Roku Ultra vs Nvidia Shield Pro vs Apple TV 4k - Which one to choose?

[revolty]

Amazon app on shield doesn't support Atoms. I have 2017 model.

Hello,
I have 2017 Shield. Prime video on it supports atmos. I have watched "The tomorrow war", "Gulabo Sitabo", "Shershah" in atmos in it.

 

[superczar]

It isn't a question of budget. I use a Nvidia Shield, a Amazon fire tv stick and a google Chromecast (latest). What I find surprising is why we spend INR 17-20k on Nvidia or Apple when the same functionality comes from a sub INR 5k gadget. I run plex on Chromecast and source films from my Synology NAS (4TB +4TB). The only flip side is if you physically plan to connect a hard disk via USB. Even then there is a workaround using USB hub but I dont need it.

I use FS4K in one room and ATV elsewhere.
I ended up buying 2 more ATVs after having used both .
The FS is a great device for the price but other than that, the devices are not comparable.

From a usability perspective, the ATV is very fluid while the FS 4K tends to lag.
There is no ATMOS support on FS for anything other than Prime (which doesn't really count) while the former does ATMOS on every service that supports it.
For local playback, Kodi on FS is just about acceptable but not something that any of the other users in the house will ever use while Infuse on ATV is extremely simple/ joy to use for everyone else as well.


You are right in that The difference on paper between these devices is minimal but the devil is in the details - After all (and given this is primarily an audio forum), a JBL Go BT speaker also reproduces music , doesn't it?

 

[neogen]

If I take out Kodi from the equation then Apple TV seems to be a good choice. Thoughts?

Also, Roku Ultra for 9k also looks tempting.

 

[msankadi]

If I take out Kodi from the equation then Apple TV seems to be a good choice. Thoughts?

Also, Roku Ultra for 9k also looks tempting.

Why take out anything from the equation when you can get additional things in the same price. I have not observed any difference on my 150 inch screen between my nuc and fire stick 4k... I am sure the apple tv or Nvidia pro won't be as powerful as my nuc... So if nuc can't outperform fs... Why do you think apple tv would outperform shield... If you do want to spend more do go for the most expensive option but my suggestion would be to go atv max... Or if you want to spend more with more flexibility go for Nvidia shield...

It is upto you if you want to go for a restrictive expensive option that you might have to invest more in the future when those restrictions irk you


Just my thoughts

 

[sylar]

I have been using Nvidia Shield from long time and I find its AI Up scaling to be really good. I watch lots of sports in Hotstar and the upscaling is cleary visible in Nvidia Shield. If I watch the same content in MI Box or via LG G1 installed app, stutters are clearly visible and also the clarity takes a toll. NVIDIA Shield again takes a lead in watching content from HDD and it can act as a PLEX Server as well.

But I don't like the Netflix contents in NVIDIA as I found it to be little washed out, but my wife prefers NVIDIAs color over LG G1s Netflix color. So at the end it is up to your taste.

My current setup If I am watching , I use LG G1 for watching Netflix,Amazon Prime (Basically anything available in 4k over OTT) and use NVIDIA if I am watching downloaded contents or 1080p contents which needs upscaling(like Youtube,Hotstar,SonyLiv)

 

[superczar]

On a side note, Micro stuttering can also be caused by lack of frame rate switching.
Frame rate matching to playback at native frame rate of content is an absolute must have on a premium streaming solution.

ATV supports it and it works very well, FS 4K supports it but its hit & Miss . Mi Box etc do not.
Shield 2017 does not while the new one has it as a beta - not sure if it works as expected

 

[Amarendra]

I use FS4K in one room and ATV elsewhere.
I ended up buying 2 more ATVs after having used both .
The FS is a great device for the price but other than that, the devices are not comparable.

From a usability perspective, the ATV is very fluid while the FS 4K tends to lag.
There is no ATMOS support on FS for anything other than Prime (which doesn't really count) while the former does ATMOS on every service that supports it.
For local playback, Kodi on FS is just about acceptable but not something that any of the other users in the house will ever use while Infuse on ATV is extremely simple/ joy to use for everyone else as well.


