CBers 6814 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Windows. Don't you use them to let fresh air in? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest asrequested Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Don't you use them to let fresh air in? LMAO... It actually took me a second to get that lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 I have a few 3D videos in Emby and playing them back via my Shield triggers 3D on my Samsung TV. YMMV. Is it possible the Shield is just passing it through and the Samsung is handling the 3D? Seems there's basically only one option for 3D. What about non-3D? What makes the Shield so great? What are the other, cheaper options like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6814 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 What are the other, cheaper options like? Not as good as a Shield. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Not as good as a Shield. Do you think perhaps when I asked about cheaper options and what makes the Shield so great I might have wanted to weigh actual pros and cons instead of a blanket statement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6814 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Do you think perhaps when I asked about cheaper options and what makes the Shield so great I might have wanted to weigh actual pros and cons instead of a blanket statement? Probably Buy a Xiaomi MI Box, or an Amazon Fire TV box/cube and if you like them and the Emby ATV works well for you, think about upgrading to a Shield at some point. I wouldn't buy a Chinese knock-off, if you want a good experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Probably Buy a Xiaomi MI Box, or an Amazon Fire TV box/cube and if you like them and the Emby ATV works well for you, think about upgrading to a Shield at some point. I wouldn't buy a Chinese knock-off, if you want a good experience. You're still being pretty light-on fior details here. "Shield is the best" I'd pretty much already gathered, but what I want is information on which to base my decision. The ability to decide whether the Shield is worth the money, or if not which other options would best suit me. Just repeating "Shield is the best" doesn't help me much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6814 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 what I want is information on which to base my decision. Have you Googled anything, checked out other forums, searched for yourself? This is only one community site, so perhaps you should broaden your horizons and ask elsewhere as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tman 47 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Shield - every time. Expensive - yes, but you get what you pay for. Best media streamer I've ever owned, and the Android 8 UI is about as good as it gets - especially with the extra work nVidia have done with it. It's good for some light gaming too. Emby rocks on the Shield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkss12 296 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Except for 3D, which I know nothing about, The shield will do pretty much everything you want. I have run across videos that do not play correctly on my shield, but play correctly on my cheap Chinese boxes running libreELEC or CoreELEC. My Zidoo X9S, plays everything, including 3D (from what I have heard). I rarely use my zidoo,since it does not support the ATV version of Emby. Only the Shield, Zidoo, and my Chinese boxes running libreELEC or CoreELEC, play everything flawlessly with HD audio. These boxes also do automatic frame rate switching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 Have you Googled anything, checked out other forums, searched for yourself? This is only one community site, so perhaps you should broaden your horizons and ask elsewhere as well. I'm asking a) specifically in relation to Emby and about my specific circumstances. A broad review isn't going to give me that. Shield - every time. Expensive - yes, but you get what you pay for. Best media streamer I've ever owned, and the Android 8 UI is about as good as it gets - especially with the extra work nVidia have done with it. It's good for some light gaming too. Emby rocks on the Shield.My question though is whether the benefits are, for me, worth the expense. I'm still waiting for any to be specified. I rarely use my zidoo,since it does not support the ATV version of Emby.What exactly is it that makes the ATV version so great? Only the Shield, Zidoo, and my Chinese boxes running libreELEC or CoreELEC, play everything flawlessly with HD audio.Fire 4K and Roku seem, from some quick Googling, to support pretty much everything as well? These boxes also do automatic frame rate switching.What exactly is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maegibbons 1267 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 I have tried most of them. Fire TV, mi box and others. Everybody is just trying to give you good advice. The shield is fast compared to others. The shield supports more codecs natively thsn the others. It has more options in terms of framerate compared to Fire. It just has more. Dollar for dollar its just a better experience overall. This is the collective experience of the forum. Dont fight it. Krs Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 These boxes also do automatic frame rate switching. What exactly is that? That question you posed shows you need to do more of your own research in other forums to find out what box is good for you with what features. Automatic Frame rate is not something that has anything to do with Emby. Video and Film is shot in different frame rates and the box will automatically switch to the native frame rate if your display device supports it. For many who want the best video quality that is important. As previous poster mentioned this community values quality and convenience over price, you don't seem to be in the same boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14981 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Fire 4K and Roku seem, from some quick Googling, to support pretty much everything as well? They don't support all the same audio that the Shield does (e.g. DTS HD, TrueHD) and won't be quite as fast. If that's not important to you, then those are fine choices. You should also weigh based on the other uses of the machine - like for Netflix or Amazon Prime etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerV76 84 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) You're still being pretty light-on fior details here. "Shield is the best" I'd pretty much already gathered, but what I want is information on which to base my decision. The ability to decide whether the Shield is worth the money, or if not which other options would best suit me. Just repeating "Shield is the best" doesn't help me much. Compared to other streaming devices I have, which include an Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV gen 2 boxes, Fire