Looking at upgrading devices in my house. Been using some old Amazon Fire Sticks and a 1st Amazon Fire TV 4k for many years now, and their age has shown. They struggle with many, many tasks, and the sticks sluggish moving UI just makes them almost unusable.
So what do you guys, find to be the best streaming device?
One of the many Roku’s
Apple TV
Amazon Fire TV Cube
etc…
Also to not, I prefer to use a streaming device rather than my smart tv. While my tv’s cpu’s are great at processing images such as HDR, I’d rather use an external device for media streaming. I find devices like the nvidia shield have far superior processors for media playback, so on.
the best is still the shield, which is still the only consumer streaming device with truehd+atmos support in plex. (and the only device with plex dolbyvision support)
IMO, second would be either whatever the current top roku is, or the appletv4k.
again neither of which support truehd+atmos passthrough.
I used to be a big fire stick user, but I gave that up year ago because in general they suck and don’t last very long (probably because the storage chips can’t handle very much writes).
The BEST UI experience will be Roku (hands down - it has no equal) - Ultra is about $70. Get an Ultra - don’t save money on Roku Junk. An Ultra isn’t junk. I’ll be buying a few more soon. It’s VERY capable, but does have some shortcomings, particularly for the aforementioned Super-Duper Audio/4K Video considerations I have no experience with, or need for. The Ultra, at this moment, is not playing well with 265 main 10:
…a condition we hope will be resolved soon.
ATV, I hear is also good. I have not experienced it’s UI… for whatever it costs.
Shield - if you don’t mind a vomitous UI - and want most everything to Direct Play - for around $200.
Sticks Suck (any), but FireTV Sucks mainly 'cause Plex can’t develop an app for it.
Note: Shield is Android, just like FireTV. The Suck is built right in to the app. My FireTV Box doesn’t have Resident Suck - except for that disastrous Plex app I’m forced to run on it.
Note:
Like Wives - you better get one you can live with - or you’ll be buying another one real soon…
Just to add some more. I use/have used all three devices mentioned in the last 6 months.
The Shield is now my go to device. The initial UI is UNO just like all other clients mentioned. It’s when you dig deeper into the pre-play screen it (for me personally) falls apart. But if you ever plan on FULL HD Audio including full Atmos its a no-brainer.
ATV4K is still the best device I have used overall. It’s clean and sleek and also incorporates any other video services you may use, far better than the Shield. I do need full Atmos though and owning the latest Shield and an ATV4K was just overkill. So the ATV4K had to go. In frustrating moments with the Shield I really still occasionally miss it.
Plex on the Roku is pretty clean and overall a decent experience. Again if you have no need for full HD Audio it’s a solid device at a far cheaper price. I just use it as a secondary device in a room with no AV Reciever.
Oh and VP thumbs on the Roku are abysmal (If you have any need for them.)
You’re going to have to explain that one, 'cause Roku ‘invented’ VP thumbs (as far as I’m concerned) and the display of same is unequaled in ANY Plex app (I’ve used - can’t speak for ATV).
They probably did and still appear in that stupid position on screen. Smack in the middle of the screen except the active one that are higher still. Just like the smart TV apps and just like the Shield used to.
That’s the thing though the whole screen is plastered with them.
The Shield now, although bordering on getting close to centre screen just run at a constant height just above the timeline/scrollbar, without all that up and down nonsense. To be fair it’s probably due the player control menu being overlarge. More importantly, Its one thumbnail at a constant height moving along the timeline.
The Apple TV is the same concept to the Shield except the positioning is less than a quarter of the way up the screen at it’s highest point.
Maybe that’s the issue if Roku did invent them. No one has actually sat down and done anything with them for years. But like I said on the Roku the layout is almost identical to the layout on Smart TV apps (plus how they were on the Shield a while ago.)
I guess its personal preference. Anything more than one visible thumb is just not for me.
They are in the middle of the screen - same as always and in the same exact place on my FireTV - and I have to admit they work quite well on the FireTV - but the position is identical… which is fine, 'cause the image is in still frame, so it’s not like there’s anything to see until you get where you’re going - is there?
When the VPTs come up, they are in charge and in focus - as it should be.
Having them is the thing.
Where they are over a still frame doesn’t concern me in the least.
Again - explain it to me… sell me on it… I’m like putty in your hands…lol
apple tv plex tends to get the first/newest ui enhancements.
my understanding they are continuing to improve the uno preplay screens and make them consistent across all platforms.
that may not help android ‘right this second’, but eventually all clients should continue to move towards a consistent UI/UX. (which as some may or may not know, is the whole reason for the UNO ui).