You are right in that The difference on paper between these devices is minimal but the devil is in the details - After all (and given this is primarily an audio forum), a JBL Go BT speaker also reproduces music , doesn't it?

Noted your points but to be honest I dont see any difference between Google Chromecast 4k and Apple Tv 4k- neither on paper nor in performance. One costs INR 3,500-4,000 and the other 4 times this cost. So why the additional expense ? In fact one is less restrictive and cheaper than the other I was quite happy when I connected the chromecast to my AVR and while playing Netflix the Dolby Atmos notification immediately came up on the AVR. Same with 4k and Dolby Vision.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

I would like to add my two cents.

I have nvidia shield 2019 and xbox series x, but the sound quality coming out of xbox is another level. Something is different and it shows clearly.

If possible get xbox one s which would come around 15k or so even lesser. You get kodi, netflix, prime, apple TV and also connect hard disk. Downside is some apps are not built for xbox like sony live or others.

Plus side, you can game on it too.

 

[Nitin K]

I would like to add my two cents.

I have nvidia shield 2019 and xbox series x, but the sound quality coming out of xbox is another level. Something is different and it shows clearly.

If possible get xbox one s which would come around 15k or so even lesser. You get kodi, netflix, prime, apple TV and also connect hard disk. Downside is some apps are not built for xbox like sony live or others.

Plus side, you can game on it too.

Hi Amrut,

I was planning on going for Nvidia shield for streaming and usb playback. But on seeing your post on sound quality coming from the Xbox has added one more option in my case.
Basically , will be watching Prime, netflix , Disney , Lionsgate and will be playing movies from the pen drive/hard disk. I am not into gaming.
I thought Xbox one series S was more expensive at around 35k and shield was cheaper at around 24k
So basically wanted to know if overall the Xbox S is a better buy than the Shield and how easy it is to setup XBox for viewing through the receiver as I have absolutely no idea about both of them. How is the upscaling in the Xbox compared to the shield ?

Thanks a lot,
Nitin

 

[superczar]

Noted your points but to be honest I dont see any difference between Google Chromecast 4k and Apple Tv 4k- neither on paper nor in performance. One costs INR 3,500-4,000 and the other 4 times this cost. So why the additional expense ? In fact one is less restrictive and cheaper than the other I was quite happy when I connected the chromecast to my AVR and while playing Netflix the Dolby Atmos notification immediately came up on the AVR. Same with 4k and Dolby Vision.

I haven't used the new CC so can't really say ..
I had tried two of the older gen devices but found them really underwhelming (slow to start streaming etc) - to the extent they are still sitting gathering dust in a drawer.

The way I see it, many of us end up spending a significant amount on the full AV stack.
5K vs 20K (i.e. 15K) is a fraction of that cost and doesn't really matter much in the bigger scheme of things if it enhances the final user experience.

In fact I would argue that the extra small amount spent on a good streamer makes for the largest usability improvement .. And a simple/ non tech user friendly method is the make or break difference between the amount of usage your much more expensive stack will get

Edit: I looked up the specs for the CC 4k. The lack of native 24p support (when 99% of our content is 24p) alone is a huge disadvantage - both on paper and actual performance.
In addition, its based on an amlogic s905 SoC - a rather old and slow SoC that is not even remotely comparable with the A12 or Tegra X1 on the more premium streamers (I had a s905 device flashed to run openelec in the pre OTT days - essentially one of those cheap kodi boxes that used to be very popular in the mid 2010s)

 

[Amarendra]

I haven't used the new CC so can't really say ..
I had tried two of the older gen devices but found them really underwhelming (slow to start streaming etc) - to the extent they are still sitting gathering dust in a drawer.

The way I see it, many of us end up spending a significant amount on the full AV stack.
5K vs 20K (i.e. 15K) is a fraction of that cost and doesn't really matter much in the bigger scheme of things if it enhances the final user experience.

