Mr_Orange Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Hello all, Apologies for what is probably another 'help me choose' thread for a media player but I am at my wits end trying to choose something. I used to just put my BDs and DVDs in my Denon BDP but then my better half requested that the storage space all the discs were taking up be made available so I ripped them all to my NAS (using MakeMKV and then Handbrake to transcode to mp4). It runs Plex server. My 2014 LG smart TV runs the Plex client but quite frankly, I am sick of Plex. It's really slow (that could be down to my NAS, an older ReadyNAS Ultra 4+ that I upgraded to OS6) and it seems to lose connection all the time. It took me 30 minutes today to not manage to watch a film so I dug the BD out of the box in the garage. All my software is BD and DVD, no 4K. I may buy 4K discs in the future but that is not likely unless prices come down. My TV has apps for Netflix, Disney+, Stan, Amazon Prime and the various catch up services so I really need a plug and play streamer that can read BD/DVD rips from a network share on my NAS. I'd like it to have a reasonable interface. For reference, I used to use a Netgear NeoTV NTV550 which just worked. I'm concious though that LG and/or the providers will drop support for my TV at some point so a device that supports these services is necessary. I was all set on buying the 2019 Shield Pro but its lack of availability (and local pricing) has scotched that idea. I'm not part of the Apple ecosystem but the Apple TV 4K looks good and seems very reasonably priced. Then there are the various Dune HD players, Zidoo, etc. I have no need for the device to be good with music as that is already covered in my system. I welcome opinion, suggestions and experiences. TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwstereo Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Maybe trying to play the Plex content on a computer to see if it's the Plex server that's the issue. Narrow down the problem and then you'll better know what to replace/upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 (edited) On 12/06/2020 at 1:15 PM, pwstereo said: Maybe trying to play the Plex content on a computer to see if it's the Plex server that's the issue. Narrow down the problem and then you'll better know what to replace/upgrade. Thank you. Accessing Plex from a computer can be equally slow. The NAS is older but I have no intention of replacing it because as a NAS, and not a media server, it is perfect. I've never been that enamoured of Plex anyway so am happy to see it fall by the wayside. Also, changing the NAS wouldn't help with the inevitable deprecation of the smart functions of my TV. Edited June 19, 2020 by Mr_Orange 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett1968 Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 (edited) Have a look at one of the ARM SBC's running linux and Kodi it will play almost anything. https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916 Edited June 13, 2020 by Brett1968 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 13, 2020 Author Share Posted June 13, 2020 (edited) On 13/06/2020 at 5:11 PM, Brett1968 said: Have a look at one of the ARM SBC's running linux and Kodi it will play almost anything. https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916 Thank you for your reply. I read the start of that thread but I couldn't work out which device you are referring to. One take away I did get is that the Apple TV 4K ticks a lot of boxes. Edited June 14, 2020 by Mr_Orange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwstereo Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 ARM SBC decodes to: ARM = processor (a type of CPU, just like Intel Core i5, or AMD Ryzen, etc). ARM tend to be lower power and power efficient). SBC = Singe Board Computer, like a Raspberry Pi, or an Asus Tinkerboard, etc. So you'd buy a Raspberry Pi and run Kodi on it, perhaps as part of a custom Raspian OS (the Linux based OS used on Raspberry Pi computers) image. https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/kodi/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett1968 Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 The Apple TV 4K is probably the best for the online streaming services but not so much for playing your own local content (TVOS is very locked down). If you want a plug and play media player for your own content the have a look at the Vero 4K+ as it comes preloaded with OSMC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 7 hours ago, pwstereo said: ARM SBC decodes to: ARM = processor (a type of CPU, just like Intel Core i5, or AMD Ryzen, etc). ARM tend to be lower power and power efficient). SBC = Singe Board Computer, like a Raspberry Pi, or an Asus Tinkerboard, etc. So you'd buy a Raspberry Pi and run Kodi on it, perhaps as part of a custom Raspian OS (the Linux based OS used on Raspberry Pi computers) image. https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/kodi/ Thank you for the explanation. I probably should have stated in my OP that a DIY solution does not interest me. I used to enjoy tinkering, now I just want something that works out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 4 hours ago, Brett1968 said: The Apple TV 4K is probably the best for the online streaming services but not so much for playing your own local content (TVOS is very locked down). Would you mind expanding on what restrictions TVOS has? My ripped media is all in mp4 format with separate subtitle files, where needed (mostly foreign language martial arts films). 4 hours ago, Brett1968 said: If you want a plug and play media player for your own content the have a look at the Vero 4K+ as it comes preloaded with OSMC. I'll check that out, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett1968 Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 The native TVOS media player is very restrictive on the format of the media files it can play and you can only use programs that are in the apple store (ie. you can't "side load" programs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 1 minute ago, Brett1968 said: The native TVOS media player is very restrictive on the format of the media files it can play and you can only use programs that are in the apple store (ie. you can't "side load" programs). Thanks. It plays mp4 OK though from what I can see. Do you mean, though, that it might not like some of my mp4s because they haven't been encoded by a studio or some other official channel? All my rips were made using MakeMKV and then Handbrake to transcode to mp4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett1968 Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 It all depends on the program you use to play the files, for the native player it's a maybe. If you use something like MRMC, Infuse, VLC etc then it probably will as I think they use their own players. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett1968 Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 I forgot to mention that the Apple TV doesn't do pass through audio it converts to PCM for output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 2 minutes ago, Brett1968 said: I forgot to mention that the Apple TV doesn't do pass through audio it converts to PCM for output. OK, I don't think that is a deal-breaker for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomerJ Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 If you want Atmos and DTS-HDMA then you’ll need passthrough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 59 minutes ago, HomerJ said: If you want Atmos and DTS-HDMA then you’ll need passthrough Thanks. I have no need for Atmos but have plenty of DTSHD-MA. That said, presumably the ATV sends out 7.1PCM from a DTSHD-MA source? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 20, 2020 Author Share Posted June 20, 2020 To close out this thread, I have gone for the Nvidia Shield TV Pro. It turns out that availability has improved and with a 20% Ebay Plus code it came in at just under $370 (the selling price was inflated above RRP so the discount wasn't as effective as it could have been). Before I realised the Shield was actually available, I nearly went down the route of an Apple TV 4K with a Vero 4K+ but that was going to be more expensive than the Shield. I have test driven Kodi on my PC and like the interface so I'm pretty sure that will be my player of choice. SWMBO will be happy too, as she will be able to finally watch Hayu on the big screen. Thanks again for all the replies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLE355 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Enjoy, I've got 2 x Vero 4K's and they are great units to use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Orange Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 Thank you. The Shield arrived today and is set up and working. It turns out that the Plex issue was my TV (presumably an underpowered processor) as Plex works beautifully on the Shield with my NAS acting as the server (no transcoding). I also had no idea how small the Shield is. Somehow the photographs make it look much larger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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