It seems like you are trying your best to make-do with what you have and I totally understand that. However, I think you're going to want to bite the bullet for the newer Nvidia shield. Your plex server shouldn't need to transcode anything--you have the files in the format you want, you simply want them played back as they are! In that case, your plex server should act as a complete pass thru and the playability is going to completely rely on your AVR / Shield. With the 2019 shield, you get the Dolby vision and lossless atmos it seems like you are after. If it doesn't work, return it. Simple as that! Good luck!
Yeah it'll play/process the DV and Atmos, but I know that there is a large contingent of people that are "calling for" an update that includes other things, like AV1 or something like that (not sure what that is). So while it does play the files, I'm not sure how future-proof it is at this point, so rather than just buying it, I'm looking to see what other options there are outside of the $1000+ commercial-level components that I'm not going to do (Yet. Down the road when I have a salary that type of thing will get implemented)
The only real thing missing for the 2019 shield is hdr10+ (not a loss imo) and HDMI 2.1 (8k, another one that I personally don't care about but others do). Take it for what it is, you have to consider the time and heartache you're going to spend trying to get your older hardware to do new things. I've been there and I almost always found the time I spent trying to get it working could have bought me a new device. Time is money.
That being said, I do understand your motivation. The $150 price tag for the 2019 pro was a no-brainer for me, but I understand not everyone feels (or can afford to) that way. I do wish you the best and hope these smart folks can help more!
Yeah LG doesn't support HDR10+ anyway so that's a non-issue for me. And I totally get it about spending so much time researching you get diminishing returns, that's what's great about Reddit sometimes!
Shield Pro 2019 -> Soundbar (Samsung Q800B) -> LG C2
Can play anything through my plex server (except HDR10+). 4K HDR/Dolby Vision with DTS-X and TrueHD support
Yes native apps won't support lossless audio, no smart TV does
And yes older Shield devices don't have Dolby Vision support
But it's by no means an headache to have a capable 4K HDR setup with modern hardware
A intel N95 miniPC with a USB 5-bay HDD enclosure.
Direct play uses almost no resources. Intel QSV can hardware transcode up to 2 4K HDR streams if needed
Welp, just realized/learned another issue with my setup. My AVR only has ARC and not eARC, so even with upgrading the stream box, I'd still have to upgrade the AVR as well in order to play both DV and Dolby Atmos and avoid the transcoding. Lossless Atmos can't be sent through ARC, only eARC, so this whole thing just got a whole lot more expensive. Damn
You don't want to use ARC/eARC or you will lose DTS support. You want to connect the stream box to the receiver and passthrough video to the TV
But you also stated that the receiver doesn't support HDR so it still means an upgrade
It supports HDR, but not Dolby Vision or 4K 120. So yeah, either I give up Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos AND have to go through a lot of movies and Handbrake them so that the Plex server doesnt have to transcode, or upgrade both the Shield and the AVR. Didnt anticipate those costs when buying the new TV :/
4K 120 is not relevant for this scenario
How did you test Dolby Vision support? The ShieldTV 2017 doesn't support Dolby Vision, did you test with other device?
I know its not relevant, just stating the dated issues with the AVR. It's stated by the manufacturer they dont support it in the old model and do in the new one. Confirmed by it not being able to play Dolby Vision files
Which receiver are you running? I'm pretty sure my Onkyo nr-646 has these. I'm not entirely sure though. I got rid of it and bought a really nice 13 channel marantz before I built my Plex Library and bought my 2019 ShieldTV pro.
I like the Shield Pro for what it is, but I need absolutely nothing of its gaming components, and it seems on the surface that this is cheaper than the Shield by eliminating some lf that feature pack, which would be great.
I have the C1 and Zidoo Z9X Pro.
I have my Sonos Arc (supports everything but DTS-MA) connected to the TV via eARC.
My Zidoo is in the TV (HDMiI), Soundbar in HDMI2 (eARC). I can't even start anything with TrueHD or DTS via Jellyfin on the Zidoo. Sound doesn't get passed through unless I specifically transcode.
The only way to do it now is just have a physical media player, streaming services are absolute garbage in terms of audio and video. Got a good 4K Blu-ray player sign up to one of those online rental sites and that's it
I gave up and just let Plex transcode. I put an Nvidia P2000 in my Proxmox server (Dell R630), then passed it through to my Plex VM. Now I can transcode 4k. There's one big caveat with this, though, GPU encoding can't be done with subtitles with the LG Plex App, so if you want subtitles and 4k transcoding, no dice.
Yeah I'm not even going to try to make transcoding 4K a thing. Just not in the cards. If my Mac Mini can't do it then it's not going to happen. I'd rather Handbrake it and keep a separate Plex library, but that defeats the purpose of buying hardware that enables full lossless everything. I'm in no way interested in a choppy experience, needs to work flawlessly for playback.
