I’m about to buy the nVidia shield but I’m a bit concerned as I couldn’t find an answer online.
My setup is a bit complicated as it’s a centralized AV system. I tried to simplify it in the below diagram.
If one HDMI output is sent to the TV and the output is mirrored and sent to the AVR; since the TV doesn’t support DTS-HD but the AVR does, what will happen in this case assuming PMP is on the shield ?
The matrix and the AVR both support PCM 2Ch, LPCM 5.1, LPCM 7.1, Dolby Digital, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital+, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X
@K.Mneimneh Suggest you contact the matrix manufacturer.
HDMI has a handshake between attached devices, where they tell each other what audio/video formats are supported.
The matrix manufacturer should be able to tell you how they handle the handshake. They may pass the audio information between the Shield and the AVR. They may allow you to reprogram what audio formats are passed. They may have other options. It depends on the capabilities of the matrix.
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Agreed. Depends on your matrix, whether it uses the avr as the master for audio (and maybe even video), or if you can control what codecs and resolutions/refresh rates per in/out.
It would also be interesting to see what happens when you try to send 4K/hdr content from the shield, through the matrix, to an sdr/1080 client.
Sorry for bringing this oldish post up. So the new Shield Pro is the device to get? I need to move away from roku in my home theater room as it doesn’t support the audio that most of my movies have… Hence how I found this post 
Thanks!
It is the only device that will passthrough TrueHD, TrueHD + Atmos, dts-HD MA, and dts:X audio.
Others, such as Roku, may passthrough some, but not all of those formats. Others, such as the FireTV & AppleTV, passthrough none of those formats.
The 2019 Plex supports Dolby Vision in addition to HDR10. The older models do not support DV.
The Pro model is preferred. Based on forum posts, the “tube” model does not work well with Plex. Search for “Shield Tube” for info.
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thanks! that confirms my research as well. I already have the pro in my cart, and also noticed that it would be the preferable model to get over the other ones. Now if I can figure out how to have multiple 4k60fps remote streams to not hammer my CPU hahaha.
Simple. Don’t get remote users access to 4k content, keep 4k in a separate library.
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hahaha I was just thinking that this is probably going to be the safest workaround for now, until future cpu’s can keep up with multiple 4k transcodes 
You should be trying to avoid transcoding 4k at all costs.
But for whatever reason if you insist, use hardware/gpu transcoding.
Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you
there is no advantage to transcoding 4k instead of direct playing 1080 or 720
Was about to buy the tube. It sounds like i shouldnt. Does the 2017 shield version work solid with atmos? If i can get ahold of 2017 version what would i lose not spending 100 more for the 2019 pro?
dolby vision support
‘ai’ upscaling (haven’t seen but reports appear to be good)
newer design
general future-proofing
Thanks, are you using the tube one? It looks like if I dont need dolby vision i can use Kodi on it for TrueHD/DolbyAtmos passing. Im just having hard time justifying the extra $50 when i dont need plex server or smart home capability. The stability with plex client would be it.
i have a 2017 pro/500gig model.
the new tube is 32bit android and has less ram than the 2019 pro.
you dont need kodi for passthrough, plex can passthrough itself on shield.
the only big issue I have had with shield is occasional audio drop outs, which last i remember reading was a kernel issue that google has to fix.
in any case, still the only mainstream consumer device with hd audio pass through.
for 50$ diff, i’d still go with the new one.
there is no 4k ‘on the cheap’.
4k is expensive, in money, in cpu/gpu processing, in storage, in tv/receiver equipment.
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Niiiiiiiice thanks for the heads up!
Tests have shown that this will only fix the randomly occuring drop outs.
If you have a Disney UHD remux with TrueHD Atmos audio, where the dropouts always occur at the same time stamps, this update won’t fix them.
Grateful for this thread. It has cleared up some confusion for me and possibly confirmed how I should spend my money. I recently upgraded to a Denon x3600h and installed 4 ceiling speakers but have been using an Apple TV as my Plex client, which looks great, but doesn’t do TrueHD or DTS-HD. I thought the Shield didn’t do Dolby Vision, but I either was looking at old info or was reading about how you can’t have Dolby Vision and Atmos at the same time, in the same container;
mp4 can carry Dolby Vision but not TrueHD or DTS-HD and mkv can carry those audio formats but not Dolby Vision.
Do I have that right?
And apparently there are two kinds of Dolby Vision?
The 2019 Shield models support Dolby Vision. The older models do not.
There is another long thread about types of DV, support in MP4 vs MKV, tools to rip DV blu-rays, etc. Hopefully somebody can provide the link (I couldn’t find it).
Might be moot for me anyway as I’ve never found it in stock anywhere.
