spon 24 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Hi everyone, I'm a longtime Emby fan and supporter and am planning on adding a streaming media device in my bedroom. Does anyone have any opinions on FIrestick vs Chromecast? I will be streaming mostly 720p mkv files over WIFI from the Emby server. Thanks for any thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iam4uk 26 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Fire TV Stick >>> Chromecast. The Fire has a remote (or an app for smartphone remote), and is more like a standalone media device. It can communicate via 2.4GHz or 5.0GHz. The Chromecast just displays content played back on another device (such as smartphone, tablet, laptop...) It can only communicate via 2.4GHz. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6771 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 If you don't have Amazon Prime Video account, then the Chromecast should suffice. They will both do the same job at the end of the day. You will need to install the Emby ATV app for the FireStick and the Emby Android app for Chromecast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
im85288 1493 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Not certain (having not used either device) but I think the chrome cast is only useful with another device to control it..so basically a pure streaming device. The fire stick on the other hand has it's own remote, can have apps running on it...and most importantly can have Kodi running on it! Combine that with our Emby for Kodi addon and it will blow the chrome cast out the window. That's my opinion anyway 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arztonyou 17 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) I have both a Chromecast and a FireTV Stick. I bought each on sale for $20, so it seemed worth the money to explore a new device. I have the FireTV Stick plugged directly into a TV in my bedroom and the Chromecast plugged into my Yamaha AVR on my main TV. Here's my understanding of each device. I'm sure someone will chime in and correct me if I have something wrong. As already mentioned, the main difference in how you interact with them is that the Chromecast requires you to choose media to play from a phone, tablet, or web browser while the FireTV has a remote and operates more like a standard media player. I've never had any problems using the Chromecast with my Samsung Galaxy phone, but my kids have cheap tablets that kept disconnecting from the Chromecast. I also tried the Android app for Emby (then still MediaBrowser), but found it to be unstable. I think it's been improved since then, but I haven't used it much lately. If you use Kodi on the FireTV Stick, there is a fantastic remote app called Yatse that you can use to look through your media library and control playback. Will your .mkv files include both mpeg2 and h.264 videos? Neither device supports mpeg2 natively, so you will be transcoding all your mpeg2 files on both devices unless you use Kodi or some other media player on the FireTV stick. I have tons of TV shows recorded by WMC and also a bunch of DVDs, so I prefer to avoid transcoding all those files if I can. I've tried Kodi on the stick for playback, but I've never been able to get perfect playback of 720p Mpeg2 files from recorded TV shows. I've tried various settings, but those files always stutter, even if I change the container from .wtv to .mkv. I've tried the new Emby FireTV app a few times, and it seems stable, but I'm not sure if it can use an external player yet. If it can, you could sideload MxPlayer onto the FireTV stick and use it as an external player for the mpeg2 files. If I can't get Kodi to play those 720p files correctly, I'll probably set up MxPlayer as an external player in Kodi and try that out. Do you care about streaming services at all? I've had significant problems with Netflix on the FireTV stick. Video will freeze for a second while the audio continues, and then the video will speed up to catch up to the audio. Then it will repeat this a while later. A reboot will fix it for a while, but then it comes back again. If you google it, you'll see plenty of others with the same problem. It's not just a network issue, because with Wireless AC I can play an .mkv from a bluray in Kodi with no more than the occasional minor stutter. This is an issue with Netflix on the FireTV. I haven't had any problems at all with Netflix on the Chromecast, other than the usual occasional stutter or buffering like you see in any device using Netflix. In fact, I use the Chromecast on my main TV as a quick and easy player for Netflix and YouTube. Overall I'm happy with the FireTV Stick, but I keep finding myself tweaking it trying to get perfect playback. If you only need support for h.264 files, then you will probably be very happy with it. If you need .mpeg2 support, you might want to spend a few more dollars and buy a raspberry pi to use with Kodi and the Emby addon for Kodi. I have one running on my main TV (hence the need for the Chromecast for Netflix), and I've been really happy with it so far. Good luck in making your choice. Edited June 4, 2015 by arztonyou 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spon 24 Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Thanks so much for the feedback on both devices everyone! much appreciated!! I don't really stream much at all - most of my media is stored in my local NAS. Sounds like FIrestick is the way to go. thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14935 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 With either one of these devices you will be streaming - even if it is from your local storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent 91 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 With either one of these devices you will be streaming - even if it is from your local storage. Correct me if i'm wrong, but you can direct play using the Emby plugin for Kodi. At least I can with my AFTV. I'm assuming the FTV Stick does the same thing once you load up Kodi and install the Emby plugin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef 3746 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I just bought a chromecast yesterday. Pretty cool. It only cost 40.00. Remember with chromecast that you need the extension added to Chrome browser in order for it to work with emby. I haven't use firestick, but chromecast has been cool ( for the twenty four hours I have had it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xnappo 1593 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Correct me if i'm wrong, but you can direct play using the Emby plugin for Kodi. At least I can with my AFTV. I'm assuming the FTV Stick does the same thing once you load up Kodi and install the Emby plugin. Correct - with Emby for Kodi you can direct play. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abobader 2947 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Correct me if i'm wrong, but you can direct play using the Emby plugin for Kodi. At least I can with my AFTV. I'm assuming the FTV Stick does the same thing once you load up Kodi and install the Emby plugin. Correct - with Emby for Kodi you can direct play. Thanks, that interesting thing to know. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6771 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Correct me if i'm wrong, but you can direct play using the Emby plugin for Kodi. At least I can with my AFTV. I'm assuming the FTV Stick does the same thing once you load up Kodi and install the Emby plugin. Correct - with Emby for Kodi you can direct play. You need to enable it - it's not on by default. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xnappo 1593 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 (edited) Confusing terms. Emby for Kodi will always 'direct play' meaning play from your network directly if it can access your content. The setting for 'direct play' forces the plugin to ONLY look at your local network path. If that setting is OFF it will still try direct play first, but will fall back to HTTP/transcoding if you are not on your local network. Edited June 6, 2015 by xnappo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spon 24 Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 Just thought I would post an update in case anyone else is making the decision. I went with the FireStick and am very happy with the local Emby performance. Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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