List of Apps By TV Brand?

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MSwitch

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#2329765 4-Oct-2019 20:08

I've only really used one Android TV, it was a TCL and it felt very clunky/laggy.

I did go in to the store today and really liked the look of the Sony Bravia so will look into ATV's more. Think I'll be tossing up between the Sony A8G and LG C9 55s.

Handle9

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#2329772 4-Oct-2019 20:57

I've got an LG and a Sony. The LG is much snappier but very much a walled garden. If you want Kodi or to sideload you're pretty much out of luck.

A Mibox is about $100 though so you can have the best of both worlds. The Mibox is a better UX than the Sony Android TV.

grolschie

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#2329774 4-Oct-2019 21:08

Dunnersfella:
grolschie: I would never buy another smart TV, unless there was another reason for the purchase (such as picture quality, price, etc). A Chromecast Ultra for $109 (or Chromecast 3 for 1080p screens for $69) is so affordable and works so well. Later on if necessary you can just replace/upgrade the Chromecast and not the whole TV.

CC Ultra's are $88 @ the Noel Leeming sale in Auckland right now...

Just saying.

Nice. Thanks! Their website still shows full price for the Ultra, but the CC3 2018 is $48 on sale. I might have to pop in to the local store down here and see if the Ultra is on sale.

jonathan18

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#2329875 5-Oct-2019 07:40

I was talking to a salesperson at JB Hifi about current OLED options yesterday, and it was good to hear him recommending the same (external device over internal smarts) - he too recommended the ATV.

While it does seem to have all the streaming apps we need, its lack of Kodi support is the key thing holding it back from being the ideal one-box solution for us. How well does Plex perform on the latest ATV?

I’d have to upgrade our NAS to run Plex, but that needs to happen at some point anyway.

eracode

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#2329876 5-Oct-2019 07:46

jonathan18:

I was talking to a salesperson at JB Hifi about current OLED options yesterday, and it was good to hear him recommending the same (external device over internal smarts) - he too recommended the ATV.

While it does seem to have all the streaming apps we need, its lack of Kodi support is the key thing holding it back from being the ideal one-box solution for us. How well does Plex perform on the latest ATV?

I’d have to upgrade our NAS to run Plex, but that needs to happen at some point anyway.

A shortcoming of ATV for me is that doesn’t do live FTA TV - whereas the VTV does. Problem is, VTV at this stage still has some problems of its own. Sorry off topic.

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Handle9

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#2329877 5-Oct-2019 07:46

jonathan18:
I was talking to a salesperson at JB Hifi about current OLED options yesterday, and it was good to hear him recommending the same (external device over internal smarts) - he too recommended the ATV.

While it does seem to have all the streaming apps we need, its lack of Kodi support is the key thing holding it back from being the ideal one-box solution for us. How well does Plex perform on the latest ATV?

I’d have to upgrade our NAS to run Plex, but that needs to happen at some point anyway.

Plex is great on ATV but as usual it's audio that is a pain. ATV doesn't support many HD audio formats so you need a server with a bit of grunt if you use files with HD formats.

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jonathan18

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#2329880 5-Oct-2019 07:58

Handle9:
Plex is great on ATV but as usual it's audio that is a pain. ATV doesn't support many HD audio formats so you need a server with a bit of grunt if you use files with HD formats.

Good warning, thanks; does that mean a decent NAS will need to simply convert to a compatible but same quality audio format, or does it necessarily come with a reduction in quality?

I was thinking about a Synology DS218+, or even the 220+ if that’s released (and priced not too much more) by the time I’m buying - would that be adequate for dealing with this audio conversion issue?

Handle9

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#2329883 5-Oct-2019 08:09

Honestly not sure about a NAS and transcoding audio. I run a reasonably beefy unraid server (Ryzen 2600 with 16 GB of RAM) which transcodes really well so don't worry about it too much.

lookout

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#2329884 5-Oct-2019 08:21

jonathan18:

I was talking to a salesperson at JB Hifi about current OLED options yesterday, and it was good to hear him recommending the same (external device over internal smarts) - he too recommended the ATV.

