Media Player Advice

[ChrisLoudon]

Hi guys,

 

As is frequently the case, I've amassed a pretty heft collection of Bluray and 4K Blurays over the years all of which have been ripped to various formats and stored on my NAS to be played over my network on my PCs or Smart TVs.

 

With Dolby Vision still unavailable on PC based players, would anyone have any advice on a standalone player like an Nvidia Shield that can do both Dolby Vision and Dolby TrueHD + Atmos within the MKV container?

 

I know I'll need to re-rip any disks that have a DV video stream but I think its a worthwhile endeavour.

 

The Shield was my first port of call but I've heard of others in the market like Dune and Zidoo so just wanted to ask here if anyone had any suggestions.

 

As previously mentioned, I'll be preserving the Dolby TrueHD track so from what I can tell, MP4 isn't suitable leaving MKV or possibly M2TS as the only containers I can use.

 

Cheers

 

C  

[johnt]

I think the Shield can do it all. The Apple TV is a very close second place only because it won't let you bitstream from the Plex app. Not a big deal in general because the app does a really good job converting the signals properly, but it's still annoying. Of course they blame Apple, but other apps like Netflix and Disney+ bitstream just fine so it's a bit "monkey in the middle" for users. Also doesn't matter if you aren't using a proper receiver/processor with legitimately placed speakers. If you are just watching your movies through a sound bar then there is no difference between the Shield or Apple TV.

[ChrisLoudon]

2 minutes ago, johnt said:

I think the Shield can do it all. The Apple TV is a very close second place only because it won't let you bitstream from the Plex app. Not a big deal in general because the app does a really good job converting the signals properly, but it's still annoying. Of course they blame Apple, but other apps like Netflix and Disney+ bitstream just fine so it's a bit "monkey in the middle" for users. Also doesn't matter if you aren't using a proper receiver/processor with legitimately placed speakers. If you are just watching your movies through a sound bar then there is no difference between the Shield or Apple TV.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

Shield it is then.

 

This unit will be used in place of a gaming PC in a room with a Yamaha A6A in 5.1.4 config so keeping the quality as high as possible is the goal.

 

Its always been a mystery as to why (historically at least) Dolby Vision and Dolby TrueHD seemed incompatible with each other in ripped format. MKV could do TrueHD but not DV and MP4 did DV but not TrueHD.

 

Now at least I can get both but it will need a new box.

 

Does the Shield do TrueHD through its PLEX app? Again, its not a deal breaker but I find it annoying that none of my LG OLEDs can pass a TrueHD signal from an App to an external device using eARC.

[adm0n]

7 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Shield it is then.

If you don't really need it right now, there might be a real chance, that there will be a next gen Shield released sometimes after the next gen switch releases (with the same SoC). And the switch is currently rumored to release Q1 next year.

[johnt]

2 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Does the Shield do TrueHD through its PLEX app? Again, its not a deal breaker but I find it annoying that none of my LG OLEDs can pass a TrueHD signal from an App to an external device using eARC.

It should as long as it is connected directly to your receiver and audio output is set to bitstream.

 

I hear your first world problems. I share them also  I am in the process of setting up a PC in my theater room just so I can use bitstream for certain movies. I feel like the Plex app does a good job with the conversions for Apple TV, but I'm a crazy one when it comes to audio. Plus I don't have to worry about HDR/DV with my projector.

[johnt]

6 minutes ago, adm0n said:

And the switch is currently rumored to release Q1 next year.

I wish the Shield would go on sale more often. I know people complain about this Apple tax, but I've been eyeing the Shield for a while now since I don't "need" it, and the sales are pretty bad for how old the device is.

[ChrisLoudon]

16 minutes ago, adm0n said:

If you don't really need it right now, there might be a real chance, that there will be a next gen Shield released sometimes after the next gen switch releases (with the same SoC). And the switch is currently rumored to release Q1 next year.

I'm not in a desperate need for it so maybe I'll wait a little longer.

 

With regards to the Shield and playing files with both TrueHD and DV, is it the Plex client player that I should be using or is there another player / app?

 

Or does the Shield have a built in player that can access my SMB shares directly? 

[johnt]

2 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

With regards to the Shield and playing files with both TrueHD and DV, is it the Plex client player that I should be using or is there another player / app?

 

Or does the Shield have a built in player that can access my SMB shares directly? 

You need to install the Media Server on your NAS, where your files are stored. It is available on nearly every platform. And there is a client app for the Shield TV that you would also use.