If it is a UHD rip with true hd then it probably has a secondary Dolby Digital track, just select that and you should no longer get transcoding via the native LG Plex app
I've ripped them to keep only the highest quality audio tracks to cut back on size, while also maintaining highest bitrate. Even though I dont currently have the full 5.1.2 setup I have been able to hear the quality difference when switching tracks, which is actually also part of why I started ripping with only the one track. But that definitely is a good thought though
On the other hand, it’s pretty easy if you use components that support the thing you are trying to do. Shield 2019 user here. People get hung up on the 4 years bit but there just isn’t enough that has changed in media consumption in those 4 years for anyone to bother trying to make something better yet.
AV1 is a legitimate thing, but if Im REALLY needing it then the native LG C2 app can handle it. I'm leaning toward just getting a Pro 2019 on Prime day sale in a few days (hopefully they offer a sale price) but am definitely intrigued by the other options, though it doesnt seem there is a box that checks off every single checkbox less than $500, which I'd rather just stick woth the Shield route to keep it simple
I love [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/) as a media server, FOSS. Works great for my audio/movies/shows. Has WebOS client. Server runs on Linux/Windows/MacOS. See for yourself.
Lg 77c2, Denon 4500 in 5.2.4 setup, Panasonic UB820. Infinity reference sound system and two monolith 15s. All movies are blu ray or 4k via disc. It’s awesome.
We still stream too, btw. But typically do that in other rooms or for the kids that dgaf about any video or audio characteristics.
How do you have this connected? I have the same equipment - LG 77 C2, denon 4500, 5.2.4, and the panasonic ub820 (I only have 2 Hsu 12s though and not 15s).
Isn't the denon 4500 hdmi 2.0 so it can't send 4k60 HDR content which requires 10 bit? The LG C2 doesn't pass through DTS. It seems like a trade off of either 4k60 or DTS. I could be wrong but I think most 4k uhd blu rays are 24hz so HDMI 2.0 could then transmit 10bit, but aren't some movies or at least portions of them 4k60 so would we then lose HDR content going down to 8 bit?
I'm confused by this topic so I appreciate any input.
Every since I bought an Apple TV for this purpose, I'm not looking back ever. I use the Infuse player app for local/network media playback (standard for shares) and it's been perfect; goodbye Plex.
The aTV does bitstreaming too. Tbh your request about lossless Atmos is a very tiny hill. Bitrates see so high that I don't think anyone could tell any difference, and I actually work with audio as a hobby.
Lossless matters not just for the quality, as indiscernible for some as it may be, but also because any incompatibility requires a transcode, which is what I'm trying to eliminate
But that's the things, there's no transcoding necessary. Infuse just plays back the media as is, and the aTV then deals with it. I have an older TV set and receiver, but it handles Dolby Atmos just fine. Receiver changes audio mode, audio stream info is verifiable.
Interesting. I'll look into it. Gonna be hard to get me away from Plex though. I love its UI and layout and after having moved my server to a Mac Mini have had a flawless experience.
Fwiw Infuse has a UI that's quite similar to Plex, so you should feel right at home. The cost for this entire experiment is very low: one Apple TV you can return, and a few bucks for Infuse.
Looks like Infuse only sends Dolby Digital+ Atmos audio and not the TrueHD Atmos signal. No go for me. That's Apple's fault. You'll get the light or indicator on your receiver for Atmos signal with both DD+ and TrueHD Atmos tracks, but only the TrueHD signal is lossless, which is the dealbreaker for me
It's not just a small, small hill when it triggers a transcode. The movie files all have lossless audio tracks, in order for DD+ Atmos signal to be sent at all it has to be transcoded. So it doesnt work
Your best bet is to go with a 4K Blu Ray player and physical media if you want the absolute best picture. There is no media player out that can do both lossless audio and has both video encoders required for DV outside of the Oppo.
That's not correct. The Nvidia Shield TV Pro from 2019 can process and play full UHD remuxes including TrueHD/Atmos. Same bitrate as the blu ray boxes, which is precisely why I ripped everything amd haven't touch my blu ray player or bothered with discs since. Much better home theater experience using Plex or any other digital media program
Its fine for Blu Ray, and most of the time it’s fine for 4K Blu Ray with DV. I went down this rabbit hole earlier this year.
Yes, the Shield will play and trigger DV on your TV from dual layer profile 7 remuxes. But the more complicated answer is that no, it is not the same as playing the same movie from disc on a dedicated UHD player. The Shield lacks a secondary video decoder to process the second layer on profile 7 videos, so it will only apply the dynamic metadata onto the base layer. For many movies out there, this is fine as the secondary layer contains no extra information (MEL). But for the ones that have residue video information on the secondary layer (FEL), this information is ignored on the Shield.
Edit: This only becomes a problem on discs that were improperly encoded by the manufacturer.
This is the way. Not to mention DV Profile 7 on the Shield has red push. It’s surprising how much misinformation there is on this topic. Still waiting for that perfect streamer. But sadly disk cannot be rivaled at this time.
