Network media player recommendations

HRL · 16 Oct 2019 at 19:17

Looking for a new media player that will support media files from my QNAP NAS.

Needs to support up to 4K/60 along with the usual .MKV and other common video and audio types.

Have been using a MED600X3D and YAMJ but it’s only 1080P and showing it’s age now.

Any modern suggestions? Or have these fallen by the wayside nowadays?

iamtheoneneo · 16 Oct 2019 at 21:13

Vero 4k+ is all you need. 4k, atmos, 10bit, native res switching all the good stuff covered.

It runs a OSMC which is a fork of kodi and receives monthly updates. The main devs listen to community feedback/issues and fixes them quick.

Really great device and software package

heeeed · 16 Oct 2019 at 22:35

Does you tv have a built in plex app? Could you run plex off your NAS direct to the tv?

HRL · 16 Oct 2019 at 22:35

@iamtheoneneo

Sounds good. Can it catalogue movies and display cover art?

Had to use YAMJ previously and it was quite a manual task, at least initially.

Certainly the specs of the Vero 4K look good.

HRL · 16 Oct 2019 at 22:40

heeeed said:
Does you tv have a built in plex app? Could you run plex off your NAS direct to the tv?

Not sure yet. Currently backing up the NAS in its entirety and then will upgrade the firmware to the latest version but I don’t think it currently has it built in. Think it has Twonky, though that may change with a FW update.

Will check out the TV too. It’s not that new, it’s a Panasonic DX750.

iamtheoneneo · 17 Oct 2019 at 07:23

HRL said:
@iamtheoneneo

Sounds good. Can it catalogue movies and display cover art?

Had to use YAMJ previously and it was quite a manual task, at least initially.

Certainly the specs of the Vero 4K look good.

Yes of course. It has all media scrapers as standard.

b00merang69 · 17 Oct 2019 at 07:31

2GB of memory is not great, and does it use Android TV or Android as the later on a TV box is a PIA.

I would advise the Nvidia Shield always.

barmyllama · 18 Oct 2019 at 08:26

Another vote for the Nvidia Shield.

b00merang69 · 18 Oct 2019 at 08:30

New Shields apparent due on 28th Oct (were on Amazon but got pulled).

Pyr0m@nI@]{ · 18 Oct 2019 at 09:02

New Shield TV Pro or dongle would get my vote. I'm thinking about getting the pro

darrant1234 · 18 Oct 2019 at 09:56

zidoo x10 is a great device. point it at shares and it builds its own movie wall.

TheMightyTen · 18 Oct 2019 at 12:15

b00merang69 said:
2GB of memory is not great, and does it use Android TV or Android as the later on a TV box is a PIA.

I would advise the Nvidia Shield always.

Is that in reference to the Vero 4K+, if so you should probably google some before you make ignorant statements. The Vero OS is a custom built minimal Linux with tailored Kodi front end over the top, 2GB memory is plenty, it is hands down the best off the shelf home media library streamer available with one of the best and accessible dev teams there is, has regular updates and a community that lacks the normal arrogant ***** these sort of communities normally attract.

The Shield was good but has progressively got worse and worse with each iteration of the Shield Experience only ever fixing a few bugs and constantly adding more whilst ignoring the (albeit a fairly toxic) community and telling lies in the bargain. Even Google have very little love for Android TV. My two now sit on a shelf gathering dust and only ever get plugged in when a new SE is released only to be quickly thrown back on the shelf again.

All I will say is do a side by side image and colorimetry comparison between the Vero 4K+ and a Shield running Kodi, it's not even close.

The new Shield may bring something to the table with the Tegra X1+, Dolby Vision and possibly VP9p2 etc. but it is still handicapped by the awful Android image and colour management limitations compared to Linux.

Pyr0m@nI@]{ · 18 Oct 2019 at 13:04

One thing I will say about the old Shield TV was that the upscaling was terrible with pixelation and jagged lines on text. The same shows looked better played via Plex on my old Samsung TV.
I only had one for a few days before I returned it as I was watching a lot of SD content then.
I'm wondering if the new "AI upscaling" will be any better?

Glad to see the new box/dongle support dolby vision at last too

ubern00b · 18 Oct 2019 at 14:31

Received my Vero 4K+ today and it was corrupted out of the box. No matter what I tried I could not get it to boot/reinstall. Sams support is top notch, cannot fault but unfortunately it is going back for a refund. First impressions and all that.

