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!
Personally I use the 2019 Shield non-pro. Works great. I also have a TV with Google TV built-in. I sideloaded a custom launcher with no ads on it, love that.
My mom uses a Roku Ultra on her home theater. It can handle more formats than anything else, including lossless audio formats from Blurays (Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD: Master Audio). Only downsides of the Roku ecosystem are the lack of SmartTube and the built-in ads. I used to use a Roku myself quite a bit, and the ads can be fully blocked by a PiHole, for what it's worth. Still, if no SmartTube is a dealbreaker, I would go for a GoogleTV box every time.
I would ditch my Roku in an instant if it wasn’t for my pihole. The volume of ads, logs, etc. that it blocks on Roku is insane…
Yeah, absolutely. With a PiHole the Roku is debatably the best "just works" device, but if no SmartTube is a dealbreaker, it's gotta be GoogleTV.