Best hardware

[sooty234 266]

You guys realize that I'm just being antagonistic, right? I'm the devil on your shoulder that you want to flick away

Of course I understand why most people use streaming boxes, and they are good reasons. HTPCs are superior, but only in capability. As for streaming boxes, shield is pretty much the only good choice. Between the amount of manufacturer support it gets and its capability, you should only buy something else if you can't afford it.

[ebr 14912]

Somebody stole sooty's login info... .

Happy Holidays everyone!

[sooty234 266]

Damn them!

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

1 hour ago, sooty234 said:

You guys realize that I'm just being antagonistic, right? I'm the devil on your shoulder that you want to flick away

Of course I understand why most people use streaming boxes, and they are good reasons. HTPCs are superior, but only in capability. As for streaming boxes, shield is pretty much the only good choice. Between the amount of manufacturer support it gets and its capability, you should only buy something else if you can't afford it.

That is bull crap. There are many many perfectly good reasons other than affordability to not buy or want an HTPC or a Shield TV.

You could not have good enough eyes or ears to hear or see any difference.
You could be able to afford the difference but just not detect enough difference to justify the extra expense.
You could detest the Shield's and any HTPC's interface.
You could prefer the ecosystem of any of several other boxes.
You could prefer the simple over the complex.

There are several other very good reasons to not want to use either a Shield or an HTPC.

I have Shield TV and Fire TV and an HTPC and several other Android based devices and several Roku devices but I use Rokus over 95% of the time and I feel I am missing nothing. 

I also do not think HTPCs are "superior" Yes they can produce better picture and sound than almost any other system but that does not make them "superior" it simply makes them more capable in one or two areas but there is a LOT more to "best" for any person than just the picture and sound and since HTPC is only a slight improvement in those areas the rest of the considerations must come into play.

I do not know what is "best" for anyone else but I do know that neither an HTPC or a Shield TV are "best" for me.

[sooty234 266]

Ha! Horses for courses, right?

[FrostByte 5049]

6 hours ago, sooty234 said:

 I'm the devil on your shoulder that you want to flick away

 

I was thinking more like the booger you can't flick off you finger, but devil works I suppose 

[AndrewLe 3]

HTPC is larger, consumes a way more energy and can be noisy (due to active cooling).

I've tried both - HTPCs and Mi Box S. Box is better for me. 

[clarkss12 295]

9 hours ago, AndrewLe said:

HTPC is larger, consumes a way more energy and can be noisy (due to active cooling).

I've tried both - HTPCs and Mi Box S. Box is better for me. 

Why can't an HTPC be a miniPC?  Small size and low power consumption...

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

1 hour ago, clarkss12 said:

Why can't an HTPC be a miniPC?  Small size and low power consumption...

Sure it can be. In fact my HTPC, that I rarely use, is a tiny little thing and uses very very little power. However nothing I have tried cures the poor interface that exists for an HTPC. 

Of course I guess many people might see the clumsy interface as indicating flexibility.

[sooty234 266]

13 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Sure it can be. In fact my HTPC, that I rarely use, is a tiny little thing and uses very very little power. However nothing I have tried cures the poor interface that exists for an HTPC. 

Of course I guess many people might see the clumsy interface as indicating flexibility.

By interface, are you referring to Windows or Emby?

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

5 hours ago, sooty234 said:

By interface, are you referring to Windows or Emby?

Actually I a referring to both. While Emby shows pretty much the same interface I am used to navigation is less than smooth and no remote I have tried works as well as the remotes I use with my other devices. 

My HTPC just feels "sloppy" compared to even my old original Fire TV which I almost never use because, when I want to use a Fire device, I generally use my Fire 4K. 

To be honest I really should not be debating this as much as I am because I do not use and have no intention of using my HTPC except for apps/web sites that are not available on any of my other devices or in an extreme emergency which has not happened in many years.

[sooty234 266]

11 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

Actually I a referring to both. While Emby shows pretty much the same interface I am used to navigation is less than smooth and no remote I have tried works as well as the remotes I use with my other devices. 

My HTPC just feels "sloppy" compared to even my old original Fire TV which I almost never use because, when I want to use a Fire device, I generally use my Fire 4K. 

To be honest I really should not be debating this as much as I am because I do not use and have no intention of using my HTPC except for apps/web sites that are not available on any of my other devices or in an extreme emergency which has not happened in many years.

I'm not sure I understand. What do you mean by 'sloppy'? You don't like the design of the Theater interface? For responsiveness, using my remote with Theater on my HTPC compared to the using the same remote on my Shield (they are both connected to the same hardware), Theater is notably more responsive. I use a Harmony hub, and it is connected via Bluetooth to both the HTPC and Shield. The Android TV app is considerably more difficult to navigate. Frustratingly so, sometimes. 

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

21 minutes ago, sooty234 said:

The Android TV app is considerably more difficult to navigate. Frustratingly so, sometimes.

Which is exactly why I don't like Android hardware much either. For me the only user interface that is really worth a damn is on the Rokus and they keep dumbing that down to make it more and more Android like and that is actually a dumb idea. 

The Roku has the easiest interface for me to use but when companies try too hard to make it flashy it slows down, yes I'm talking about Netflix and Amazon and several others. So far Emby has not fallen into that trap but the keep trying to ruin the Emby experience on the Roku by making it more and more like the interface on devices like the Fire. 

But I am sure I am not going to convince you or other HTPC snobs that there is anything positive in boxes like the Roku and you are not going to convince me that there is anything good about an HTPC other than that it supports everything without transcoding.

For me the only really good thing about having an HTPC available is that it allows me to play a few sites that are not supported at all on any of my boxes.