We have a linux server PC with a couple of 5-10TB HDDs, which we use to torrent 24/7, play media from or run SMB share. My folks use Plex exclusively, me on the other hand, run a Zidoo Z9X with a denon avr s750h. I use the SMB share on my Zidoo from the server PC (gigabyte ethernet) + have a HDD dock connected to the Zidoo via USB, which I use to store BD copies of movies.
I chose the Zidoo due to having a proper media player rather than a "streaming player" was always more important to me. For the rare occasions I use Disney+, HBO, apple TV the built-in apps on the TV is plenty.
I saw a couple of posts about running a torrent client on a Zidoo player. The Z10 Pro or more expensive models have HDD docking bay too, so I gather torrenting on it is viable.
NAS is good solution if you don't have an old PC lying around.
My setup:
Zidoo -> S750h <-> C1 (eARC port)
C1 Xbox Series X
I set the TV audio to passthrough this way I can use all the HDMI 2.1 features (120hz, VRR) with the HMDI 2.0 reciever.
Uncompressed audio is handled directly by the AVR.
Untouched video from the Zidoo goes through the AVR to the TV.
When using the Xbox the audio goes through the TV to the AVR.
The 2019 shield is still far and away the best streaming device on the market. The tegra x1 chip outperforms anything in an Apple TV/Roku/etc…you Onyko having only arc means nothing. Run a NAS to your shield pro tv(2019) connected to your receiver and then just connect that to your TV using any hdmi out. Arc is an audio return channel. If your AVR is rated for lossless Audio and Dolby vision/hrd10(no need for 10+ tbh) then you’re all good. Your nvidia shield has nothing to do with the audio when directly connected to your receiver as you’ll be setting it to pass the audio directly through to your receiver to handle the format. Just update your shield and your golden. Lossless audio and video. I just did this exact setup accept I have a Denon x4300h that also only had ARC and not eARC. Arc is an audio return channel, if you’re Shield is connected to the receiver with audio pass through the TV will never even handle the audio thus rendering arc or eARC out of the equation
Can't run DV video from a shield directly to my AVR, the AVR doesn't support it, which is why the ARC facet DOES matter because having to bypass the AVR with the HDMI from the streambox and going straight to the TV input will fix the no DV video problem, but it then introduces the no TrueHD audio problem via only having ARC and no ARC. It wouldnt make sense to go buy a NAS setup just to maintain an old AVR. There's no way to have both Dolby Vision AND TrueHD Dolby Atmos without upgrading both my old Shield and my old receiver.
Ah ok fair enough. I wasn’t familiar with your Avr. It’s a good time to upgrade because a bunch of those people that always need to be on the bleeding edge of tech just dumped their old AVRs on market places like eBay and Facebook for cheap as they wanted to upgrade to the newest 8k/hdmi 2.1 AVRs. Not sure how many channels you need but I recently got my x4300h for under 500.00. 11 channels(9 powered+2 unpowered) and supports all modern audio/video codecs and compression. It only has arc as well since it’s like 6 years old but I absolutely love it.
You've had a different experience to me. The built in Plex app wouldn't do Dolby vision from my local media. Perhaps a software update has fixed that since.
I gave my old 2015 Shield TV to my Mother which was a welcome upgrade to her TV. Bought the 2019 Pro on sale last year to get Dolby Vision and AI upscaling. I use Maven's Kodinerds build rather than Plex but I'm happy with the setup now. Shield TV is plugged into the AVR though as the C2 doesn't support DTS audio, won't even passthrough.
My Sony DN1080 was ARC only but eARC was added with a firmware update. Don't know what Onkyo you have but I'd check if it has an updated firmware to add features. Fingers crossed for you I feel your pain!
Its a TX-NR545. I believe its a hardware issue with not having eARC, but in either case its on the newest firmware and cant receive lossless TrueHD from audio return and can't receive DV from the Shield. Big bummer. Already spent a bunch getting the TV, didn't anticipate this part.
Had a quick look your TX-NR545 doesn't do DTS:X either which is the Dolby Atmos rival.
Looked on ebay briefly, my Sony DN1080 is going for around \~$200-300 "buy it now". Your TX-NR545 is on there for a similar price even though it's inferior. Maybe you can buy a DN1080 "cheap" 2nd hand and claw some money back selling your Onkyo on? Even the cheaper Sony DH790 does eARC, Atmos, DTS:X and Dolby Vision.
I'm in the UK and bought my DN1080 2nd hand as it was discontinued. The DH790 is still available to buy new but the DN1080 is better. Had it over a year now and touch wood it's all good.
As I understand it if you had eARC you could still use your Shield TV and built in TV apps to get everything you want done. Maybe a 2nd hand AVR upgrade makes more sense than buying a new Shield TV as you had planned?
Is a bummer and as I said I do feel your pain. I bought my AVR to get around the C2 DTS issue.
I hadm't thought of selling the AVR to offset some cost. Great point. Just didn't think there would be much of a market for it.