I am particularly annoyed by the OSD that pops up when I hit pause on my Roku - doesn’t happen on the FireTV (with the new player), so if they’re actually going to ‘unify’ anything - I hope they unify it in favor of the FireTV, for this particular thing.
Unification, at this point, is a mirage of a Coke Machine in the Desert. I have no illusions if they ever do see unification - about half of the elements will be doing the wrong thing. <—'cause they’re gonna have to dumb down the Roku UNO to get as dumb as Android… taking bets… who wants some action?
That’s the thing that fascinated me on the Shield. In a direct discussion with one of the dev’s, I mentioned my two pet hates about the UI/UX on the Shield previously.
Player controls and pre-play. I was told if those previous ridiculous oversized controls were smaller people wouldn’t be able to see them and so probably wouldn’t change…but pre-play was actively being worked on. It was a nice surprise seeing the new player controls.
Oh and as a side note my “occasional” frustrations with the Shield aren’t really down to the Shield. It just seems to hate handshaking with Denon receivers. Mostly fine but sometimes I have to power on and off three or four times to get a signal to the TV. Beyond that, I love my Shield and now have the Plex sticker to cover the Netflix button on the newer remote.
@JuiceWSA video to follow. But what you love on the Roku is identical to everything I hated on the Shield and Smart TV apps.
Again I don’t get this. I have no idea about how UNO looks on any Android TV device other than the Shield. (If other devices look different fair enough). But on any client, UNO’s front page is more or less identical. On most such as Roku, Smart TV, Game Consoles all other screens are mostly identical. taking
For me, Plex is taking steps to make clients identical. Baby steps maybe but steps all the same.
Again here I really don’t care so long as the clients are as good as they can be. I’m even over the lack of actor thumbs on the Shield right now. One remote click and saying “Errol Flynn” is far easier and yields the same thing. On the subject of which I’m on a 30’s,40’s,50’s and Sixties day for Robin Hood.
I need to get back to it or its gonna be another 4AM bedtime.
Plex is counting on the Deep Love Shield fans have for the unit to make up for UI shortcomings and that may work in some parts of the Plexiverse, but not in this neighborhood.
They also wanted to sell me a Shield as they killed PMP.
That had a different outcome than the one they expected.
Shield Love can only take ya so far…lol
Looks like the Shield is going to be my go to with the Roku Ultra being second in line.
Got to love the pricing of the Roku vs the shield, but I have a lot of 10 bit x265 4k Content. A lot of with things such as Atmos, so I guess the Shield will be the choice.
Well I’m unbiased.
My mocking of the Shield was renowned and often daily. Its amazing what a difference bundling the worst remote ever created and replacing it with the best remote I have ever used can make.
Seriously, the 8 year old Harmony Touch remote went on ebay as did the older model Shield. That made the total cost of the brand new Shield and awesome remote MINUS £76.
Yep I saved a lot of money buying it lol.
But as mentioned putting aside the lack of actor thumbs I still hate with a passion the whole pre-play stuff on the Shield. Navigating a single show from season to season is truly awful and looks nothing like any other client.
But the new Shield is a nice compromise with a stunning remote and enough to overlook minor gripes.
Meanwhile going back to the poor op who’s thread has been hijacked to death, they’re all great devices in their own way and personally I have one of the newer Roku sticks and haven’t had an issue with direct playing 1080p x265. Sadly it’s not connected to a 4K TV so I have no idea how it copes over wifi with high bitrate 4K. But general x265 is fine. All that said as a general rule of thumb I prefer any device that can be hard wired.
Do you have an Atmos receiver and speaker setup? Or at least plan one.
But anyway despite a few grumbles mentioned the Shield is stunning mostly. Just make sure you either get the newer model or at least buy the new remote separately if you plan on buying an older model Shield. The change in experience is stark.
I recently bought a 2019 shield tube, only because it was on sale
I would normally have recommended avoiding the tube, due to the weird physical case, but also because it only has 2 gig of ram, and 32 bit android, versus the shield pro 3gb ram and 64bit android.
But, in the couple weeks I have had the tube, I have not had any issues that weren’t already known. I haven’t seen any issues so far specific to the tube.
So perhaps my fear/paranoia about the tube was misplaced.
If you see a tube on sale, it can save you a decent amount over the shield pro.
Though, at full price, I would still spend the extra for the pro.
