile 8 (if bluray rip)

and MakeMKV does not handle DV profiles at all, it just rips data bit by bit from bluray to mkv, you need other tools like dovi_tool to convert profile 7 to profile 8, and the result is losing the info on the enhanced layer (the color loses in fidelity, as some data will be lost)

and HDR fallback, why? if your display can handle DV, why not use it at full potential?

"There is a reason it is a bluray player only layer", the reason is that it needs a processor capable of dual layer handling (bluray players have, but also the amologic processor of the ugoos 6B+, so it plays it back properly with corelec and emby for kodi)

physical media is absolutely not disappearing, it remains the reference in image and sound quality  (especially for home theater owners, it would be ridiculous to have a good audio and projection setup and use it with streaming services and their limited bandwidth, as their maximum 4k has maybe 30 mbps or something like that, way lower than bluray)

and, finally, the oppo player, you mentioned specifically for this particular use case, has problems playing DV profile 7 (color distortion, google it)

how can someone be so condescending when he is wrong on every single point  

Edited June 12, 2024 by MohamedKhaldi

[RanmaCanada 457]

12 hours ago, MohamedKhaldi said:

what are you talking about? profile 7 has nothing to do with piracy, it's the dual layer DV that comes with bluray rips, so, for people (like me) who want to backup their blurays in their NAS for conviniency, way better than having to handle discs each time. pirated stuff comes generally in profile 5 (if webdl) or profile 8 (if bluray rip)

and MakeMKV does not handle DV profiles at all, it just rips data bit by bit from bluray to mkv, you need other tools like dovi_tool to convert profile 7 to profile 8, and the result is losing the info on the enhanced layer (the color loses in fidelity, as some data will be lost)

and HDR fallback, why? if your display can handle DV, why not use it at full potential?

"There is a reason it is a bluray player only layer", the reason is that it needs a processor capable of dual layer handling (bluray players have, but also the amologic processor of the ugoos 6B+, so it plays it back properly with corelec and emby for kodi)

physical media is absolutely not disappearing, it remains the reference in image and sound quality  (especially for home theater owners, it would be ridiculous to have a good audio and projection setup and use it with streaming services and their limited bandwidth, as their maximum 4k has maybe 30 mbps or something like that, way lower than bluray)

and, finally, the oppo player, you mentioned specifically for this particular use case, has problems playing DV profile 7 (color distortion, google it)

how can someone be so condescending when he is wrong on every single point  

Because I'm not wrong. Makemkv added profile 7 support way back in 2022.

Sorry.

bye.

[MohamedKhaldi 7]

2 hours ago, RanmaCanada said:

Because I'm not wrong. Makemkv added profile 7 support way back in 2022.

Sorry.

bye.

wow! you still think you're right?

MakeMKV added support for profile 7, meaning it is now capable of putting the FEL layer in the mkv (not doing any conversion of course, makemkv only rips discs bit by bit, so the mkv will have profile 7 DV, not something correctly playable by the nvidia shield for example), then you need something to play it, and that's the whole point! the only device capable of it today is the ugoos 6B+ running corelec.

you said use your blurays with a bluray ray player, and pirated movies are not emby's problem (i agree on this one, but that's not the point here, on the contrary as ripping your own blurays will almost always give you profile 7), so, basically, you said emby is not for your own ripped blurays, nor for downloaded piracy, so what is exactly emby used for according to you? 

you are funny 

bye

[victoralvarez32 1]

The best streaming box for Emby depends on your preferences and setup, but some popular choices include:

NVIDIA Shield TV:

Known for its powerful hardware, smooth performance, and Android TV integration, the NVIDIA Shield TV is often considered one of the best options for running Emby, offering 4K streaming and support for various formats.

Apple TV 4K:

With a sleek design and great performance, Apple TV 4K works well with Emby and offers an excellent user experience with support for high-quality video output.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K:

An affordable option that also supports 4K streaming and works well with Emby through its Emby app, offering a solid performance for its price.

Roku Ultra:

Roku devices offer an intuitive interface and good performance for streaming Emby content, though it may not be as powerful as others for demanding use cases.

[cool0007 10]

I think the best solution for today is Zidoo Z9X 8K It supports all video formats and also the most important codec AV1 which allows you to save a lot of space on the server with excellent video quality. In addition, this player has native support for its Emby client player and end-to-end compatibility of the server media library database and the internal Media catalog.

https://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/zidoo-8k-media-players-faq.98814/#post-230581

[Jdiesel 1331]

How is the zidoo Emby app? Is it just the default Android app or something custom? How often is it updated?

[cool0007 10]

9 hours ago, Jdiesel said:

How is the

The Embu client is already built into the Zidoo Amlogic 928X firmware and is not supplied as a separate APK package. It is updated as part of the OTA firmware of the device

[RanmaCanada 457]

11 hours ago, victoralvarez32 said:

The best streaming box for Emby depends on your preferences and setup, but some popular choices include:

NVIDIA Shield TV:

Known for its powerful hardware, smooth performance, and Android TV integration, the NVIDIA Shield TV is often considered one of the best options for running Emby, offering 4K streaming and support for various formats.