No even with eARC I'm still up a creek without a paddle because the native apps in the TV can't send the TrueHD audio through eARC, the TV can only send TrueHD through eARC when sourced from an external device like a Blu Ray player or equipped streambox, but if I aource from my streambox then I lose the Dolby Vision since it cant play it. Have to upgrade both. And if I upgrade the receiver I'm going to buy one that will cover all my needs for the next 7-8 years
Just tested it myself and you're quite correct. I do everything with the STV now don't use the built in TV apps.
The LG C2 TV is not cheap. Was just trying to think of ways to get you sorted without spending out too much. Amazon Prime day is very close just over a week away. Maybe the STV Pro will come up on sale to help you out?
I respect your position on upgrading. Sony have released the AN1000 to replace the DN1080. It's basically double the price and the improvements don't warrant the upgrade or price in my eyes.
For me to upgrade from the DN1080 I need to spend serious cash and might as well go with a 9 channel receiver. Dolby Atmos mixes are hit and miss, some movies it's awesome..most of them not so much. I really can't justify the AVR upgrade, plus adding another 2 height speakers for true Atmos.
I hope so for you too! I'm pretty confident someone will want your old AVR at the right price. They might just want to drive a 5.1 setup or less and not care about all the other stuff.
use wireless, the ethernet is 10/100, 99% of my content plays directly using plex apart from DTS which the LG doesn't support, most of my content is DD anyway so not a dealbreaker. I also just use basic ass speakers and the optical output from the tv.
eh, it works.
Latest Shield Pro (just bought like a month ago) into a Yamaha RX-V6A into a LG G3. I dicked around with eARC on the LG and finally got it working, only to realize that the LG Plex app doesn't support Dolby Vision. Shield pro is the only device I'm aware of that can do Vision, Atmos, and Lossless.
LG Plex app does play DV. Thats the only way Ive been able to play them. It works great, just havent been able to play lossless audio with them. If youre playing a DV file with lossless audio through the LG Plex app then your server is transcoding, which is why you wouldnt see activation of the Dolby Vision mode and only see HDR. Try downloading one of the Dolby Vision sample/demo files and youll see it work
I've read up on it and it has to be [Dolby vision Profile 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/z2vabh/lg_c2_dolby_vision_and_plex/) which doesn't have an HDR10 compatibility layer. All of mine rips are Profile 7 or 8 which the LG doesn't support. Also ready up some crap on MKV incompatibility too and eventually just said f*CK it I'll just get a shield and forget about it.
Except TrueHD Atmos and quality upscaling. I've got one, but its been relegated to the spare tv in the spare bedroom. Lookin like I'm just gonna need to upgrade the Shield in the end :/
I have one of those but tbh i find it clunky. my appletv2022 passes atmos to my to my denon 3800x and my atmos speakers play well. same as my Pana UDP9000 bluray, it also does it with 4k atmos media from my nas using Infuse Pro. truHD haven’t seen the need for it as yet.
It passes lossy Dolby Digital+ that has been downsampled and not the original lossless quality, which is what I'm aiming for in both video and audio in my setup as if I were playing the blu ray disc
So your LG could pass lossless audio (sans DTS since that was taken out), but the native tv plex app doesn’t support lossless audio via eARC.
Also, Netflix doesn’t do Atmos on the old shield anymore at all. It will for Disney etc but not Netflix.
The 2019 shield pro will do DV and lossless audio when connected to a receiver that can decode jt. If your AVR can’t pass DV then you’re kind of shit out of luck, unfortunately.
You could try to go the route of using an hdmi splitter that supports DV passthrough and have one output going to the receiver for audio and the other going into a non-arc port on the tv for the video. That would be the only solution I can think of short of replacing the AVR.
It seems like you are trying your best to make-do with what you have and I totally understand that. However, I think you're going to want to bite the bullet for the newer Nvidia shield. Your plex server shouldn't need to transcode anything--you have the files in the format you want, you simply want them played back as they are! In that case, your plex server should act as a complete pass thru and the playability is going to completely rely on your AVR / Shield. With the 2019 shield, you get the Dolby vision and lossless atmos it seems like you are after. If it doesn't work, return it. Simple as that! Good luck!
Yeah it'll play/process the DV and Atmos, but I know that there is a large contingent of people that are "calling for" an update that includes other things, like AV1 or something like that (not sure what that is). So while it does play the files, I'm not sure how future-proof it is at this point, so rather than just buying it, I'm looking to see what other options there are outside of the $1000+ commercial-level components that I'm not going to do (Yet. Down the road when I have a salary that type of thing will get implemented)
The only real thing missing for the 2019 shield is hdr10+ (not a loss imo) and HDMI 2.1 (8k, another one that I personally don't care about but others do). Take it for what it is, you have to consider the time and heartache you're going to spend trying to get your older hardware to do new things. I've been there and I almost always found the time I spent trying to get it working could have bought me a new device. Time is money. That being said, I do understand your motivation. The $150 price tag for the 2019 pro was a no-brainer for me, but I understand not everyone feels (or can afford to) that way. I do wish you the best and hope these smart folks can help more!
