Shield 2017 v Firestick 4K Max

robfosters

robfosters

robfosters

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I know the shield has always been more powerful than the Firestick, but what about the 2017 shield v the newest Firestick?

Would I be losing or gaining moving from my old Shield to the Firestick? Mainly looking at speed, functions and 4K PQ and sound quality
 
i have both, stick in ain't in shield's league (my opinion)
would deffo stick with shield, ain't really that much better for media :P
 
Shield will support more video and audio codecs than the Firestick. As above, I've had both and the Shield is better if you're using to watch you're own UHD & Blu-ray rips. Certainly has more grunt than a Firestick when it comes to anything else as well.

If you just need a streaming device for the major providers, then the Firestick will do and cost less.
 
I've got both only time I've had an issue was with the BBC UHD Wimbledon stream, Shield couldn't play it as it doesn't support HLG where the Firestick does. Playing my own content both can play everything I have tried direct with no issues.

The Shield's upscaling to 4k is great so if you are playing a lot of 1080p content on a 4k TV I'd go with the Shield otherwise the Firestick 4k Max which is regularly on sale to low £30s is just as good. Menu speed etc to me is exactly the same.
 
The 4K Max supports Wi-Fi 6 and as mentioned, plays HLG HDR content in iPlayer so if you’re wanting to potentially watch the World Cup in 4K later on in the year then something to consider.

Also has all the UK streaming apps as opposed to the Shield missing All 4 and Now TV.

But if your own rips are a priority then you should definitely stick with the Shield.
 
I think I’ll stick with the shield, but I might look into the newest model. I have an external HDD with all my DC
VD’s of classic comedies ripped onto it. Could be a bit diffic getting that to work with the Firestick.

HLG isn’t an issue as my Sammy TV has it on the iPlayer app
 
shield, like my roku4k stck, doesn't do vp9.2 for youtube or upcoming netflix, as such I was considering moving to new roku 4k+, when I see a deal,
maybe firestick 4kmax is similarly spec'd
 
barmyllama said:
Shield will support more video and audio codecs than the Firestick. As above, I've had both and the Shield is better if you're using to watch you're own UHD & Blu-ray rips. Certainly has more grunt than a Firestick when it comes to anything else as well.

If you just need a streaming device for the major providers, then the Firestick will do and cost less.
Click to expand...
I can't even get normal HD iPlayer content to play smoothly. I get periodic very jarring frame drops that are highly annoying. I've tried everything from forcing refresh rate to clearing cache and data to no avail

This is on a 2017 Shield
 
I use Plex to stream UHD Blu-ray rips from my PC, issues at all.

However, I have noticed that when using streaming apps on the Shield I can get frame drops when watching films. TV shows seem to be fine, but I do end up using my TV's built in apps to watch movie content from Netflix, Disney and Prime.

Even forcing 24hz refresh rate on the Shield doesn't always work. There's definitely an issue with the streaming apps on the Shield and 24 FPS content.
 
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