I’ve never tried using a different video player on the Shield, such as VLC, Kodi, etc and playing videos directly from a USB drive.
I use a Shield as my Plex client. No problem playing 4K HDR movies with dts audio, including those with PGS subtitles (PGS/VOBSUB/SRT subtitles direct play on Plex Android clients).
The Shield direct plays everything I toss at it.
Known issues:
- Enabling SSA/ASS subtitles results in a video transcode. This is a limitation of the Plex Android/Android TV app due to its reliance on ExoPlayer, the Android/Android TV video player.
- I’ve the older model, so no Dolby Vision support. The 2019 model has limited DV support.
If you do buy a Shield, get the 2019 Pro model. The 2019 tube model has known issues with high bit rate media such as 4K HDR movies. It is prone to audio drop outs.
My setup:
Shield Pro 2015 <-HDMI-> Denon 4300H <-HDMI-> LG B7 OLED
PMS runs on Synology DS918+