Apple TV 4K:

With a sleek design and great performance, Apple TV 4K works well with Emby and offers an excellent user experience with support for high-quality video output.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K:

An affordable option that also supports 4K streaming and works well with Emby through its Emby app, offering a solid performance for its price.

Roku Ultra:

Roku devices offer an intuitive interface and good performance for streaming Emby content, though it may not be as powerful as others for demanding use cases.

Anyone who suggests the Apple TV for Emby has obviously never used it. It is the worst choice you can make, PERIOD. The box throttles connections, still can't do HDR or DV without a third party app, the subtitle support is just horrible..

[cool0007 10]

On 6/10/2024 at 8:06 PM, MohamedKhaldi said:

if you don't know what FEL is, then go with the nVidia shield, the best experience you'll have

You are an old believer, now are the times of AV1 and AI upscale, the file size of a 4K HDR movie is 10 GB. The video quality is excellent.

 

[RanmaCanada 457]

10 hours ago, cool0007 said:

I think the best solution for today is Zidoo Z9X 8K It supports all video formats and also the most important codec AV1 which allows you to save a lot of space on the server with excellent video quality. In addition, this player has native support for its Emby client player and end-to-end compatibility of the server media library database and the internal Media catalog.

https://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/zidoo-8k-media-players-faq.98814/#post-230581

For $300, I'd just buy an N100 or N150, install LibreElec or go full on Kodi as it apparently will do what we want, and call it a day. This price is insane.

[victoralvarez32 1]

The best streaming box for Emby depends on your preferences and setup, but some popular choices include:

NVIDIA Shield TV:

Known for its powerful hardware, smooth performance, and Android TV integration, the NVIDIA Shield TV is often considered one of the best options for running Emby, offering 4K streaming and support for various formats.

Apple TV 4K:

With a sleek design and great performance, Apple TV 4K works well with Emby and offers an excellent user experience with support for high-quality video output.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K:

An affordable option that also supports 4K streaming and works well with Emby through its Emby app, offering a solid performance for its price.

Roku Ultra:

Roku devices offer an intuitive interface and good performance for streaming Emby content, though it may not be as powerful as others for demanding use cases.

Edited March 30 by seanbuff
removed link to questionable streaming source

[ebr 15675]

18 hours ago, victoralvarez32 said:

The best streaming box for Emby depends on your preferences and setup, but some popular choices include:

NVIDIA Shield TV:

Known for its powerful hardware, smooth performance, and Android TV integration, the NVIDIA Shield TV is often considered one of the best options for running Emby, offering 4K streaming and support for various formats.

Apple TV 4K:

With a sleek design and great performance, Apple TV 4K works well with Emby and offers an excellent user experience with support for high-quality video output.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K:

An affordable option that also supports [redacted] and works well with Emby through its Emby app, offering a solid performance for its price.

Roku Ultra:

Roku devices offer an intuitive interface and good performance for streaming Emby content, though it may not be as powerful as others for demanding use cases.

I suspected this was an AI bot the first time.  Now I'm sure  

[victoralvarez32 1]

ebr I am not AI bot 

[ebr 15675]

6 hours ago, victoralvarez32 said:

ebr I am not AI bot 

Apologies.  Why did you repeat the exact same post?

[RanmaCanada 457]

I agree with EBR, they have to be a bot. They only joined yesterday and their first post is the AI schlock about devices with no personal experience listed. They didn't even acknowledge my post about how horrible the Apple TV is for Emby..

[sh0rty 554]

I am throwing in the Dune HD Homatics Box R 4K Plus or the Dune HD Premier 4K Pro.

Known for its powerful hardware, smooth performance, and Android TV integration, the DuneHD Boxes are often considered one of the best options for running Emby, offering 4K streaming and support for various formats. 

 

 

[RanmaCanada 457]

4 hours ago, sh0rty said:

I am throwing in the Dune HD Homatics Box R 4K Plus or the Dune HD Premier 4K Pro.

Known for its powerful hardware, smooth performance, and Android TV integration, the DuneHD Boxes are often considered one of the best options for running Emby, offering 4K streaming and support for various formats. 

 

 

But can it handle .ass subtitles when there is a whackload of text on the screen? I have yet to find a single "box" that has the horsepower to handle entire screens worth of subtitles, which is not a PC.

[frankmb 38]

Did anyone here try Apple TV 4k with the Infuse media player? Infuse has native support for Plex/Emby/Jellyfin servers.  I am thinking of getting an Apple TV 4k later this year when the new generation is released. But I have never tried Infuse or the Emby Applet Tv app.

Edited April 4 by frankmb