While it does seem to have all the streaming apps we need, its lack of Kodi support is the key thing holding it back from being the ideal one-box solution for us. How well does Plex perform on the latest ATV?

I’d have to upgrade our NAS to run Plex, but that needs to happen at some point anyway.

Have a look at Infuse (app for iOS and Apple TV). It’s fantastic for playing media from a NAS. It doesn’t require any server software - All the transcoding is done on the Apple TV. If you have other Apple devices you can have your library synced up between them. There’s also a version of KODI for Apple TV called MrMc.

grolschie

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#2329885 5-Oct-2019 08:22

Yup, if your server is not up to the task of transcoding, you're in for a bad time.

Loismustdye

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#2329894 5-Oct-2019 08:57

jonathan18:
I was talking to a salesperson at JB Hifi about current OLED options yesterday, and it was good to hear him recommending the same (external device over internal smarts) - he too recommended the ATV.

While it does seem to have all the streaming apps we need, its lack of Kodi support is the key thing holding it back from being the ideal one-box solution for us. How well does Plex perform on the latest ATV?

I’d have to upgrade our NAS to run Plex, but that needs to happen at some point anyway.

Plex works wonders on our atv 4K. The app on our lg b8 oled started buffering every time we went to use it over the last week, switched to the atv and it has been flawless

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FineWine

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#2329967 5-Oct-2019 10:32

trig42:

Depending on how much fiddling you want to do, I'd be buying the best TV (picture wise) you can, and adding an Apple TV. The ATV does pretty much every streaming App in NZ (not sure about Neon - what's with that Sky?)

It does do TVNZ, TV3, Netflix, Lightbox, Spark Sport, Sky Sport Now, Amazon Video, Apple TV+, Plex and more. If you use DNS or VPN, you can load overseas services - I've used BBC, iTV, RugbyPass, ESPN+.

It is easy to use, Harmony remote friendly.

The only thing it won't do is Casting (unless you have an Apple product you can Airplay from).

If you don't want Apple then Roku, nVidia Shield etc., are similar but because they are not NZ supported devices, getting the NZ apps on them (and keeping them up to date) is fiddly.

I'm hanging out for a strongly rumoured update to ATV (and here at MacRumors Buyers's Guide) which may be announced at this months (October 2019) strongly rumoured event.

This would then tie in nicely with the release of Apples new streaming service - 1st November 2019 - Apple TV+

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

Kiwifruta

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#2329992 5-Oct-2019 12:27

dt:

this is why im a big fan of Android TV boxes, have always found the availability of apps much wider than that of the TV's and its much easier to justify the $100-200 hardware upgrade should you need to for future app updates requiring gruntier hardware.

@dt, I just got a Mi Box S yesterday. So far it's working quite well, except two issues that you might be able to help me with.

Amazon Prime Video (NZ), I sideloaded the app as I couldn't find it in Google Play. The image is blurry, my other apps work perfectly. Have you managed to get it working well? My telly is 1080p, so not trying to poke 4k through the box. I have a 1st gen fire tv, which only allows US Prime. So bought the Mi Box S hoping I could watch NZ Prime on it. The chromecast option on the Mi Box S works fine though.

Neon TV, have you find an app that works with this?

Thanks

JaseNZ

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#2329995 5-Oct-2019 12:32

infuse is the best app for the atv , A lot better hands down than plex or kodi if you are wanting to just stream all your content from a nas or network share off a computer.

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Quinny

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#2332091 7-Oct-2019 16:58

Very happy with my Sony Oled. Make sure it has Oreo (Android 8?). I run Lightbox, Acorn, Plex, Twitch, Netflix, Curiosity Stream, Amazon Video to name just some. No vpn no tweaking just all Android TV apps. Beautiful 4k picture and makes everything even upscaled look amazing. As on wall did not want soundbar and use the built-in acoustic Surface. I can cast Skygo from Chrome to it and the picture is fine when I do want sports. Supports Sky Sport and TVNZ On-demand as well. That's pretty much everything I could want and the one remote rocks over multiple devices.

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