Apple TV vs Nvidia Shield for streaming BBC

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Jattennz

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#260133 12-Nov-2019 13:19

Hello,

I'm returning to NZ soon and hoping to switch my parents over from Sky TV to a streaming solution while I'm visiting. BBC shows look to be their biggest draws to SKY TV and I am looking at a Nvidia Shield or a Apple TV for the box.

I was wondering if one was easier to set it up to watch the BBC iPlayer vs the other. I see I would need some sort of VPN and the shield is probably easier to install this, unless I do the settings on the router I believe?

If anyone has any experience with this setup or advice it would much appreciated!

Cheers

davidcole

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#2352255 12-Nov-2019 13:49

Are you wanting NZ apps as well as UK? A DNS Service is a better idea that will allow that. But check if the Shield can allow apps from multiple countries at once. I know the apple TV can do this (apps for NZ and UK stores alongside each other)

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trig42

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#2352262 12-Nov-2019 13:53

A DNS service would be the easiest, but you'd just need to make sure that with it loaded into the Apple TVs network settings, it allows you to still access NZ services.

I think most of them are fine with that.

AppleTV are pretty easy to use. Just a bit of faffing to setup iTunes accounts in the areas you want to download the apps from (you'll need a UK based AppleID, as well as a NZ one). I use gmail accounts with _UK or _US appended so I remember which is which.

jonathan18

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#2352279 12-Nov-2019 14:15

Depending somewhat on their age and how tech-savvy your parents are, I still imagine the ATV would be the easier of these two devices to use; once the set up of apps from other regions is done it should be pretty much maintenance free. One thing to consider with the ATV, though, is its remote: many people seem to detest it and find it frustrating to use; I think an IR leaner remote can be used in replacement, though, and I assume it's also controllable via CEC.

I think the Shield may be overkill for this intended use; other cheaper options like an Amazon Fire TV or Mi Box would do the job (our Amazon boxes run iPlayer, Comedy Central, UKTV as well as Kodi, plus all the usual ones like Netflix), but may not have the same PAF.

We use Getflix's DNS service; the its web interface allows the user to set which services they want to access, so there's no issue still accessing NZ services at the same time as o/s-based ones.

Jattennz

90 posts

Master Geek
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#2352282 12-Nov-2019 14:28

Great, thank you for the replies everyone. Definitely be good if they can still use NZ and overseas (BBC) apps so the DNS sounds like the option.

They are already in the apple ecosystem so sounds like a Apple TV along with Getflix could be the combo to go for them. (plus a IR remote by the sounds) Just wanted something that would be easy for them to use after I setup the initial stuff (DNS). Sounds like this is a good solution.

Thanks again!

evilengineer

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#2364143 1-Dec-2019 19:14

The Shield is very tricky.

The UK catch-up apps come as part of the firmware package and not from the Google Play store.

It always seem to "know" I'm not in the UK. Despite having all the location stuff turned off, logged in with what (I think) is a UK Google account and a DNS4me account.

Haven't managed to get it to play ball yet. Plus TVNZ is pretty much the only NZ app freely available in the standard AndroidTV version of the Play Store.

Much easier on the Apple TV. But it did get my goat that as my only Apple device I had no choice but to put that horrendous piece of rubbish that is iTunes on my PC to finish setting up Apple IDs before it would let me download anything from the App store!

The only fly in the ointment (for me) is that Apple won't allowing bitstreaming of DTS-HD and TrueHD audio via HDMI.