In fact I would argue that the extra small amount spent on a good streamer makes for the largest usability improvement .. And a simple/ non tech user friendly method is the make or break difference between the amount of usage your much more expensive stack will get

Edit: I looked up the specs for the CC 4k. The lack of native 24p support (when 99% of our content is 24p) alone is a huge disadvantage - both on paper and actual performance

Sharing What Hifi's 5 star review:

Google Chromecast with Google TV review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023 winner. Google's cracked it this time

www.whathifi.com

To be honest I havent noticed any difference on the 24p support point (btw I hate soap opera effect so I notice it immediately)
Buy if you can get it here at the right cost. Having bought one in HK recently I regret not having bought a couple more

 

[Love4sound]

I would like to add my two cents.

I have nvidia shield 2019 and xbox series x, but the sound quality coming out of xbox is another level. Something is different and it shows clearly.

If possible get xbox one s which would come around 15k or so even lesser. You get kodi, netflix, prime, apple TV and also connect hard disk. Downside is some apps are not built for xbox like sony live or others.

Plus side, you can game on it too.

Kodi on Xbox? Also does it bitstream through usb? I sold my ps4 for this reason. Consoles are bad for playing blu ray remux files through usb play back as they don’t support lossless audio via usb.

 

[superczar]

Sharing What Hifi's 5 star review:

Google Chromecast with Google TV review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023 winner. Google's cracked it this time

www.whathifi.com

To be honest I havent noticed any difference on the 24p support point (btw I hate soap opera effect so I notice it immediately)
Buy if you can get it here at the right cost. Having bought one in HK recently I regret not having bought a couple more

its certainly great for the cost - so is the FS 4K
But that's not the point, is it?

Also on 24p, the judder reduction algos surely help - but it's not the same as native playback..This one does not even purport to support 24p unlike FS 4K..
Note that I am not saying it's a bad device, but only as a counterpoint to what you said there being no difference on "paper or performance"

edit: Regarding the review, to draw an extreme audio analogy, A Q acc 3020 or KEF Q150 may get a 5 star rating in a mag/ website- but that surely does not mean it is the same or better than a 4 star rated Dynaudio contour or focal kanta?

 

[Amarendra]

its certainly great for the cost - so is the FS 4K
But that's not the point, is it?

Also on 24p, the judder reduction algos surely help - but it's not the same as native playback..This one does not even purport to support 24p unlike FS 4K
Note that I am not saying it's a bad device, but only as a counterpoint to what you said there being no difference on "paper or performance"

Since you have pointed out the 24p support point, let me compare today with Nvidia Shield (A/B) and revert. May be I am growing old and not noticing any difference

 

[superczar]

Since you have pointed out the 24p support point, let me compare today with Nvidia Shield (A/B) and revert. May be I am growing old and not noticing any difference

nvidia shield also does not do 24p as far as i know

 

[mbhangui]

Since you have pointed out the 24p support point, let me compare today with Nvidia Shield (A/B) and revert. May be I am growing old and not noticing any difference

You will not notice it if your TV panel has a 120 Hz display. Even many of the older 60 Hz panel removed judder by reducing refresh rate to 48 Hz.
It’s not unusual for televisions to remove the type of judder associated with 24p content on a 60 Hz display. Many will do this automatically for all sources by reducing the frame rate to 48 Hz or increasing it to 72 Hz. Panels that refresh at 120Hz simply display each frame five times (the 5:5 pulldown), since 5 x 24 = 120. You really will not miss atv. In fact the convenience factor for cc is overwhelming. The ability to cast from android phone and be it any OS (Linux, Windows and even apple devices if you use chrome browser) is a great feature that personally I cannot compromise. Each and every device that I have works with CC (raspberry PI, my linux development laptop, my macbook pro, my ipod). My atv just sits in the corner and once in a while when I want to play apple music on the AVR I have to use it because apple music will play properly only on my macbook pro and the atv. Apple has released apple music app on android, but the best it does is only 48k bitrate.