[ChrisLoudon]

1 minute ago, johnt said:

You need to install the Media Server on your NAS, where your files are stored. It is available on nearly every platform. And there is a client app for the Shield TV that you would also use.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. My bad.

 

I've already got a Plex server running on my NAS and client apps installed on my smart TVs.

 

I just wasn't sure if the Shield Plex client app had any issues or limitations which would cause me to use a different player / front-end on the Shield.

 

 

[johnt]

4 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

I just wasn't sure if the Shield Plex client app had any issues or limitations which would cause me to use a different player / front-end on the Shield.

Nope. Just the Plex app.

[ChrisLoudon]

2 minutes ago, johnt said:

Nope. Just the Plex app.

Nice.

 

Now I suppose the hard bit is do I just buy it now or can I resist until next year!

 

of course I can't.

 

Thanks for all the input.

[johnt]

1 minute ago, ChrisLoudon said:

of course I can't.

My condolences to your wallet  

[adm0n]

1 minute ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Nice.

 

Now I suppose the hard bit is do I just buy it now or can I resist until next year!

 

of course I can't.

 

Thanks for all the input.

Maybe check if you can find a used shield. That way it wouldn't hurt as much to upgrade if/when a new shield comes out.

 

30 minutes ago, johnt said:

I wish the Shield would go on sale more often. I know people complain about this Apple tax, but I've been eyeing the Shield for a while now since I don't "need" it, and the sales are pretty bad for how old the device is.

Nvidia products also have a huge nvidia tax on them. I think Nvidias profit margins are almost 60% compared to apples 31% (at least according to this website
- https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/nvda/statistics/

- https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/aapl/statistics/

)

[johnt]

1 hour ago, adm0n said:

Nvidia products also have a huge nvidia tax on them. I think Nvidias profit margins are almost 60% compared to apples 31%

I can totally see that. Especially a product like the shield that is very niche. 

[adm0n]

43 minutes ago, johnt said:

I can totally see that. Especially a product like the shield that is very niche. 

I assume it is more like Nvidia doesn't even notices the shield selling compared to all their AI stuff currently. So they likely don't even care about running promotions on it. It's really sad though, I wish there was some competition.

[Helly]

5 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

...I find it annoying that none of my LG OLEDs can pass a TrueHD signal from an App to an external device using eARC.

That's not just LG OLEDs. No TV you can buy does it. It is a limitation they all put on the TV for some reason. I've been wondering this for months and couldn't find an answer anywhere. I really wonder why eARC is even a thing, no TV can make use of it ffs.

I was using the Shield for a while because i wanted DV on my Sony QD OLED, but i had some weird stutters with it every once in a while, it bugged the crap out of me so much i finally did a comparison with HDR10 through a PC and found there barely was a difference if there was one at all, so im using my PC again which i enjoy so much more.

Some steps have also been made with playing DV on a PC by using MPC Video Renderer, which is able to use a few of the DV profiles (5, 8.1 and 8.4 afaik), none of which are used in the files i have unfortunately, still... yay progress.

[ChrisLoudon]

27 minutes ago, Helly said:

I was using the Shield for a while because i wanted DV on my Sony QD OLED, but i had some weird stutters with it every once in a while, it bugged the crap out of me so much i finally did a comparison with HDR10 through a PC and found there barely was a difference if there was one at all, so im using my PC again which i enjoy so much more.

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll keep that in mind.

 

28 minutes ago, Helly said:

Some steps have also been made with playing DV on a PC by using MPC Video Renderer, which is able to use a few of the DV profiles (5, 8.1 and 8.4 afaik), none of which are used in the files i have unfortunately, still... yay progress.

Baby steps I can see then. While I use Plex on my TVs, I generally use MPC with MADVR on my PC. I could probably ditch MADVR but I kinda like its ability to auto switch Windows HDR on and off when HDR is detected rather than have it on all of the time or toggle manually.

[aggie113]

Android players have some good options.  I have a Zidoo box that plays files from my NAS.  I rip my movies as full disc ISOs but also have mkv files.  It can play anything so far and passes DV and other UHD standards through to the TV and receiver as well.  

[ChrisLoudon]

7 hours ago, aggie113 said:

Android players have some good options.  I have a Zidoo box that plays files from my NAS.  I rip my movies as full disc ISOs but also have mkv files.  It can play anything so far and passes DV and other UHD standards through to the TV and receiver as well.  

Thanks for the additional info.

 

I had narrowed down the choice to either the Shield or a Zidoo box like the Z9X but hadn't really heard much about the Zidoo boxes as they seem to have quite a collection.