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

[ankitbhargava]

I think I have already answered your question but happy to restate

Subjectively

ATV+ looks subjectively the same
Netflix used to look worse with artefacts in dark /busy scenes but comes pretty darned close now
Hotstar was noticeably worse but the recent releases (Disney) have got quite good
Lionsgate, I have watched only 1 TV series so cannot really say
I don’t use any other OTT service

Technically:
- Typical BD UHD movies comes in a 2 disk set of which 1 is normally a BD66 containing the UHD movie and a BD 50 for the 1080p + extras
- This 66GB disk is around 80% video content encoded in h.264 for a 2:30 movie, let’s take 2:15
- That yields an average bit rate of 53.5mbps (66*1024*0.8*8)/(3600*2.25) in h.264 encode
- This is very roughly equivalent to an average bit rate of 26.75 mbps for h.265 -

The compression efficiency of h.264 vs h.265 can vary though depending on content so I’ll err on the conservative side and use 40% instead of the more widely agreed 50% so that we don’t end up chasing a red herring - so thats 32.1mbps
(and let’s please not get sidetracked on this - neither BR nor OTT use lossless , and h.265 is a significant improvement over h.264)

In other words, a 26-32mbps average bitstream on OTT should yield a PQ technically equal to a commercially available UHD BR
Some OTT providers meet or exceed that already, others are close and should improve in the very near future
so there you have it

I have been doing A/B Testing between Xbox One S and Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen)
I have the following observations (very perceptible in my set up) so far

1. The sound quality on Netflix and ATV+ is much better using Xbox One S. The dialogues are much clearer and crisp, the LFE has more impact and details, the Atmos Channels are efficiently louder. If SQ on Apple TV 4K is 7/10 than Xbox One S is 9/10

2. On my Projector, I did not notice and difference in picture quality between Apple TV 4K and Xbox One S

3. Atmos umpiring on Xbox One S is super amazing, still to try on Apple TV 4K

4. With Media Remote, using Xbox is as convenient as using Apple TV

To all FMs, please note that I am not challenging anyone's observation or experience, I am only conveying my own personal experience.

 

[mbhangui]

I have been doing A/B Testing between Xbox One S and Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen)
I have the following observations (very perceptible in my set up) so far

1. The sound quality on Netflix and ATV+ is much better using Xbox One S. The dialogues are much clearer and crisp, the LFE has more impact and details, the Atmos Channels are efficiently louder. If SQ on Apple TV 4K is 7/10 than Xbox One S is 9/10

I have been saying this about ATV wrt to sound quality for quite some time & I have stopped using it for any sound reproduction. I think it is because it resamples sound to 48kHz regardless of the sample rate of the original audio. Even the airport express (now discontinued) does it better than ATV/ATV+. Hi-Res music is impossible with ATV or ATV 4K.

Apple Music stream in hidef/lossless? - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

I was thinking of getting nvidia shield because many members are swearing by it in this very post. According to this post, nvidia shield supports apple music. I have apple music subscription but unable to play hi-res without using my macbook pro. It is so inconvenient really. Can any member confirm the quality of apple music on nvidia shield?

NVIDIA SHIELD TV vs Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku Ultra

See why NVIDIA SHIELD TV is the dominant streaming media device today.

www.nvidia.com

 

[mgdelhi]

I have been doing A/B Testing between Xbox One S and Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen)
I have the following observations (very perceptible in my set up) so far

1. The sound quality on Netflix and ATV+ is much better using Xbox One S. The dialogues are much clearer and crisp, the LFE has more impact and details, the Atmos Channels are efficiently louder. If SQ on Apple TV 4K is 7/10 than Xbox One S is 9/10

2. On my Projector, I did not notice and difference in picture quality between Apple TV 4K and Xbox One S

3. Atmos umpiring on Xbox One S is super amazing, still to try on Apple TV 4K

4. With Media Remote, using Xbox is as convenient as using Apple TV

To all FMs, please note that I am not challenging anyone's observation or experience, I am only conveying my own personal experience.

Can Xbox One S + Kodi stream my Blu Ray movies (full folder 50-60GB each) stored in a NAS through Gibabit wired LAN with all HD audio formats?