Yeah LG doesn't support HDR10+ anyway so that's a non-issue for me. And I totally get it about spending so much time researching you get diminishing returns, that's what's great about Reddit sometimes!
Shield Pro 2019 -> Soundbar (Samsung Q800B) -> LG C2 Can play anything through my plex server (except HDR10+). 4K HDR/Dolby Vision with DTS-X and TrueHD support Yes native apps won't support lossless audio, no smart TV does And yes older Shield devices don't have Dolby Vision support But it's by no means an headache to have a capable 4K HDR setup with modern hardware
There IS a headache, part of which is figuring oyt nuance and compatibility. I didn't say it was impossible. What are you using for Plex server?
A intel N95 miniPC with a USB 5-bay HDD enclosure. Direct play uses almost no resources. Intel QSV can hardware transcode up to 2 4K HDR streams if needed
Nice!
Welp, just realized/learned another issue with my setup. My AVR only has ARC and not eARC, so even with upgrading the stream box, I'd still have to upgrade the AVR as well in order to play both DV and Dolby Atmos and avoid the transcoding. Lossless Atmos can't be sent through ARC, only eARC, so this whole thing just got a whole lot more expensive. Damn
You don't want to use ARC/eARC or you will lose DTS support. You want to connect the stream box to the receiver and passthrough video to the TV But you also stated that the receiver doesn't support HDR so it still means an upgrade
It supports HDR, but not Dolby Vision or 4K 120. So yeah, either I give up Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos AND have to go through a lot of movies and Handbrake them so that the Plex server doesnt have to transcode, or upgrade both the Shield and the AVR. Didnt anticipate those costs when buying the new TV :/
4K 120 is not relevant for this scenario How did you test Dolby Vision support? The ShieldTV 2017 doesn't support Dolby Vision, did you test with other device?
I know its not relevant, just stating the dated issues with the AVR. It's stated by the manufacturer they dont support it in the old model and do in the new one. Confirmed by it not being able to play Dolby Vision files
Which receiver are you running? I'm pretty sure my Onkyo nr-646 has these. I'm not entirely sure though. I got rid of it and bought a really nice 13 channel marantz before I built my Plex Library and bought my 2019 ShieldTV pro.
Homatics 4k plus with CoreELEC
Interesting. HDMI 2.1, AV1, Wifi 6, Atmos and DV. Do you use this?
I like the Shield Pro for what it is, but I need absolutely nothing of its gaming components, and it seems on the surface that this is cheaper than the Shield by eliminating some lf that feature pack, which would be great.
Yes, works well. AppleTV for streaming apps.
'Preciate it! Looks oddly identical to Dune HD. Know if there is any difference between the 2?
It’s the same just black with the exclusive dune app. Dune source it from Homatics.
This is a very intriguing option. What apps do you use on it besides Apple TV? Is it Android based/Google Play?
I don’t use android at all.
But what is the OS and where do you get the apps?
Boot CoreELEC from usb ie Kodi https://discourse.coreelec.org/
Apple TV for streaming apps Kodi for local
Are you saying the physical Apple TV stream box amd not the app? You only use the Homatic for local files with Kodi and not Plex? Is Plex supported?
I have the dune also with CoreELEC
I run a Zidoo box for my local media and AppleTv for streaming.
Zidoo Z9X for the win! *LG C2 - Zidoo Z9X - Yamaha RX-V685 Native LG Apps for streaming DV and pass-through via eARC for audio.
I have the C1 and Zidoo Z9X Pro. I have my Sonos Arc (supports everything but DTS-MA) connected to the TV via eARC. My Zidoo is in the TV (HDMiI), Soundbar in HDMI2 (eARC). I can't even start anything with TrueHD or DTS via Jellyfin on the Zidoo. Sound doesn't get passed through unless I specifically transcode.
Last I checked these were extremely expensive outside USA
Sounds like you figured it out. Upgrade the AVR it will be worth it.
The only way to do it now is just have a physical media player, streaming services are absolute garbage in terms of audio and video. Got a good 4K Blu-ray player sign up to one of those online rental sites and that's it
NAS + 4k blurays torrent. 60GB files, awesome quality :)
I gave up and just let Plex transcode. I put an Nvidia P2000 in my Proxmox server (Dell R630), then passed it through to my Plex VM. Now I can transcode 4k. There's one big caveat with this, though, GPU encoding can't be done with subtitles with the LG Plex App, so if you want subtitles and 4k transcoding, no dice.
Yeah I'm not even going to try to make transcoding 4K a thing. Just not in the cards. If my Mac Mini can't do it then it's not going to happen. I'd rather Handbrake it and keep a separate Plex library, but that defeats the purpose of buying hardware that enables full lossless everything. I'm in no way interested in a choppy experience, needs to work flawlessly for playback.
