Roku 4 vs current Gen Amazon Fire TV questions

[RedBaron164 18]

I recently picked up a Roku 4 on sale hoping I could play a lot of files directly without transcoding. So far the Roku hasn't been able to play most files I've tried without transcoding. I have several h264/h265 mkvs and they all end up being transcoded and that maxes out the server CPU. I also watch live tv and the Roku's can't handle direct playing live tv either so that ends up being transcoded as well.

 

So I'm thinking of returning my Roku 4 and getting an Amazon Fire TV but I wanted to check with the community and see what people though of the Fire TV vs the Roku. I've done some searching on the forum and it appears that the Fire TV can direct play h265 content without transcoding. Is that the case and what about live tv? I saw it's possible to install VLC on the Fire TV and use that has an external player, is that required to play content without transcoding? ALso, I do not have my Emby server transcoding TV recordings so I end up with MPEG-2 TS files, can the Fire TV play those without transcoding?

Edited September 27, 2016 by RedBaron164

[CBers 6771]

Have you tried this on the Roku?

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/24151-theme-blue-neon-night

 

Also, unless you're an Amazon Prime user, take a look at the Nvidia Shield TV.

[RedBaron164 18]

I saw Blue-Neon mentioned on the forums and I'm going to try it out tonight to see how it works

 

I am an Amazon Prime user which is why I started looking at the Fire. I've heard good things about the Shield but the price point was my main concern. I don't really want to spend more than $100 on a streaming box.

Edited September 27, 2016 by RedBaron164

[RanmaCanada 344]

Wait for the Xaoimi box to be officially released.  Uses a S905X-H processor which has 100% Dolby licenses paid.  It will direct play pretty much everything (if the app won't do it yet, Kodi, Archos, MXpalyer will)