TV stick with Alexa and Samsung Smart TV app... The Shield is the only device that will direct play everything and not need transcoding from my pc running the Emby server. It is the only device that does pass-through of every single audio codec including Dolby Atmos, DTS-X, Dolby True-HD, and DTS-MA. The UI is extremely fast, fluid and responsive. There is no delay when pressing a button at all. The access to settings changes is far and above what the other boxes give you. It can deinterlace 1080i content on board, again keeping the load off my pc. It is heavily supported by Nvidia Its the only device that has every single app I use, and the ones it didn't have like "Directv Now" I was able to side load. It can be a stand alone Emby server. it has the ability for expandable storage The only downside to the Shield at the moment is cropped HDR in Emby isn't working. But you can easily play them in other apps until it's fixed. Hope that helps. Edited February 16, 2019 by TylerV76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 Video and Film is shot in different frame rates and the box will automatically switch to the native frame rate if your display device supports it. For many who want the best video quality that is important. This honestly didn't occur to me as something a player might not have. They don't support all the same audio that the Shield does (e.g. DTS HD, TrueHD) and won't be quite as fast. If that's not important to you, then those are fine choices. You should also weigh based on the other uses of the machine - like for Netflix or Amazon Prime etc. I don't anticipate other uses, which is why I'm not keen to spend a truckload of money. Seems like the Zidoo boxes will handle both the audio and the video I need for my home theater, while a Fire or Roku is the best option for the living-room TV (no 3D, no 4K, internal TV speakers). In the former case it seems silly to spend that much coin without 3D support and with the cropped 4K issue, in the latter it's absurd to spend much at all for features the playback system won't support anyway. I'm still curious as to what makes the Android TV Emby app so superior to the others. How are the 3D Kodi, Fire, and Roku apps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkss12 296 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 The Zidoo's are quite expensive, a little more than a shield, but are meant for serious A/V buffs WITH 3D. https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=291943 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdiesel 1114 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 I'm not sure what else to tell you that hasn't already been said. You need to decide what is important to you and what is the best value. If 3D MVC is important to you need to explore external options as no Emby app supports native 3D playback. I linked to a Kodi thread earlier that goes over some different options but you need to do your own research to find what works for you as it is a tiny niche that is dying. For the "best" Emby experience there is really only two options, a Shield TV or a PC running Emby Theater. When I say "best" I am taking into consideration UI speed, HD audio support, frame rate/resolution switching, direct play support, network path support, HDR support, etc. Both devices do quite well ok in all these areas but it really comes down to: 1) Do you want a PC in your media room 2) Do you run other media apps besides Emby This is why most people choose the Shield TV. As others have already said other Android boxes are a mixed bag. Some only run the mobile Android OS, don't support HD audio, don't output HDR, don't support refeshrate switching, use cheap flash storage, have cheap remotes, only have 100mbit NICs, don't receive software updates, etc. The Shield TV is not only the development device for Emby but pretty much every other Android TV app in existence in the absence of Google releasing its own Android TV hardware. So you get the added assurance of knowing developers have tested the software on your exact device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 Scratch that, it turns out the Zidoo devices don't do 25 or 50fps, because apparently it's still the 90s in America. FFS. So there are literally no devices in existence that will play back more than half my collection. Delightful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6814 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 So there are literally no devices in existence that will play back more than half my collection. Delightful. Yes there is, the nVidia Shield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Black 4 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 ...I'm still curious as to what makes the Android TV Emby app so superior to the others. How are the 3D Kodi, Fire, and Roku apps? For me it's mainy visuals. The ATV app on Shield is just much easier for me to navigate. Compared to the Roku; - Fewer steps to get to a grid view of Movies / TV Shows. - More GUI custom settings, ie: poster size. I haven't used Fire TV. EmbyCon on Kodi looks like whatever Kodi skin you are using. Haven't used Embu for Kodi. Haven't got Kodi set up on the Shield. I've got it on a Raspberry Pi. Luke has said they are making all apps more similar. He didn't say which platform was the measuring stick though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 Yes there is, the nVidia Shield Which doesn't support 3D or non-1.78 HDR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkss12 296 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Scratch that, it turns out the Zidoo devices don't do 25 or 50fps, because apparently it's still the 90s in America. FFS. So there are literally no devices in existence that will play back more than half my collection. Delightful. Are you sure it does not support 25 or 50 fps?? I live in the US, so no media for that FPS, to test. I just have a hard time believing that it doesn't support that FPS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusher11 868 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 It specifically says it supports 23 and 29 fps. If it supported 25 and 50 I imagine it would say so, or just not specify at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkss12 296 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) It specifically says it supports 23 and 29 fps. If it supported 25 and 50 I imagine it would say so, or just not specify at all. https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?pid=2445669 My Zidoo X9S shows HD mode 720P 50 Hz 1080i 50Hz 1080P 25Hz 1080P 50Hz 3840x2160P 25Hz 3840x2160P 50Hz Edit 2: I was totally wrong, My Zidoo does USE the ATV version of Emby, BUT, there is NO automatic Frame rate change. It does not play in HD audio either. So, to use the automatic frame rate and HD audio, you have to use the native player OR Kodi. Edited February 16, 2019 by clarkss12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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