Shield/miniclient vs HD-300 for off-site playback

[KryptoNyte]

I was never able to get an HD300 to connect remotely. Do you think this might now be possible with transcoding? I suppose there are better [newer] devices, but thought I'd ask.

Nice work by the way, Josh.

[wayner]

What are the recommended hardware devices (for TVs) for running the Android client? Anyone have a list of the pros and cons of the various options. I have a MiBox that I used to use for this but it occasionally had issues with MPEG-2 playback so I haven't used it in a while.

Is the FireTV 4K the way to go, unless you don't mind paying more for the Shield?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

What are the recommended hardware devices (for TVs) for running the Android client? Anyone have a list of the pros and cons of the various options. I have a MiBox that I used to use for this but it occasionally had issues with MPEG-2 playback so I haven't used it in a while.

Is the FireTV 4K the way to go, unless you don't mind paying more for the Shield?

Both my FireTV's seem to work mostly ok. Occassionally they choke and sputter and need to be exited. Hard to say if it's dreaded, wireless internet, or the app itself

[wayner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Both my FireTV's seem to work mostly ok. Occassionally they choke and sputter and need to be exited. Hard to say if it's dreaded, wireless internet, or the app itself

Are they both 4K Firesticks? Or is one or both of them the older non-4K model?

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by wayner

Is the FireTV 4K the way to go, unless you don't mind paying more for the Shield?

I have experience with the Amazon Firestick and Nvidea Shield devices - both older and newer versions..... (the original Firestick, the square FireTV, and now the 4k Firesticks, as well as a 2015 Nvidia Shield and 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro)

The "best" options is the 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro due to the AI-content aware upscaling. You can see a difference (especially text) when you A/B content, but it isn't "earth shattering" or a "must have" feature. If I had to walk into a room with a TV playing content from a 2019 Shield and tell someone if the AI scaling was turned on or not, I would not be able to do it and my answer would be a guess. All this to say that the difference that AI scaling makes is small, but it can make a difference.

The older Nvidia models don't have the AI upscaling and I see no point in getting one over the Firestick 4k device due to the higher cost.

Although I have the 2019 Shield Pro on my primary TV and use the AI-upscaling, I would not purchase more for my other TVs. They all have the 4k Firesticks and they are perfectly acceptable. I think the vast majority of people will be well served by the 4k Firestick devices. It is certainly fast enough to run the SageTV Mini Client well and costs a fraction of the Shield. Although the Shield can produce a slightly better result with the AI-upscaling, it isn't worth the $150 premium you have to pay to get it.

[hb4]

(OP) It sounds like folks are having success with the Firestick 4K - but I'm not. I am using the app from Amazon and 9.2.1 32 bit version of Sage. Recording with OpenDCT and a Prime. I'd be interested in the FS4K settings folks are using successfully.

I've tried a number of setting combinations....

• Amazon app: Fixed and neither ExoPlayer or IJK, the app hangs when trying to connect. Had to remote in and cycle the service.
  
• Exoplayer and any other combination the recording plays back with a black screen (just the timeline shows) for four seconds and then the entire screen becomes blank. Just recently, a waited a for awhile and the image slowly appeared, but audio is not synced.
  
• With IJK, the playback starts pretty quickly but the audio is still out of sync.

Perhaps I need to update to the latest Sage version? I started to, but was presented with the (transcoder?) options in the install screen and have no idea which flavors to choose, and whether it would make a difference for my ultimate hope that I can use the miniclient to have playback at a quality equal to what I see with Emby playing Sage recordings.