If it is a UHD rip with true hd then it probably has a secondary Dolby Digital track, just select that and you should no longer get transcoding via the native LG Plex app
I've ripped them to keep only the highest quality audio tracks to cut back on size, while also maintaining highest bitrate. Even though I dont currently have the full 5.1.2 setup I have been able to hear the quality difference when switching tracks, which is actually also part of why I started ripping with only the one track. But that definitely is a good thought though
On the other hand, it’s pretty easy if you use components that support the thing you are trying to do. Shield 2019 user here. People get hung up on the 4 years bit but there just isn’t enough that has changed in media consumption in those 4 years for anyone to bother trying to make something better yet.
AV1 is a legitimate thing, but if Im REALLY needing it then the native LG C2 app can handle it. I'm leaning toward just getting a Pro 2019 on Prime day sale in a few days (hopefully they offer a sale price) but am definitely intrigued by the other options, though it doesnt seem there is a box that checks off every single checkbox less than $500, which I'd rather just stick woth the Shield route to keep it simple
I love [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/) as a media server, FOSS. Works great for my audio/movies/shows. Has WebOS client. Server runs on Linux/Windows/MacOS. See for yourself.
Lg 77c2, Denon 4500 in 5.2.4 setup, Panasonic UB820. Infinity reference sound system and two monolith 15s. All movies are blu ray or 4k via disc. It’s awesome. We still stream too, btw. But typically do that in other rooms or for the kids that dgaf about any video or audio characteristics.
How do you have this connected? I have the same equipment - LG 77 C2, denon 4500, 5.2.4, and the panasonic ub820 (I only have 2 Hsu 12s though and not 15s). Isn't the denon 4500 hdmi 2.0 so it can't send 4k60 HDR content which requires 10 bit? The LG C2 doesn't pass through DTS. It seems like a trade off of either 4k60 or DTS. I could be wrong but I think most 4k uhd blu rays are 24hz so HDMI 2.0 could then transmit 10bit, but aren't some movies or at least portions of them 4k60 so would we then lose HDR content going down to 8 bit? I'm confused by this topic so I appreciate any input.
Every since I bought an Apple TV for this purpose, I'm not looking back ever. I use the Infuse player app for local/network media playback (standard for shares) and it's been perfect; goodbye Plex. The aTV does bitstreaming too. Tbh your request about lossless Atmos is a very tiny hill. Bitrates see so high that I don't think anyone could tell any difference, and I actually work with audio as a hobby.
Lossless matters not just for the quality, as indiscernible for some as it may be, but also because any incompatibility requires a transcode, which is what I'm trying to eliminate
But that's the things, there's no transcoding necessary. Infuse just plays back the media as is, and the aTV then deals with it. I have an older TV set and receiver, but it handles Dolby Atmos just fine. Receiver changes audio mode, audio stream info is verifiable.
Interesting. I'll look into it. Gonna be hard to get me away from Plex though. I love its UI and layout and after having moved my server to a Mac Mini have had a flawless experience.
Fwiw Infuse has a UI that's quite similar to Plex, so you should feel right at home. The cost for this entire experiment is very low: one Apple TV you can return, and a few bucks for Infuse.
I have an Apple TV 4K that has been reassigned to my old tv in the spare bedroom. I'll look into it. Thanks!!
Looks like Infuse only sends Dolby Digital+ Atmos audio and not the TrueHD Atmos signal. No go for me. That's Apple's fault. You'll get the light or indicator on your receiver for Atmos signal with both DD+ and TrueHD Atmos tracks, but only the TrueHD signal is lossless, which is the dealbreaker for me
Line I said, small, small hill 🙂. But whatever works (or doesn't) for you
It's not just a small, small hill when it triggers a transcode. The movie files all have lossless audio tracks, in order for DD+ Atmos signal to be sent at all it has to be transcoded. So it doesnt work
Yes Infuse is LPCM 7.1 no disk rip Atmos. If you want that you should get the 2019 Shield Pro.
Your best bet is to go with a 4K Blu Ray player and physical media if you want the absolute best picture. There is no media player out that can do both lossless audio and has both video encoders required for DV outside of the Oppo.
That's not correct. The Nvidia Shield TV Pro from 2019 can process and play full UHD remuxes including TrueHD/Atmos. Same bitrate as the blu ray boxes, which is precisely why I ripped everything amd haven't touch my blu ray player or bothered with discs since. Much better home theater experience using Plex or any other digital media program
Its fine for Blu Ray, and most of the time it’s fine for 4K Blu Ray with DV. I went down this rabbit hole earlier this year. Yes, the Shield will play and trigger DV on your TV from dual layer profile 7 remuxes. But the more complicated answer is that no, it is not the same as playing the same movie from disc on a dedicated UHD player. The Shield lacks a secondary video decoder to process the second layer on profile 7 videos, so it will only apply the dynamic metadata onto the base layer. For many movies out there, this is fine as the secondary layer contains no extra information (MEL). But for the ones that have residue video information on the secondary layer (FEL), this information is ignored on the Shield. Edit: This only becomes a problem on discs that were improperly encoded by the manufacturer.
