Apple TV vs Nvidia Shield (and where to buy Shield)

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192 posts

Master Geek

#2861832 4-Feb-2022 17:08

Senecio:
Regarding the adds on Google TV. I haven't tried this myself but I hear a lot of people are using custom launchers to go back to an add free UI.

Does anyone here have any experience using a custom launcher?

No but I have avoided the adverts on all my Android boxes to date.
MiBox S, Meecool KM2, DishTV A2, SmartVU+ etc.

Disable PlayStore updates.
Uninstall updates to the "Android TV Home" app.
Done.

How long it will last is unknown but it still works for me.

gehenna

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#2861838 4-Feb-2022 17:36

The custom launchers are pretty average looking. Better to just suck it up and deal with the very minor unintrusive ads.

Handle9

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#2861902 5-Feb-2022 00:03

gehenna:

Yes. But it's subjective.

Agreed.

They each have their strong points. I generally use the Apple TV as it has it's colour mapping magic that it does using an iphone. The shield has upscaling voodoo. I use the Apple TV as I like the way it displays colour but they are both excellent.

gehenna

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#2861903 5-Feb-2022 00:15

Yeah if I didn't have atmos at home i'd likely still be on Apple TV. Certainly the Plex client seems to get more love on Apple TV than Android.

rugrat

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#2861906 5-Feb-2022 01:21

gehenna:

Yeah if I didn't have atmos at home i'd likely still be on Apple TV. Certainly the Plex client seems to get more love on Apple TV than Android.

Apple TV supports atmos.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212714

It looks like Plex doesn’t support atmos on Apple TV, but Infuse 7 does.

Edit: Infuse has to be E-AC3 sound format for Atmos, which is used more in streaming services.

gehenna

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#2861946 5-Feb-2022 09:19

Not TrueHD.

tieke

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#2862080 5-Feb-2022 11:24

While this is a specific use-case, as implied by Senecio, AppleTV is a lot easier to get working for region-specific stuff. The Shield is definitely worth the premium over other Android devices (I've had MiBoxes, Amazon Fire devices etc before getting a Shield and then wondering why I had wasted my time with the cheaper devices), but ended up getting an AppleTV for my parents as they watch a lot of UK television.

It's the only Apple device they (or I) own, but it's just so simple to setup the regional stuff on AppleTV, with BBC iPlayer, All4 etc just working and updating as native apps. While some of the UK apps were possible to sideload onto the Shield, others didn't work or would break when updates occurred, and various Kodi plugins and other workarounds were clunky or required too much user effort to keep current.

The AppleTV definitely isn't as flexible for local streaming from a variety of sources, and I much prefer the (current) Shield remote and how it handles volume control, but the AppleTV was by far the best choice for this scenario.

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rb99

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#2862093 5-Feb-2022 12:38

tieke:

While this is a specific use-case, as implied by Senecio, AppleTV is a lot easier to get working for region-specific stuff. The Shield is definitely worth the premium over other Android devices (I've had MiBoxes, Amazon Fire devices etc before getting a Shield and then wondering why I had wasted my time with the cheaper devices), but ended up getting an AppleTV for my parents as they watch a lot of UK television.

It's the only Apple device they (or I) own, but it's just so simple to setup the regional stuff on AppleTV, with BBC iPlayer, All4 etc just working and updating as native apps. While some of the UK apps were possible to sideload onto the Shield, others didn't work or would break when updates occurred, and various Kodi plugins and other workarounds were clunky or required too much user effort to keep current.

The AppleTV definitely isn't as flexible for local streaming from a variety of sources, and I much prefer the (current) Shield remote and how it handles volume control, but the AppleTV was by far the best choice for this scenario.

Essentially, you 'pretend' to be in another country, make an iTunes account while in that country, download what you need, 'pretend' to be in a different country, make an iTunes account there, download what you need, rinse, repeat... ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#2862094 5-Feb-2022 12:54

Yes, but unlike an iPhone or iPad you can remain logged in to many iCloud accounts on the ATV 4K. You can just stay logged in to your NZ account to watch all content but if an app stops playing nicely you can easily with to that account and update the app from the App Store then switch back to your NZ account.

gehenna

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#2862096 5-Feb-2022 13:01

Keep this on topic, we don't want this to be a topic about how to break region restrictions by stealth.

JimmyH

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#2862236 5-Feb-2022 16:01

I have the Chromecast with Google TV. It's an OK unit, and for the price gives a pretty good experience. I have to disagree with Ghenna about the ads however - I find them unwelcome, intrusive and they annoy the snot out of me. I can grudgingly live with them as the unit is both capable and cheap. If it wasn't for the ads I would probably have purchased some shields. However, I'm not about to spend the considerable higher cost need for these if I get saturation bombed with ads in return ..... uh uh, no way!

For your use case, particularly given your imperative of wanting US content, I also recommend considering a Roku as well as a CCWGTV and an Apple TV. I have the Ultra and it's pretty good - responsive and seems to play a wide range of codecs, which lightens the transcode load on my media server. I also like the remote being RF rather than IR, the quite useful feature (in a bedroom unit) that it has a headphone jack on the remote that mutes audio to the TV, and a wired Ethernet connection. Cheaper than either the shield or ATV, and seems a good fit for what you want.

Interestingly, US users complain about Roku's ads. However, I don't see any of them - just a blank rectangle where the ads should be, which I'm guessing is because it's not officially released in the NZ market. If it did start happening, I understand that there are some domains that can be blocked on my router that would make them go away.

JimmyH

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#2862237 5-Feb-2022 16:03

gehenna:

Keep this on topic, we don't want this to be a topic about how to break region restrictions by stealth.

Why not? I would have thought that was on topic. His stated use case includes the imperative of accessing US content as a critical consideration. Therefore, I would have thought that whether a device can easily access content from other regions was firmly within the scope of the OP's question.

gehenna

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#2862276 5-Feb-2022 18:15

Read the FUG that you agreed to:

"Discussions about the copyright law itself are welcome. You can not complain about notifications or terminations that were sent by ISPs according to the law and you can not discuss in details how to bypass the copyright law. For example saying a specific technology can be used is ok, describing step-by-step how to do it is not."

The fact that the devices can do it is fine, but some brief mentions of how-to can become bigger than they should, hence the "by stealth" comment.

nitro

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Ultimate Geek

#2862518 6-Feb-2022 13:49

Paul1977:

JB HiFi has them for $99 ATM if anyone was on the market.

they do? can't find it on their website... (ah, you meant the aussie site!)

keen on how you get on with the shield pro, as well... i am in a similar situation with the limitations of the xbox.

gehenna

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#2862523 6-Feb-2022 14:00

I've had the shield and shield pro and agree with another comment earlier, the shield isn't up to the task even though on paper it should be. Get the pro if you're settled on a shield.

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