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Nvidia Shield vs. HTPC w/ Emby Theater


pclausen

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Is it just a firmware update to existing hardware or is new hardware coming?

 

Just a firmware update....release date is tomorrow, October 1. Would Emby still be dependent on VLC supporting the passthrough and decoding features in order to take full advantage of them?

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Just a firmware update....release date is tomorrow, October 1. Would Emby still be dependent on VLC supporting the passthrough and decoding features in order to take full advantage of them?

 

Yes, so, hopefully, they have it implemented in such a way that they query the device for its capabilities.  We'll find out as soon as someone gets the update.

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Yes, so, hopefully, they have it implemented in such a way that they query the device for its capabilities.  We'll find out as soon as someone gets the update.

 

I'll be on it as soon as I can give feedback. No idea if it is relevant for development purposes, but Anandtech reported that nVidia was working with MX Player to make sure the new features were supported.

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Deathsquirrel

Just curious, where are you guys finding content with HD-Audio? Most content I see on the web (both legal and illegal) is DD or DTS only

 

All my content is ripped from the discs I buy.  HD Audio is pretty standard, though not guaranteed, on blu-rays.  Legal issues aside, most rips I've encountered from the various sharing tools are absolute crap in terms of quality.  I'll give bad quality with a chance of huge fines a miss thanks.  Blu-Rays go on sale for 5-7$ each on amazon all the time.  I just set up some wish lists and peek at the prices once a day to see if there's something I need to grab for the collection.

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Deathsquirrel

This is what I've been waiting for!  http://nvidiashieldzone.com/index.php/shield-android-tv-ota-2-0/

 

Just a few of the updates for 2.0:

 

- Supports hardware acceleration of all the popular video formats including H.264, H.265, VC-1,

MPEG-2, WMV9, and VP9

 

- Supports native playback of video content encoded at 23.976 Hz and 50 Hz (in Europe) for true

movie quality viewing experience. Also supports video content encoded at 24 Hz, 25 Hz, 30 Hz,

and 59.94 Hz

 

- Supports AC3, EAC3, Dolby 5.1, Dolby 7.1, DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA, and Dolby TrueHD pass

through for an immersive home theater experience with your home theater receiver and

surround speakers.

 

- Supports high resolution 24-bit 192 kHz audio over HDMI and USB for superior audio quality.

 

- Supports USB-S/PDIF dongles and enables users to connect SHIELD to older sound bars and

audio receivers.

 

 

That is fantastic news.  I hope to hear very soon from shield owners that they are seeing passthrough of HD audio on their shield with Emby.

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Just curious, where are you guys finding content with HD-Audio? Most content I see on the web (both legal and illegal) is DD or DTS only

 

Same as Deathsquirrel, most of my content is full quality Blu-ray stored in an MKV container. That's why this device has so much potential for me...it's close to having the ability to direct stream all of my content at the highest quality, plus Netflix and others in a wife-friendly frontend that requires little to no upkeep from me. 

Edited by PhinkBig
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Great job with this new firmware.. only missing is 3d iso support

 

I would not hold your breath on that one ;).

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foghat

Just curious, where are you guys finding content with HD-Audio? Most content I see on the web (both legal and illegal) is DD or DTS only

 

As other's have said, I get mostly from ripping bought blu-rays.  If you want to go the illegal route, you can find full blu-ray rips to download.

 

This is a fantastic update.  Think I am pulling the trigger over the next day or two.

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foghat

Just a firmware update....release date is tomorrow, October 1. Would Emby still be dependent on VLC supporting the passthrough and decoding features in order to take full advantage of them?

 

 

Yes, so, hopefully, they have it implemented in such a way that they query the device for its capabilities.  We'll find out as soon as someone gets the update.

 

Has anyone with a shield downloaded and tried hd pass through yet.

 

I just ordered one.  Sounds like there are some pretty serious gamma issues (in that the blacks are very washed out) with this update, but nvidia says they are on it.  I am about 10 days out from delivery, so hopefully things are figured out by then.

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bret1958

sounds like the 2.0 firmware is needing some love.. on nvidia's part... their forum is busy.. :(...not ready to swim in that water I will wait... Firetv2 came today, nice.. but same issue Dolby plus

pass- through but no full hd pass through.. maybe its going to all be up to the app dev's.. PCM is it .... and Dolby digital Plus... for now... in set up it has 2 options 1. Dolby Digital Plus through HDMI #2 stereo or default... that's it.

I was mad after about 5 minutes with it (firetv2).. but have settled down and will play around for a few to see if its for me.. not as clunky as Roku 3.. clean and simple...

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sounds like the 2.0 firmware is needing some love.. on nvidia's part... their forum is busy.. :(...not ready to swim in that water I will wait... Firetv2 came today, nice.. but same issue Dolby plus

pass- through but no full hd pass through.. maybe its going to all be up to the app dev's.. PCM is it .... and Dolby digital Plus... for now... in set up it has 2 options 1. Dolby Digital Plus through HDMI #2 stereo or default... that's it.

