There are so many options on the market, but I feel like they all miss one thing or another. As my current setup is about to kick the bucket, I'd appreciate some input on your experiences and thoughts on the future.
Below are my thoughts and opinions, that are completely open to scrutiny!
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The Nvidia Shield (and 2019 Pro) are aging and overpriced. Lacking software updates shows Nvidia's priorities on other product lines. Will there be a new version now that the Switch 2 is launched, or are the possible profits pocket change for them?
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Apple TV seems to be a great alternative, but it's a locked down ecosystem. Tailscale is available here now, which is great, but there is no way to side load apps AFAIK. I am not giving up ad-free Youtube. Other than that, I see very few downsides with it.
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Google TV Streamer 4K is basically a Chromecast with more memory, storage and a slight bump to the CPU. It does finally support AV1, but lacks support for many audio codecs and several relatively common DV-profiles. It has also more than doubled in price.
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We don't have Amazon, so I know very little about the Firestick, but I imagine it would be like the CcwGTV? Probably same with the Roku?
To be fair, I'm looking for something with a bit more snappiness and punch than a stick for future proofing.
What are your thoughts? Waiting for the Shield 2 Pro? Happy with Apple TV or Google Streamer?
I wanna know how you play your obviously perfectly legal content on your TV's, but it needs to have the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor).
The server is a N100 NUC, so transcoding is no issue but I prefer not having to do it for everything.
Cheers!
We used a firestick for a few years which was more than adequate in my experience once you'd set it up initially. Earlier this year I switched over to a cheap Chinese google box by "mycool", so far this has been working fine too with no issues aside from the cheap remote (I didn't like the fire stick remote either but it at least felt a little better quality)
I absolutely hate both Amazon and google but my primary concerns were more about the girlfriend acceptance factor as it had to be something that was easy to use as she does not want to put any effort into it. It also needed "Netflix certification" so that the Netflix app would work as she belligerently keeps paying for and using that despite me providing multiple alternatives.
I added a custom launcher to the googleTV one so it literally displays the 6 icons of the things we use and none of the other shit so the experience is easy and streamlined with no adverts or bullshit and this has passed the test with no complaints.
For my sister I got a fire stick up and running as she is, again, very against using anything that requires any kind of effort and she seems happy with that so far.
I'd like to move away from both Amazon and google at least in my own house but not sure how to yet and still get the A OK from the other users, I tried kodi in the past but they both refused to use it due to the interface, which to be fair is fucking dog shit in my experience.
So for now I'll be sticking to the fire stick and googletv options I have running.
I think our partners could be sisters, tbh...
My conclusion is pretty much the same as yours, but I still wanted to double check for fresh inputs: I'm stuck with Google for now, unless I want to test a Chinese product.
I just have this feeling that the moment I purchase the TV Streamer, Nvidia or Valve will release something awesome that blows it out of the water.
Maybe that means I should buy it to help everyone else on the fence...
I was looking at the nvidia before getting this current one as everyone recommends it but it is so old now and yet still absurdly expensive that I just didn't think it was worth it, so if you could buy it and force a new iteration for us all that would be great!
Good luck with whatever you buy, if I had my way we would have a PC hooked up to the TV and do everything via that but I would probably be kicked out just for suggesting something so "absurd" xD
I was dumb enough to suggest the same. You are obviously the smarter of us.
Cheers mate! Enjoy your weekend