I’m looking for a new streaming device to plug into my Denon receiver and Samsung 4K. Ideally, I want it to be able to passthrough both 7.1 DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. I know that the Nvidia Shield can do this. What other devices out there can?
If you want 4k and 7.1 you have already thought of the best device. The Shield is the undisputed champion currently.
My setup: Shield TV --> Denon 4300H --> LG OLED55B7P
Shield works great. Passes through all Dolby and dts audio streams to the Denon, including TrueHD 5.1/7.1, Atmos, dts-HD MA 5.1/7.1, and dts:X.
AFAIK, Shield is the only off the shelf set top box that supports all Dolby & dts audio formats. Apple TV & Amazon Fire TV do not passthrough dts audio. Roku tech specs mention dts passthrough, but do not mention TrueHD/Atmos.
On the “roll your own” front, some people have mentioned the Odroid C2.
Hopefully others with direct experience w/ Roku & Odroid will chime in.
You might also search the forum for more info on the Odroid & Roku.
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The shield is only trumped by a fully blown HTPC in terms of pass-through ability.
@FordGuy61 said:
On the “roll your own” front, some people have mentioned the Odroid C2.
Got any helpful links for Odroid C2 used as a media PLAYER with Plex?
Is it using Linux or Android or openELEC?
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@“ST Dog” said:
@FordGuy61 said:
On the “roll your own” front, some people have mentioned the Odroid C2.Got any helpful links for Odroid C2 used as a media PLAYER with Plex?
Is it using Linux or Android or openELEC?
The Odroid C2 is running OpenPHT which is an Open Source version of Plex Home Theatre the client app that Plex dropped in favour of the current Plex media Player & many users prefer the UI. OpenPHT is running on top of LibreElec i.e. Kodi. You get the benefits of the nice PHT UI plus the flexible player of Kodi which handles most anything you throw at it plus has all sorts ion knobs to twiddle to get the audio & video just to your liking. The Odroid C2 is like a Raspberry Pi but up to 10x faster. It’s a DIY solution but there are one-stop shops for the board, box, power supply, remote & other bits & pieces you will need e.g. https://www.odroid.co.uk or https://ameridroid.com.
I think that the Odroid is a great solution if you don’t need HDR. If you do need then the Shield is the only game in town albeit at more than twice the price of an Odroid & with a fantastically ugly UI. OpenPHT is long due an update & it is promised to incorporate a newer version of Kodi that does support HDR.
Check out the Plex OpenPHT forum for more details https://forums.plex.tv/categories/openpht
BTW OpenPHT is available on Windows Mac & Linux too so if you want to see if you like the UI it’s easy to test.
@FordGuy61 said:
My setup: Shield TV → Denon 4300H → LG OLED55B7PShield works great. Passes through all Dolby and dts audio streams to the Denon, including TrueHD 5.1/7.1, Atmos, dts-HD MA 5.1/7.1, and dts:X.
Hi @FordGuy61
I do have the same setup (Shield 2017 & Denon 4300H) but are not able to get DTS HD MA working (DD, DD+ and DTS are working fine). Would you mind sharing your settings for Shield, Plex and the receiver?
This is what I tried so far:
- Shield:
- Surround: always
- Fixed volume: on
- Plex:
- Passthrough: Auto
@“macdoe75+plex@spacemail.fm” Sure. Here’s my settings:
Shield
Volume Control = CEC
Surround Sound = Auto
Stereo Upmix = Off (slider to left)
Fixed Volume = Off (slider to left)
Plex App on Shield
Audio Quality → Internet Streaming = Original (should not matter for local playback)
Video → Audio Boost = None
Advanced → Passthrough = Auto
On the Denon, I’ve a 5.1.2 setup (assignment pic below). I used Audyssey to set up the speakers.
I usually run the “Auto” sound mode. The Pure (yellow) sound mode button on the remote cycles between Direct, Pure Direct, & Auto.
Here’s a pic of the on screen display (press “Info” button on remote). I’m playing a movie with a dts-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack. “Signal” shows the receiver is seeing the dts-HD MA audio stream. Input Signal shows the channel mapping.
Hello, I have a similar question. I have Marantz 6011 receiver. And am currently using QNAP TS-253B NAS as my Plex Media Server. I am looking for a streamer to play my movie library thru Marantz.
Will Chromecast Ultra be a good choice? Will I be able to direct play/direct stream using Ultra? I am keen on Ultra as it support Dolby Vision.
Thanks in advance for help 
@akbaree I could be wrong but I dont believe the Ultra outputs anything other than PCM or DD+ so if you are someone who loves to see the TrueHD, ATMOS or DTS/X/MA triggered on your AVR you will be disappointed
Using Roku Premiere and you’re right, they do not have audio passthrough and only supports DTS and not Atmos or dts-HD MA. Which leads me to this thread to find out what other plex client can support.
AFAIK nothing has changed. Shield still the only device that will passthrough Dolby TrueHD, Atmos, dts-HD MA, & dts:X.
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Also Plex Media Player with a PC as far as I know.
My main client is a HTPC w/PMP- NUC7i3BNH which passes through Atmos and DTS:X to a Denon receiver with no problems.
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I also have an htpc setup running a gtx 1060 but I find the 4k hdr picture quality/color is not very good, because of this reason I have switched over to apple tv. the image quality looks great but obviously it sucks that it has no atmos or dts passthrough.
EDIT: After discovering madvr and spending hours and hours configuring my htpc I am now at peace with it. The picture is amazing using madvr + reclock. And it obviously does passthrough of every audio codec. In my opinion its the only solution that gives you everything.
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AppleTV 4K on tvos12 can now pass Atmos through.
Not quite that simple, but yes DD+ Atmos wrapped in a PCM MAT configuration. The ability to bitstream untouched TrueHD Atmos has not been proven and most consider it to be doubtful.
Even if Atmos works, that still leaves out DTS-HD so it doesn’t fit the OP’s requirement.
The shield is terrible when it comes to 4k picture quality. It does not output the colors correctly, after comparing it to 3 different players including my htpc running madvr and giving sample pictures to nvidia support they admitted there was something wrong and told me they would work on it but I have not heard back from them and I have since then returned the shield. Have also ran into many others online reporting the same issue. I think if you do not have another 4k player to compare it to maybe you dont see how flat and washed out the picture is.
After testing every 4k box out there it became obvious if you want a great picture and best audio support you need to build a htpc running madvr.
If you do not have the funds to build a htpc you are going to have to compromise on either picture quality or sound. Apple tv gives the best picture quality for a streaming box but no audio passthrough for truhd and dts. Sheild has passthrough for truehd and dts but the picture quality is horrible.
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Were you playing HDR content onto a non-HDR TV or 10-bit color? Plex does have a limitation right now that we do not adjust the color pallets in these situations.
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