I have tried Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast (not the new models with an interface), and AppleTV. So far Apple TV is the cleanest without ads or sponsored content on the home screen.
If you find something better please let me know.
this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
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I like my Roku, but it would be much more annoying without a pihole to block the ads.
And telemetry.
Understood about the ads / sponsored content. I've not used anything but an ATV, but I've heard similar (ads, interface, etc.). If I come up with a different solution, I will revive the post and let folks know. Thanks.
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Keep your Apple TV and use it as a streaming client for whatever you stand up on the backend. Personally I have a Synology NAS that I love and I use the net to get all my content. Use the net. 😉
Appreciate your comment, and that seems like a common setup. If you didn't have the ATV, what would you front end the Plex server with? I have a Synology router and would probably buy a Synology NAS, if I went that route.
I would go with Jellyfin instead of Plex. It's open source and works great
Adding that to my to-do list for research, thank you for the post!!
If you keep using your Apple TV and switch to Jellyfin as a backend, the Infuse application has been amazing. It’s free with a premium version (that does offer a lifetime license).
Appreciate the details on Infuse. Still looking at all the options, thanks for the response!!
Actually with a Synology NAS you don’t need Plex, they have a built in equivalent called DS Video with apps for Apple TV, iOS, Android, etc!
I’ve had an Nvidia shield in the past as well and it works reasonably well, but the video experience is definitely better on the Apple TV. The Android boxes make more sense if you want a place to install emulators that also occasionally streams.
Thank you for this! I'll look more at the Synology NAS devices and see what that's all about. I'm probably the other way around, stream more, and emulate once in a while.
DS video is much worse than Plex in my experience, it's not even close. The only upside is getting hardware transcoding for free, but that's about it.
If you have Apple users at home, the integrated experience and the video quality is going to be very hard to match from other platforms. My parents use Chromecast and it takes so many more steps to send content on to their media system. The video quality when casting also suffers a little, though that may be because they’re using cheap ISP router AP combo box, and I’m using Ubiquiti APs instead. Having said that, I do think the A15 processor in the most recent model is an overkill in the graphics performance department, so I wouldn’t completely rule out device capability compared as the cause of video quality difference.
Based on my readings, I think most recent high end nVIDIA Shield Tv Pro is the only closest in terms of raw performance and even then it may be a bit behind. Tegra X1+ found in the Shield Pro is on Maxwell architecture, which is older than GeForce 1080 series’ Pascal architecture, if I’m not mistaken. This would date it to around 2015-ish; whereas the previously mentioned A15 processor in most recent version of AppleTV 4K was introduced in 2021 with iPhone 13 series.
And with my luck, the day I buy a Shield is the day they announce a new one :) Luckily it's just me, so I'm the only to complain if I do something dumb, ha! I'll start keeping an eye on the Shield, as I'm not in a rush to buy / change.
Appreciate the device info and response!
I have had various sticks and Roku highest end models and then got the latest ATV with hard wire port that adds Dolby vision and high frame rate HDR. I have a 2022 high-end TV.
The video quality is noticeably better. Not sure of older ATV, but this is clearly better than the top end Roku. Also, I'm not sure if it is the same on older tvs
The other thing is that you want to hard wire if at all possible. Even the best wifi can't touch the reliability of a wire
Got it, and yes, current ATV is hardwired. Wi-Fi in my home wasn't too bad, but wired is definitely better. Appreciate the response / thoughts.
Not sure if it's a factor for you but roku tries to phone home a lot more than anything else on my network (or perhaps my firewall just catches it more than other devices and apps). Otherwise roku is pretty good.
Nvidia shield tv is better though. It's the best set top box. Made even better by replacing the default launcher/ home screen (android TV default launcher now has 2/3 or more of the screen taken up by ads or "recommended content" which is just ads).
ProjectIvy is a great launcher if anyone needs it
That's what I'm using now and I like it.
I will give this a look, appreciate it!