I was mad after about 5 minutes with it (firetv2).. but have settled down and will play around for a few to see if its for me.. not as clunky as Roku 3.. clean and simple...

 

I really don't think you are going to see HD audio support on a mass-market box like the Fire TV but that is just conjecture on my part.  These boxes are designed to play content streamed from the internet.  None of that content has HD audio.

 

Also, I found that the setting on the box itself had absolutely no bearing on our ability to play 5.1 audio via HDMI.  So, that setting must just be something that the Amazon player looks at to decide what to do.

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bret1958

so these boxes get moved the living room and bedrooms.. and we await for EMBY Theater.... this one is going back, the roku will continue to bumped around to the non smart TV's somewhere in the house. not worth the headache or frustration of trying to make something do what it will never do..

here is the line in the description of the fire tv 2 "Dolby Audio, 5.1 surround sound, 2ch stereo, and HDMI audio pass through up to 7.1 (Dolby Audio coming soon to Netflix)

they just added the last part so looks like they are promising still HDMI pass-though but I'm not holding my breath...turned blue to many times already

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foghat

so these boxes get moved the living room and bedrooms.. and we await for EMBY Theater.... this one is going back, the roku will continue to bumped around to the non smart TV's somewhere in the house. not worth the headache or frustration of trying to make something do what it will never do..

here is the line in the description of the fire tv 2 "Dolby Audio, 5.1 surround sound, 2ch stereo, and HDMI audio pass through up to 7.1 (Dolby Audio coming soon to Netflix)

they just added the last part so looks like they are promising still HDMI pass-though but I'm not holding my breath...turned blue to many times already

 

IMO, the shield replaces the htpc.  Especially once vlc and kodi update so HD audio bitstreams.  In the meantime I will just rip a flac version of the movie as well.  I'm sure the new emby theater will be awesome, but the shield is a game changer for htpc, imo.  And, hopefully, not having a million different hardware configurations will me less hassle with getting good playback.

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foghat

I really don't think you are going to see HD audio support on a mass-market box like the Fire TV but that is just conjecture on my part. 

 

You said almost the exact same thing a week or so back about the shield.  :) But I get what you are saying and agree with you on boxes like fire tv, apple tv, etc.

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it requires them to spend money on licensing which will increase the cost of the device. i think instead what we're going to see next year are new open audio formats that can be used freely. that is just my prediction though.

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foghat

it requires them to spend money on licensing which will increase the cost of the device. i think instead what we're going to see next year are new open audio formats that can be used freely. that is just my prediction though.

 

Isn't flac open?  It was my go to many years ago when bitstreaming hd audio was in its infancy and, frankly, a huge pain to get working properly.  Rip hd audio to flac, retain all the quality and playback just works.

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Well I mean audio formats that are designed for video use. If new formats are designed then nowadays it could be a lot more than just an audio stream, for instance, embedding additional data that can be used throughout playback of the video. I am only speculating here because based on all of the video format advances that are being made, sooner or later I think people are going to start thinking about new things to do with the audio tracks.

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Pelon

I have been using the Shield 2.0, with the latest version of Kodi and the Emby add in. Let me tell you, that it is a beast, it has played everything that I trow at it, and it is doing it pass-trough. Actually if i try to change the volume (sometimes by mistake) it does a wierd noice and then it says on the screen that it is using pass trough audio. The receiver does show either DTS/DD, even when the video is encoded using HD audio. It also plays H265 without any issues. It definitely can replace an HTPC, it can play any video format, live TV, recordings and all of my media library. Plus it has the Android apps, so there is Netflix, and any other video service.

 

I also assume that this is way more power efficient.

 

I don't see any reason to have an HTPC, unless it is the same as the server or you are doing some video post processing like some of the advance features od Emby Theater 

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The receiver does show either DTS/DD, even when the video is encoded using HD audio. 

 

The HD audio codecs also include a normal "core" for this type of compatibility.

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foghat

I just took delivery of my Shield.

 

A couple observations/questions.

 

1. If I play a movie where I've converted the HD audio to flac, my receiver reads mutil-channel in and there is no transcoding on the server happening.  This was expected.

 

2. If I play a movie that has HD Audio, the receiver still reads multi-channel in - this was expected as hd audio passthrough is not there yet (and I did not rip the core track when ripped the hd audio).  However, there again is no transcoding on the server - I was not expecting this as I figured server would transcode audio to something emby on shield could handle??

 

3. I notice the osd has a audio delay option.  If needed, am I better off using this or the delay on my receiver?

 

4. I have cinema mode turned on, pleased to find out it works with this app.  However, would love the option to 'play without trailer'.  Is this something that can be done?

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