Device for media playback

[bliss]

Does anybody have any recommended devices that can handle 4k, HDR and lossless/uncompressed audio tracks? I've ripped all my media to a NAS for many years now and up until recently have happily used my android TV's basic media player for playback. However the TV is ARC only and a recently forced upgrade of my very old AV receiver means I'd now like to take advantage of the TrueHD, DTS-HD etc tracks.

I keep leaning towards the Nvidia Shield, but I don't know if there's any other options available that are worth a look. I'm also not necessarily bothered about media playback apps that use GUI/cataloguing features, eg Kodi, but will if that gives the least issues.

Thanks!

 

[heeeed]

The shield is still a great piece of kit, and probably still the best or close to best out there. Personally if you’ve ripped all to NAS then I’d have it run a plex server, or the shield can be the server as another option and just use the NAS for storage. The catalogue features are nice, but really it’s just so good and easy to use. Very good WAF if needed, and being able to have others stream from you is nice too.

 

[hornetstinger]

I'm using a generic amlogic chinese box, with kodi/coreleac, works well for the £45 or so quid. Plus microsd card.

The stock remote IR blaster is rubbish though.

No issues with 4K, HDR, Atmos, DTS X, Dolby HD, DTS HD. Although for highest bitrate 4K, I'd stick with local USB files, not over wifi.

 

[bliss]

I'll be using ethernet rather than WiFi as I do now. Any lag/sluggish performance issues with these amlogic Chinese boxes? Really don't want a frustrating experience.

 

[hornetstinger]

I'll be using ethernet rather than WiFi as I do now. Any lag/sluggish performance issues with these amlogic Chinese boxes? Really don't want a frustrating experience.

Not once installed coreleac, it boots up to kodi.

Think nvidia still has android? Not sure if android is bit perfect, but my box with corelec is

 

[Barry Smalley]

Have a look at the Formuler Z11 Pro Max. Awesome box. Has MyTvonline if you want to run IPTV and it’s probably the best dedicated app for it.

 

[Dominic-Toretto]

Does anybody have any recommended devices that can handle 4k, HDR and lossless/uncompressed audio tracks? I've ripped all my media to a NAS for many years now and up until recently have happily used my android TV's basic media player for playback. However the TV is ARC only and a recently forced upgrade of my very old AV receiver means I'd now like to take advantage of the TrueHD, DTS-HD etc tracks.

I keep leaning towards the Nvidia Shield, but I don't know if there's any other options available that are worth a look. I'm also not necessarily bothered about media playback apps that use GUI/cataloguing features, eg Kodi, but will if that gives the least issues.

Thanks!

Shield Pro

 

[ivrytwr3]

Plex - never used it, but highly rated.

Shield - tried it, couldn't get on with it.

https://osmc.tv/vero/ - i use this. Networked to my PC > OSMC device with external HDD connected > into TV/sound system. Very simple to use with very good support if needed.

 

[bimbleuk]

SFF PC with an ARC 310 would probably be overkill. I have a 4 core QNAP Intel Atom NAS which is about 6 years old now has no problems running Plex server to an LG OLED TV. My mkv rips are all high bit rate HDR/DV and ATMOS/DTS.

 

[bliss]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Will take a further look into it all later today.

 

[Rab]

have tryed a few boxes over time, gonna go with the shield as well, it old now, but nothing really compares with it. 2017 model in room, 2019 model in living room. plays everything i throw at . (DO NOT BUY THE SHIELD TUBE)

 

[hornetstinger]

Plex - never used it, but highly rated.

Shield - tried it, couldn't get on with it.

https://osmc.tv/vero/ - i use this. Networked to my PC > OSMC device with external HDD connected > into TV/sound system. Very simple to use with very good support if needed.

looks ok, but overpriced.
At least the BT remote will be better than the god awful IR remotes that come with the generic boxes.

Having OSMC on the built in flash is better than microsd, as I understand OSMC is a fork of coreelac?

 

[barmyllama]

Nvidia Shield Pro.

Playback all the current video and audio formats without any issues.

Plex is great, but for me there's the audio always being out of sync when streaming lossless audio. It didn't used to do it, but for at least the last two years it's been a problem. I ended up using Jellyfin combined with an external video player as I think the default Exoplayer that it and Plex uses are the cause of the audio sync problem.

 

[Ev0]

I only really use it for Plex for my video library, but I've always used the Roku devices as they had good format support for direct play etc, and I like the very simple UI.

No good for someone who likes to tinker with UI and stuff, but does the job well for me.

 

[ivrytwr3]

looks ok, but overpriced.
At least the BT remote will be better than the god awful IR remotes that come with the generic boxes.

Having OSMC on the built in flash is better than microsd, as I understand OSMC is a fork of coreelac?

I don't think so, as there are some forum posts about issues of OSMC users trying to use coreelac.

I didn't find it expensive as i came from Popcorn, WDTV etc! I wanted something simple to use for the family. reliable and easy to configure for me. This ticked all the boxes.

 

[heeeed]

I only really use it for Plex for my video library, but I've always used the Roku devices as they had good format support for direct play etc, and I like the very simple UI.

No good for someone who likes to tinker with UI and stuff, but does the job well for me.

I also like the Roku. I use a stick as my take away on holiday item. Another good reason for plex setup is that I can be at an airbnb and just plug in stick and I’ve got my full library anywhere I may be

 

[MatsyLR]

Nvidia shield pro and just be done with it