[sooty234 266]

5 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

But I am sure I am not going to convince you or other HTPC snobs that there is anything positive in boxes like the Roku and you are not going to convince me that there is anything good about an HTPC other than that it supports everything without transcoding.

For me the only really good thing about having an HTPC available is that it allows me to play a few sites that are not supported at all on any of my boxes.

But that has always been my stance. There are a number of things that I require from an app/player that no other device achieves/allows. I could probably get used tp any UI, but without being able to alter their function as a player, they are useless to me. One such example is that I didn't pay a lot of money for a home theater audio system to listen to anything in stereo. And depending on the codec, channel count etc, I process the audio in different ways. And that's just the audio. I don't think I have ever owned a tech device that I haven't augmented in some way. What the manufacturers and their devs give us is usually very basic.... and well.... crap. To use it as is, is tormenting. What I have isn't perfect, and I seek change/improvement, continually. Sometimes I still play media outside of Emby. I haven't watched a Youtube video in a browser for a while. I watch them in my chosen player, with my own config. I can't do this with any other device.

Edited December 26, 2020 by sooty234

[jrwalte 17]

On 12/15/2020 at 1:46 PM, sooty234 said:

If you use the Theater for desktop app, there are no codecs needed. The player they use is a complete solution, and it works very well.

Funny thing. Nothing is ever as simple as stated. I installed Emby Theater on my PC with a 3090. And guess what? It fails to play HEVC (yes I have Premiere license). Works just fine for 1080p or less. I don't care to figure out why it isn't working, just making the point that a HTPC isn't as simple as just installing Emby Theater. Windows has always been a bitch with codecs and I'll be shocked if that ever changes.

[sooty234 266]

3 minutes ago, jrwalte said:

Funny thing. Nothing is ever as simple as stated. I installed Emby Theater on my PC with a 3090. And guess what? It fails to play HEVC (yes I have Premiere license). Works just fine for 1080p or less. I don't care to figure out why it isn't working, just making the point that a HTPC isn't as simple as just installing Emby Theater. Windows has always been a bitch with codecs and I'll be shocked if that ever changes.

But it doesn't use Windows at all, for codecs. It uses ffmpeg. So if ffmpeg doesn't work, neither will Theater/mpv. I suspect your issue is with the nvidia driver.

[jrwalte 17]

That's my point. You make the claim a HTPC is easier to set up than a streaming device. I'm saying no it isn't. I went away from HTPC because of issues like this. Streaming devices are much more plug and play friendly and when you do have problems, it's typically much simpler to solve (change a setting or check a box) whereas a PC can be much more complicated to solve. With more power, flexibility and combination of hardware comes the possibility of more complex issues and troubleshooting. 

[sooty234 266]

2 minutes ago, jrwalte said:

 Streaming devices are much more plug and play friendly 

Yes they are, and I have stated it.

3 minutes ago, jrwalte said:

 and when you do have problems, it's typically much simpler to solve

That's not been my experience. If something doesn't work, you wait months for development. I have no patience for that. I can correct most things on a PC, but with a streaming device, you're just stuck and can't do anything.

[jrwalte 17]

However, with streaming hardware of 2019 and newer, they support just about everything the majority of people need for Emby. Only a few would be limited and require the need of a HTPC.

But the most frustrating thing is no one device can do it all. Even a HTPC, when you factor in wanting support for streaming services such as netflix, disney+, HBOmax, Prime Video, etc with full support for HDR 4k and Atmos. So in reality, most of us find needing multiple devices a necessity to have total support for all major streaming services along with our Emby. 

The day one device can do it all (if ever), I'll be happy.

[sooty234 266]

24 minutes ago, jrwalte said:

But the most frustrating thing is no one device can do it all. Even a HTPC, when you factor in wanting support for streaming services such as netflix, disney+, HBOmax, Prime Video, etc with full support for HDR 4k and Atmos.

Uuuuummm.... I just found all of those apps for windows 10.... And I can play all HDR content.... I also have a remote that can navigate the OS.... 

[clarkss12 295]

24 minutes ago, sooty234 said:

Uuuuummm.... I just found all of those apps for windows 10.... And I can play all HDR content.... I also have a remote that can navigate the OS.... 

What remote do you use?

[sooty234 266]

29 minutes ago, clarkss12 said:

What remote do you use?

Harmony Hub with basic remote.

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/harmony/harmony-companion.915-000239.html?crid=60

[clarkss12 295]

36 minutes ago, sooty234 said:

Harmony Hub with basic remote.

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/harmony/harmony-companion.915-000239.html?crid=60

Thanks

[jrwalte 17]

13 hours ago, sooty234 said:

Uuuuummm.... I just found all of those apps for windows 10.... And I can play all HDR content.... I also have a remote that can navigate the OS.... 

Disney+ nor HBO have a windows app so you'd have to use a web browser hack and you won't get 4k or 5.1 with them. And with Prime you can't get 4k HDR or Atmos on windows app. That's pretty limited to me. So much for being able to solve everything on a HTPC as you claim can be done. Have to wait for companies to develop and support a PC device. The same problem you claimed streaming devices have...

[sooty234 266]

1 hour ago, jrwalte said:

Disney+ nor HBO have a windows app so you'd have to use a web browser hack and you won't get 4k or 5.1 with them. And with Prime you can't get 4k HDR or Atmos on windows app. That's pretty limited to me. So much for being able to solve everything on a HTPC as you claim can be done. Have to wait for companies to develop and support a PC device. The same problem you claimed streaming devices have...

Well, when I searched for them, I found them. As for the app capabilities, I have no idea. I don't use any streaming services.