 

[Amarendra]

Real debrid is a subscription service which you will have to activate through video addons in kodi. It will give you access to either download or stream any tv shows and movies.You can opt for the file you prefer to stream or download. Either the blu ray remux files that will be ranging form 40-90 GB depending upon the movie or 1080p web rips

Downloaded kodi + The crew add on. Then subscribed to Real Debrid and added Url Resolver. It takes some effort and experimenting to get these things working. But the end result is quite amusing.... Thanks for sharing. Will test with VPN to see if streaming speeds drop. Are you also using "The Crew"?. Using this setup on my Nvidia Shield.

 

[Love4sound]

Downloaded kodi + The crew add on. Then subscribed to Real Debrid and added Url Resolver. It takes some effort and experimenting to get these things working. But the end result is quite amusing.... Thanks for sharing. Will test with VPN to see if streaming speeds drop. Are you also using "The Crew"?. Using this setup on my Nvidia Shield.

I use venom ad on which I find it to be simple and smooth. Yes it does take some effort and time to set it up but once done nothing beats it. You can watch any movie or tv show at an instance. I will suggest you also add venom cause some instances one adon may not work or have the links to a particular movie or tv shows. Other ad ons I liked are exodus and fen.

 

[Amarendra]

I use venom ad on which I find it to be simple and smooth. Yes it does take some effort and time to set it up but once done nothing beats it. You can watch any movie or tv show at an instance. I will suggest you also add venom cause some instances one adon may not work or have the links to a particular movie or tv shows. Other ad ons I liked are exodus and fen.

Sure, thanks. Will try venom over the week end.

 

[superczar]

I have been doing A/B Testing between Xbox One S and Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen)
I have the following observations (very perceptible in my set up) so far

1. The sound quality on Netflix and ATV+ is much better using Xbox One S. The dialogues are much clearer and crisp, the LFE has more impact and details, the Atmos Channels are efficiently louder. If SQ on Apple TV 4K is 7/10 than Xbox One S is 9/10

2. On my Projector, I did not notice and difference in picture quality between Apple TV 4K and Xbox One S

3. Atmos umpiring on Xbox One S is super amazing, still to try on Apple TV 4K

4. With Media Remote, using Xbox is as convenient as using Apple TV

To all FMs, please note that I am not challenging anyone's observation or experience, I am only conveying my own personal experience.

Intrigued…I don’t have an xbox but will try out on a PS5.

If played back via AVR, Audio should have been the same or at most subtly different - so keen to try out via a console

 

[ankitbhargava]

Can Xbox One S + Kodi stream my Blu Ray movies (full folder 50-60GB each) stored in a NAS through Gibabit wired LAN with all HD audio formats?

no

 

[ankitbhargava]

I have taken picture of same scene via Amazon Prime App playing using
Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen)
Xbox One S
Shield TV Pro

The pictures are uploaded here : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qqr-D9MBzs2Zt7QdsTzbKxF6wpJdvmLf?usp=sharing

I know it may not be the good way to seek visual comparison but to my eyes in real, I could hardly differentiate the picture quality.

Phone used : Google Pixel 4, no edit ofcourse

Scene is being played on my Benq W1700 in SDR (HDR looks too washed out)

 

[superczar]

I have taken picture of same scene via Amazon Prime App playing using
Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen)
Xbox One S
Shield TV Pro

The pictures are uploaded here : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qqr-D9MBzs2Zt7QdsTzbKxF6wpJdvmLf?usp=sharing

I know it may not be the good way to seek visual comparison but to my eyes in real, I could hardly differentiate the picture quality.

Phone used : Google Pixel 4, no edit ofcourse

Scene is being played on my Benq W1700 in SDR (HDR looks too washed out)

Static VQ should be roughly the same across all decent streaming devices.
The only major difference between these devices will be in motion smoothing - which can be a huge thing or irrelevant from one person to another

 

[ankitbhargava]

Static VQ should be roughly the same across all decent streaming devices.
The only major difference between these devices will be in motion smoothing - which can be a huge thing or irrelevant from one person to another

I will play some rapid scenes to try out, do you suggest testing using some 60fps videos from youtube?