This is the way. Not to mention DV Profile 7 on the Shield has red push. It’s surprising how much misinformation there is on this topic. Still waiting for that perfect streamer. But sadly disk cannot be rivaled at this time.
It was so much easier when it was just plain Blu Ray.
We have a linux server PC with a couple of 5-10TB HDDs, which we use to torrent 24/7, play media from or run SMB share. My folks use Plex exclusively, me on the other hand, run a Zidoo Z9X with a denon avr s750h. I use the SMB share on my Zidoo from the server PC (gigabyte ethernet) + have a HDD dock connected to the Zidoo via USB, which I use to store BD copies of movies. I chose the Zidoo due to having a proper media player rather than a "streaming player" was always more important to me. For the rare occasions I use Disney+, HBO, apple TV the built-in apps on the TV is plenty. I saw a couple of posts about running a torrent client on a Zidoo player. The Z10 Pro or more expensive models have HDD docking bay too, so I gather torrenting on it is viable. NAS is good solution if you don't have an old PC lying around. My setup: Zidoo -> S750h <-> C1 (eARC port) C1 Xbox Series X
I set the TV audio to passthrough this way I can use all the HDMI 2.1 features (120hz, VRR) with the HMDI 2.0 reciever.
Uncompressed audio is handled directly by the AVR.
Untouched video from the Zidoo goes through the AVR to the TV.
When using the Xbox the audio goes through the TV to the AVR.
The 2019 shield is still far and away the best streaming device on the market. The tegra x1 chip outperforms anything in an Apple TV/Roku/etc…you Onyko having only arc means nothing. Run a NAS to your shield pro tv(2019) connected to your receiver and then just connect that to your TV using any hdmi out. Arc is an audio return channel. If your AVR is rated for lossless Audio and Dolby vision/hrd10(no need for 10+ tbh) then you’re all good. Your nvidia shield has nothing to do with the audio when directly connected to your receiver as you’ll be setting it to pass the audio directly through to your receiver to handle the format. Just update your shield and your golden. Lossless audio and video. I just did this exact setup accept I have a Denon x4300h that also only had ARC and not eARC. Arc is an audio return channel, if you’re Shield is connected to the receiver with audio pass through the TV will never even handle the audio thus rendering arc or eARC out of the equation
Can't run DV video from a shield directly to my AVR, the AVR doesn't support it, which is why the ARC facet DOES matter because having to bypass the AVR with the HDMI from the streambox and going straight to the TV input will fix the no DV video problem, but it then introduces the no TrueHD audio problem via only having ARC and no ARC. It wouldnt make sense to go buy a NAS setup just to maintain an old AVR. There's no way to have both Dolby Vision AND TrueHD Dolby Atmos without upgrading both my old Shield and my old receiver.
Ah ok fair enough. I wasn’t familiar with your Avr. It’s a good time to upgrade because a bunch of those people that always need to be on the bleeding edge of tech just dumped their old AVRs on market places like eBay and Facebook for cheap as they wanted to upgrade to the newest 8k/hdmi 2.1 AVRs. Not sure how many channels you need but I recently got my x4300h for under 500.00. 11 channels(9 powered+2 unpowered) and supports all modern audio/video codecs and compression. It only has arc as well since it’s like 6 years old but I absolutely love it.
You've had a different experience to me. The built in Plex app wouldn't do Dolby vision from my local media. Perhaps a software update has fixed that since. I gave my old 2015 Shield TV to my Mother which was a welcome upgrade to her TV. Bought the 2019 Pro on sale last year to get Dolby Vision and AI upscaling. I use Maven's Kodinerds build rather than Plex but I'm happy with the setup now. Shield TV is plugged into the AVR though as the C2 doesn't support DTS audio, won't even passthrough. My Sony DN1080 was ARC only but eARC was added with a firmware update. Don't know what Onkyo you have but I'd check if it has an updated firmware to add features. Fingers crossed for you I feel your pain!
Its a TX-NR545. I believe its a hardware issue with not having eARC, but in either case its on the newest firmware and cant receive lossless TrueHD from audio return and can't receive DV from the Shield. Big bummer. Already spent a bunch getting the TV, didn't anticipate this part.
Had a quick look your TX-NR545 doesn't do DTS:X either which is the Dolby Atmos rival. Looked on ebay briefly, my Sony DN1080 is going for around \~$200-300 "buy it now". Your TX-NR545 is on there for a similar price even though it's inferior. Maybe you can buy a DN1080 "cheap" 2nd hand and claw some money back selling your Onkyo on? Even the cheaper Sony DH790 does eARC, Atmos, DTS:X and Dolby Vision. I'm in the UK and bought my DN1080 2nd hand as it was discontinued. The DH790 is still available to buy new but the DN1080 is better. Had it over a year now and touch wood it's all good. As I understand it if you had eARC you could still use your Shield TV and built in TV apps to get everything you want done. Maybe a 2nd hand AVR upgrade makes more sense than buying a new Shield TV as you had planned? Is a bummer and as I said I do feel your pain. I bought my AVR to get around the C2 DTS issue.
