Normal people with a normal TV or basic soundbar can get by with just a Google TV chromecast if they have a good network or use an Ethernet adaptor add on.
The shield is still the go to device for more advanced home theater setups though. Add a flirc for integration into universal remote setups.
Used to be that a full HTPC was the best but they just can’t compete these days with their poor DV and Atmos support and the hoops you need to jump through to get that working properly, they’re good for kodi and madvr though.
I’ve had a Nvidia Shield, currently on Apple TV. Both are about equal, but the native app on the Shield is slightly better. On Apple TV I have some problems playing 4k content in the native app. However there’s a Plex client called Infuse that will play anything you throw at it.
I switched from Shield to ATV when one of the system upgrades half-broke Plex for months.
ATV is beautiful and foolproof, also much better at connecting to various Bluetooth accessories, but so limited software-wise (compared to sideloading non-TV optimized apps on Android TV).
Yea I usually tell people if they just have a normal TV with built in speakers or a basic soundbar to just get the chromecast or an Apple TV if they are in the Apple sphere.
I recommend the shield pro to those with more serious home theater setups every time though.
Probably still a nvidia shield I think. OOTB dolby digital support IIRC, and a very extensive set of supported codecs for direct play.
If you’re open to tinkering, it’s relatively straightforward to get a similar setup going on a Windows or Linux computer with their HTPC app, which is much more affordable from a price perspective.
Along those lines, if you’d be using Linux for the HTPC app, there are some issues with the Flatpak intel VAAPI driver that cause stuttery playback on older systems. Disabling hardware decoding is usually an OK fix for this if you’re just playing back 1080p content, otherwise 🔥hot take for 4K content it’s easier to use Windows
Hmm interesting. Do you know if the Shield can play DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD/MAT? My biggest issue currently is that my TV’s inbuilt Plex app can’t play these formats, so it’s constantly transcoding.
I was seriously considering building an HTPC but I’ve heard that Windows doesn’t play Dolby Vision files in non-native apps. Can you attest? In all likelihood I’m not a huge techie, so I’d probably stick with Windows anyways.
There would be way more options if more companies purchased all the Dolby licenses, but they’re really stingy about it. Even the Nvidia Shield, which is commonly hailed as the best streaming device for its great library of native support, has limitations in that it can only play Dolby Vision profile 5 and most versions of profile 7. Those two profiles are the industry standard, though.
I’ve had mostly good experiences streaming Plex on the Shield so far, so I personally recommend it. ATV 4K is right up there too, except it requires the infuse app for lossless audio and it strips the spatial contents out of lossless audio formats.
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