Fire/Android/NVDA Shield/XBOX/Playstation - which 1 can stream 4K best

[asquare3376 6]

Apologies in advance for not going through all the 'Knowledge Base' threads first but I need to make a quick decision as it's almost Thanksgiving and I am so ready to buy my next UHDTV.

I do not care for Amazon Video/Netflix/Hulu etc. as my primary source of entertainment is my behemoth collection of 4K movies which I play via emby. Question here is which platform has the best empy app?

1. Fire TV?

2.Android TV?

3. What about the apps available on NVIDIA Shield? I see there are 2 emby apps avaialble on that platform, which one is the latest & greatest?

4. How is the performance of emby on Playstation 5 / Xbox Series X?

[DaKingHilsman 0]

Fire stick 

[asquare3376 6]

Fire Stick is the worst without a doubt. For high bitrate 4k files, by far Nvidia shield is the best without any transcoding but it occasionaly drops a frame or two, teh reaason for which I am yet to figure out 

[rbjtech 5284]

It really 'depends' on what you mean by 4K.

There is a very big difference between 4K 'streams' using 20-30 Mbit/sec with compressed Dolby Digital Plus (EAC3) audio vs a full 4K Remux (70-100 Mbit/sec) with TrueHD or DTS-HD Audio.

The Shield (assuming Pro) is still the most compatible if you want the remux/hd audio (despite being ~5 years old technology)  - but the much newer firetv sticks will out perform it by a large margin if you don't need HD audio.

re the apps - personally I find the AndroidTV app to be much faster/snappier (you'll see an obvious difference on the Shield Pro) and more elegant/polished app but as the outgoing app, it has lost the love from the Dev's and is looking a little dated in some areas.    On older firetv hardware (Gen 2) the Android App is not useable imo - while the FireTV App remains snappy.

Edited November 28, 2024 by rbjtech

[pmac 143]

On 28/11/2024 at 03:56, rbjtech said:

personally I find the AndroidTV app to be much faster/snappier (you'll see an obvious difference on the Shield Pro) and more elegant/polished app but as the outgoing app, it has lost the love from the Dev's and is looking a little dated in some areas.    On older firetv hardware (Gen 2) the Android App is not useable imo - while the FireTV App remains snappy.

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I made a post yesterday that seems like it may be relevant to your comment here regarding issues I'm having with the Android app vs AndroidTV app on my tv's built-in OS. 

With the fact that the general Android app seems to be where Emby on all Android devices is headed for the future, I would've expected that to be the "go-to" app for any android device, but maybe the fact I'm using it on my TV's built in hardware is what's causing the issues I'm having. If you wouldn't mind giving your opinion here or chiming in on my post from yesterday I'd be grateful, thanks! 

[asquare3376 6]

I will comment with more details later but the emby admins need to do something about multiple versions of apps available on certain platforms eg. FireTV/Nvidia etc. There should be just one most recent & updated version available for users to download & install.

The 3.something version is more capable in handling 4k files with higher bit rates than the other one with version 2.something. I will have to go revisit the apps to check which is which

[Luke 42077]

2 hours ago, asquare3376 said:

I will comment with more details later but the emby admins need to do something about multiple versions of apps available on certain platforms eg. FireTV/Nvidia etc. There should be just one most recent & updated version available for users to download & install.

 

Hi ,yes we agree and we are working on unifying them into one app. Thanks.

[asquare3376 6]

Thanks Luke, I watch nothing else but emby 100% of the time. If you need any support from your existing subscribers, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Closing this thread as I ended up keeping the Nvidia Shield pro and bought a new FireTV. Will reach out again in time...

Happy Holidays!