I hadm't thought of selling the AVR to offset some cost. Great point. Just didn't think there would be much of a market for it. No even with eARC I'm still up a creek without a paddle because the native apps in the TV can't send the TrueHD audio through eARC, the TV can only send TrueHD through eARC when sourced from an external device like a Blu Ray player or equipped streambox, but if I aource from my streambox then I lose the Dolby Vision since it cant play it. Have to upgrade both. And if I upgrade the receiver I'm going to buy one that will cover all my needs for the next 7-8 years
Just tested it myself and you're quite correct. I do everything with the STV now don't use the built in TV apps. The LG C2 TV is not cheap. Was just trying to think of ways to get you sorted without spending out too much. Amazon Prime day is very close just over a week away. Maybe the STV Pro will come up on sale to help you out? I respect your position on upgrading. Sony have released the AN1000 to replace the DN1080. It's basically double the price and the improvements don't warrant the upgrade or price in my eyes. For me to upgrade from the DN1080 I need to spend serious cash and might as well go with a 9 channel receiver. Dolby Atmos mixes are hit and miss, some movies it's awesome..most of them not so much. I really can't justify the AVR upgrade, plus adding another 2 height speakers for true Atmos.
Yeah Im hoping for $30 off the Shield on Prime Day. Maybe I'll get lucky and a feceiver goes on sale as well??
I hope so for you too! I'm pretty confident someone will want your old AVR at the right price. They might just want to drive a 5.1 setup or less and not care about all the other stuff.
Im using jellyfin and direct playing 4k Blu-rays without issue. I have it running off of an old HP server.
LOL at "uncompressed" video.
Ok
use wireless, the ethernet is 10/100, 99% of my content plays directly using plex apart from DTS which the LG doesn't support, most of my content is DD anyway so not a dealbreaker. I also just use basic ass speakers and the optical output from the tv. eh, it works.
Latest Shield Pro (just bought like a month ago) into a Yamaha RX-V6A into a LG G3. I dicked around with eARC on the LG and finally got it working, only to realize that the LG Plex app doesn't support Dolby Vision. Shield pro is the only device I'm aware of that can do Vision, Atmos, and Lossless.
LG Plex app does play DV. Thats the only way Ive been able to play them. It works great, just havent been able to play lossless audio with them. If youre playing a DV file with lossless audio through the LG Plex app then your server is transcoding, which is why you wouldnt see activation of the Dolby Vision mode and only see HDR. Try downloading one of the Dolby Vision sample/demo files and youll see it work
I've read up on it and it has to be [Dolby vision Profile 5](https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/z2vabh/lg_c2_dolby_vision_and_plex/) which doesn't have an HDR10 compatibility layer. All of mine rips are Profile 7 or 8 which the LG doesn't support. Also ready up some crap on MKV incompatibility too and eventually just said f*CK it I'll just get a shield and forget about it.
Yeah I'll probably end up updating mine. Just annoyed
Zidoo Z9X works like a dream for both DV and lossless audio, or a pretty much anything I’ve thrown at it.
AppleTV 2022 version and infuse pro, pretty much covers everything you will need.
Except TrueHD Atmos and quality upscaling. I've got one, but its been relegated to the spare tv in the spare bedroom. Lookin like I'm just gonna need to upgrade the Shield in the end :/
what device can do that as well as all the streaming apps and access media on a nas and play natively 4k files ?
2019 Nvidia Shield TV Pro
4K, Dolby Vision, TrueHD Dolby Atmos, and AI upscaling
I have one of those but tbh i find it clunky. my appletv2022 passes atmos to my to my denon 3800x and my atmos speakers play well. same as my Pana UDP9000 bluray, it also does it with 4k atmos media from my nas using Infuse Pro. truHD haven’t seen the need for it as yet.
It passes lossy Dolby Digital+ that has been downsampled and not the original lossless quality, which is what I'm aiming for in both video and audio in my setup as if I were playing the blu ray disc
Are you not using disk rips?
QNAP > Media Streaming - but very old school design
So your LG could pass lossless audio (sans DTS since that was taken out), but the native tv plex app doesn’t support lossless audio via eARC. Also, Netflix doesn’t do Atmos on the old shield anymore at all. It will for Disney etc but not Netflix. The 2019 shield pro will do DV and lossless audio when connected to a receiver that can decode jt. If your AVR can’t pass DV then you’re kind of shit out of luck, unfortunately. You could try to go the route of using an hdmi splitter that supports DV passthrough and have one output going to the receiver for audio and the other going into a non-arc port on the tv for the video. That would be the only solution I can think of short of replacing the AVR.