One of the concerns is the current state of "privacy" with these devices. Interesting that you can mod the Shield (as mentioned by a couple of others as well). Good to know, even if I get one just to tinker / experiment. Thank you so much!
Yes that's a concern with all of them, Apple TV included.
Agreed, Apple is not above scrutiny on the privacy front. Appreciate the response.
Nvidia Shield Pro with the default launcher disabled & replaced, Plex server. I'm pulling the unused apple TV out of the media setup this week.
Preference on a launcher? I’m getting tired of the google ads lol
I use flauncher. It’s ugly and doesn’t have a lot of features but I don’t care. I only have two apps installed, so I’m rarely looking at or using the launcher anyway.
Thanks, this seems like a common theme as well as Roku and Plex. At least you can recoup a few dollars on the ATV if you sell it.
I host a Plex server for streaming and my apple TV 4k 2021 would refuse to play high bit rate media. Kept displaying an error message telling me I've exceeded the limit. Started searching online and everyone consistently called Nvidia shield pro the best one can buy. Bought it, love it, now have 3. But all I use it Plex. I've made my server basically all streaming services combined to one.
If I may ask, what are you using to host the Plex server? I've read about people using NAS devices (Synology, etc. which has Plex available natively) and running a PC with a lot of storage. Appreciate the comment!
I ran an Apple TV in the living room for a long time to access my Plex server and whatever subscription my wife has this month. As time went on it got more and more glitchy until it came to the point where I had to power cycle the thing every few days. Replaced it with a cheap fire stick, annoyed the crap out of me. Replaced that with a cheap Roku, it was only slightly better than the shitty firestick.
My wife got me the NVIDIA shield pro for Christmas this year, and I picked up the p2920 controller for it. My god this thing is awesome - not only is it the best tv box I’ve ever used, I can use moonlight to play games on my rig or GeForce now to stream games. I highly recommend this thing
Roku really should not sell most of their cheapest options, they’re very bad, while the top of the line Rokus are very solid.
I'm seeing a few comments on the Nvidia. I know of them, but had not really given them a serious look. Thank you so much!
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| AP | WiFi Access Point |
| NAS | Network-Attached Storage |
| Plex | Brand of media server package |
3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 6 acronyms.
[Thread #393 for this sub, first seen 1st Jan 2024, 07:55] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
I've never used an Apple TV, but my smart TV is a Roku and it does most of the things you've described. I use Crunchyroll and Tubi and a few other streaming apps including Apple's. I use Prime Music and it has like 99% of the albums I want to listen to. Obviously it doesn't have Apple Arcade, but I mostly just play games on my phone anyway. I even put a Roku box on an old CRT TV that I use sometimes for watching older shows in SD format lol! I don't know if this is the type of answer you were looking for but I hope it's helpful.
As does my fire stick, and even my Vizio smart TV … all except the Apple Arcade
I’ve bent thinking about moving in the other direction. I try to avoid privacy abuse of the SmartTV and Fire Stick is being enshittified, so what should I use? AppleTV seems interesting to try plus games may be fun
Appreciate your insights on how you use the Roku devices. Understood about gaming, my eyes can't handle mobile gaming :)
I use a Synology NAS + Plex + Chromecast, works great.
Thank you! I'm going to start looking at the Synology NAS devices. I have one of their routers which I really like so the NAS stuff should be similar (fit, finish, interface, etc.).
my go-to setup is
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chromecast with googletv 4k
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alldebrid membership (€3 a month)
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stremio app + torrentio addon
Appreciate the info / response. I'll have to check out alldebrid, stremio, and torrentio; those are new to me.
debrid is basically "cloud torrenting", a server torrents the files and you download them from there. extremely useful if you live in a jurisdiction where p2p filesharing is illegal.
stremio is a netflix-like video player app, torrentio an addon that let's you crawl torrent sites and stream stuff via debrid.
Thank you for the info on these. As I figure out what I want to do, I will keep these in mind! Sounds like some good stuff.
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