 

[superczar]

I will play some rapid scenes to try out, do you suggest testing using some 60fps videos from youtube?

60fps will also be fine on all.
The difference is on 24p.

Most streamers cannot switch to native 24p for 24p content (which is almost 99% of what we watch)

Thats why motion smoothing is required on displays.
However, native 24p is irrelevant if display does not support 24hz switching…
check your projector specs, I suspect it will be fixed 50/60hz.

Having said that , motion smoothing related jerkiness is lot less jarring/noticeable on projectors as against TVs

 

[Amarendra]

I use venom ad on which I find it to be simple and smooth. Yes it does take some effort and time to set it up but once done nothing beats it. You can watch any movie or tv show at an instance. I will suggest you also add venom cause some instances one adon may not work or have the links to a particular movie or tv shows. Other ad ons I liked are exodus and fen.

Kodi + real debrid + venom is a game changer totally. Tested it on nvidia shield and fire tv stick. Just had one question - if I m running vpn (nord) on the device let’s say shield or fire tv is the kodi traffic flowing through vpn or independently ? Btw found a really old movie - Roman holiday in pristine 1080p with this setup.

 

[ankitbhargava]

Kodi + real debrid + venom is a game changer totally. Tested it on nvidia shield and fire tv stick. Just had one question - if I m running vpn (nord) on the device let’s say shield or fire tv is the kodi traffic flowing through vpn or independently ? Btw found a really old movie - Roman holiday in pristine 1080p with this setup.

Have been using Real Debrid for almost an year now and its really convenient as against downloading.
Though I am still learning to use it optimally. If during the Movie I stop for a reason, its not easy to go back selecting same source and resuming from the point I stopped. Any tips? @Love4sound ?

 

[Love4sound]

Kodi + real debrid + venom is a game changer totally. Tested it on nvidia shield and fire tv stick. Just had one question - if I m running vpn (nord) on the device let’s say shield or fire tv is the kodi traffic flowing through vpn or independently ? Btw found a really old movie - Roman holiday in pristine 1080p with this setup.

Yes it really is a game changer and once you are used to it there is no going back to the conventional set up.I ended up selling my bluray player and ps4. I have never used VPN in shield but technically when you have vpn enabled in shield your network traffic should be through vpn irrespective of the app you use. Just make sure its a properly integrated vpn. Google and you can find the best vpn for using with shield.You will find a lot of movies and tv shows that are not available even in torrents.

 

[Love4sound]

Have been using Real Debrid for almost an year now and its really convenient as against downloading.
Though I am still learning to use it optimally. If during the Movie I stop for a reason, its not easy to go back selecting same source and resuming from the point I stopped. Any tips? @Love4sound ?

The method i follow is if for some reason i have to stop the movie i press and hold the middle button in shield remote pointing the link that i am playing and save it in favorites. Next time i want to continue i just go to favorites and play the link and it resumes from where i left off. And if i forget to do this i just search the movie and play the link. You can choose any link and it will automatically resume from where you left off.

 

[Amarendra]

Have been using Real Debrid for almost an year now and its really convenient as against downloading.
Though I am still learning to use it optimally. If during the Movie I stop for a reason, its not easy to go back selecting same source and resuming from the point I stopped. Any tips? @Love4sound ?

Usually in venom it saves or creates a restore point.

 

[ankitbhargava]

The method i follow is if for some reason i have to stop the movie i press and hold the middle button in shield remote pointing the link that i am playing and save it in favorites. Next time i want to continue i just go to favorites and play the link and it resumes from where i left off. And if i forget to do this i just search the movie and play the link. You can choose any link and it will automatically resume from where you left off.

Yes I have tried the same but probably it scrapes the source again and doesn't stick to same :-\

 

[ankitbhargava]

Usually in venom it saves or creates a restore point.

I will give it a shot

 

[Love4sound]

Yes I have tried the same but probably it scrapes the source again and doesn't stick to same :-\

Which adon are you using? I use venom and it always resumes from where i left out even if i select some-other link