The other feature that CC supports is HDMI CEC. So I just have to say "OK Google turn off TV" and the CC issues a HDMI CEC command to turn off the tv. Similarly I can switch on the tv using the google assistant

 

[Amarendra]

You will not notice it if your TV panel has a 120 Hz display. Even many of the older 60 Hz panel removed judder by reducing refresh rate to 48 Hz.
It’s not unusual for televisions to remove the type of judder associated with 24p content on a 60 Hz display. Many will do this automatically for all sources by reducing the frame rate to 48 Hz or increasing it to 72 Hz. Panels that refresh at 120Hz simply display each frame five times (the 5:5 pulldown), since 5 x 24 = 120. You really will not miss atv. In fact the convenience factor for cc is overwhelming. The ability to cast from android phone and be it any OS (Linux, Windows and even apple devices if you use chrome browser) is a great feature that personally I cannot compromise. Each and every device that I have works with CC (raspberry PI, my linux development laptop, my macbook pro, my ipod). My atv just sits in the corner and once in a while when I want to play apple music on the AVR I have to use it because apple music will play properly only on my macbook pro and the atv. Apple has released apple music app on android, but the best it does is only 48k bitrate.

The other feature that CC supports is HDMI CEC. So I just have to say "OK Google turn off TV" and the CC issues a HDMI CEC command to turn off the tv. Similarly I can switch on the tv using the google assistant

What you say is true, when I connect the CC the projector shows 2160p @60 Hz.

 

[rainbowsong2000]

Amazon app on shield doesn't support Atoms. I have 2017 model.

It depends on the content, i think Prime have very few Atmos Content

 

[superczar]

You will not notice it if your TV panel has a 120 Hz display. Even many of the older 60 Hz panel removed judder by reducing refresh rate to 48 Hz.
It’s not unusual for televisions to remove the type of judder associated with 24p content on a 60 Hz display. Many will do this automatically for all sources by reducing the frame rate to 48 Hz or increasing it to 72 Hz. Panels that refresh at 120Hz simply display each frame five times (the 5:5 pulldown), since 5 x 24 = 120. You really will not miss atv. In fact the convenience factor for cc is overwhelming. The ability to cast from android phone and be it any OS (Linux, Windows and even apple devices if you use chrome browser) is a great feature that personally I cannot compromise. Each and every device that I have works with CC (raspberry PI, my linux development laptop, my macbook pro, my ipod). My atv just sits in the corner and once in a while when I want to play apple music on the AVR I have to use it because apple music will play properly only on my macbook pro and the atv. Apple has released apple music app on android, but the best it does is only 48k bitrate.

The other feature that CC supports is HDMI CEC. So I just have to say "OK Google turn off TV" and the CC issues a HDMI CEC command to turn off the tv. Similarly I can switch on the tv using the google assistant

Few TVs do 120hz.
More importantly, None of the current streamers can do 120hz to begin with.

Unfortunately the android TV stack still has a major issue with frame rate switching so that compounds the problem..

Just to be clear, I am not recommending the ATV unequivocally - It makes sense to spend that much only if you are using iOS because of the seamless integration that is a great value add - but a disadvantage if your primary phone/tab is android,

Ultimately any device, streamer or otherwise that you choose will require you to compromise on something or the other.
But the general tendency on the forum is to blindly recommend android TV/shield - without factoring in some major disadvantages that it has.

The way I see it, shield and ATV are tier 1 choices if you want a premium streaming experience.
The choice should be made based on:
a) your phone platform and
b) whether you want an appliance that is focused purely on streaming and excels at it
vs a multipurpose device that is everything but the kitchen sink (e.g. be used as a plex server or NAS) and also does well on streaming albeit with some compromises

PS: Pretty much every streamer supports HDMI CEC
Also, 48khz that you mentioned is not the bitrate but the sampling rate

 

[mbhangui]

Unfortunately the android TV stack still has a major issue with frame rate switching so that compounds the problem

Indeed and it sucks. But one app has done this correctly. usb audio pro - When connecting an Android phone or tablet to a USB DAC, USB Audio Player PRO will unleash the full power of the DAC, by using a custom developed USB audio driver. This bypasses the Android audio system completely, meaning that Android's limitations regarding bit resolution and sample rate (16-bit/48kHz) are made irrelevant and high quality audio streams are fed directly to the DAC, making playback up to 32-bit at 384kHz possible (depending on the DAC capabilities) or even DSD.

It supports SMB and that's how I can mount my 2Tb disk which is connected to a RPI4. This allows me to play my music collection in my bedroom using my nexus 6p connected to Xonar Essence one dac / headphone amp.