Will be looking out for the new Shield as it appears to do everything so really is the first "all-in-one" box.

b00merang69 · 18 Oct 2019 at 17:11

TheMightyTen said:
Is that in reference to the Vero 4K+, if so you should probably google some before you make ignorant statements. The Vero OS is a custom built minimal Linux with tailored Kodi front end over the top, 2GB memory is plenty, it is hands down the best off the shelf home media library streamer available with one of the best and accessible dev teams there is, has regular updates and a community that lacks the normal arrogant ***** these sort of communities normally attract.

The Shield was good but has progressively got worse and worse with each iteration of the Shield Experience only ever fixing a few bugs and constantly adding more whilst ignoring the (albeit a fairly toxic) community and telling lies in the bargain. Even Google have very little love for Android TV. My two now sit on a shelf gathering dust and only ever get plugged in when a new SE is released only to be quickly thrown back on the shelf again.

All I will say is do a side by side image and colorimetry comparison between the Vero 4K+ and a Shield running Kodi, it's not even close.

The new Shield may bring something to the table with the Tegra X1+, Dolby Vision and possibly VP9p2 etc. but it is still handicapped by the awful Android image and colour management limitations compared to Linux.

Hi less of you cheek, I asked a question and I did a quick Google and seen the 2GB part so less of your ignorant toward others who ask a simply question about the OS not a statement so learn to read and get your facts straight but again 2GB is not much today even the Shields 3GB on new model is stingy

Going by your post and starred out cursing and digs above it would seem you do not like the Shield so why not say that instead of giving out crap here?

Anyhow did your rant make you feel any better?

hornetstinger · 18 Oct 2019 at 17:47

Got h92 pro plus 3gb/64gb and it's fine, plenty of ram and storage

HRL · 18 Oct 2019 at 19:57

heeeed said:
Does you tv have a built in plex app? Could you run plex off your NAS direct to the tv?

Plex on the TV, however not on the NAS.
It’s an old QNAP TS-219P II.

Will replace it at some point but Plex aside, there’s nothing wrong with it now it’s running the latest FW.

Did briefly look at a Shield but it seemed a bit OTT for my needs.

Off on holiday for a week tomorrow so will look at this again when I get back

hornetstinger · 18 Oct 2019 at 21:06

If it's slow as my qnap ts-209 ii get rid of it, new.obe is Synology ds418 and stupid fast, slimserver used to take a day to scan my music on Synology 4 hours. Copying to Nas now 120mb sec before 10-20mb sec.

Slimserver slow in use on qnap now as fast as the computer host

jpaul · 19 Oct 2019 at 09:40

TheMightyTen said:
Is that in reference to the Vero 4K+,

The Shield was good but has progressively got worse and worse with each iteration of the Shield Experience only ever fixing a few bugs and constantly adding more whilst ignoring the (albeit a fairly toxic) community and telling lies in the bargain. Even Google have very little love for Android TV. My two now sit on a shelf gathering dust and only ever get plugged in when a new SE is released only to be quickly thrown back on the shelf again.

whilst the shield doesn't have best hardware upscaling algorithms (earlier threads here), so you maybe better off leaving that to the TV,
is has the cpu to do some on the fly transcoding for clients, but, maybe you should expect to pre-translate any (it's all ripped not illicit - lol) media to a common supported format for you devices, anyway.

[
mission creep - I want the ability to also attach USB freeview tuners (if I can escape a subscription epg), I'd be tempted by newer odroid-n2, vs vero
https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/just-a-few-questions-about-the-n2/6142

The N2 however, is a more powerful system overall. You’ll find a smoother, quicker system in the N2. And if you’re interested in doing things like playing retro games, in fact it excels in this regard. It’s also a much newer system (<6 months old) and all the bugs still haven’t been ironed out yet ...

]

(the flatpanels review of Samsung 4k->8K AI upscaling criticised that anyway - further(alexa ...) mis-appropriation of word AI too ... it was accessing a cloud database for settings)

... so they'll be selling off old shields on black friday ...

HRL · 21 Oct 2019 at 14:24

Can the Shield run Plex and just use my old NAS as file storage?

Might just wait and see what the new Shield is like before buying something TBH. It’s looking like it’s going to launch imminently.