I've used an Nvidia Shield or Amazon Fire TV 4k for my local streaming Using Kodi. Streaming 4k movies with HD sound, personal videos in 4k (some in hdr) locally. Would love to do the same from Google drive (there is a Kodi plugin, I use it, but it's not perfect), as well as all the standard streaming apps - YouTube with 4k hdr, Apple TV+ etc.
Here is what I've noticed...
Hardware:
Shield - does many things right, Ethernet connection, but no hdr on YouTube, no Apple TV+, sluggish
Fire TV 4k - does most things ok as well, pretty fast wifi, YouTube 4k doesn't work perfectly, no frame rate switching, no HD audio passthrough, lately having issues that need rebooting almost daily
Chromecast with Google tv - doesn't see my tv through my receiver, doesn't pass Dolby or DTS audio back through arc when directly connected to my lg OLED, known issue with hdr not really working on my setup, doesn't pass HD audio through, can't change framerate, otherwise nice interface, speedy, so I gave it to my mom
Software:
Kodi - good enough for local streaming, Google drive stutters and buffers a fair bit on many Larger files, regardless of connection speed and type, ugly interface
Plex - hard to do Google drive as you get the 24 hour ban whenever you try to add stuff from Google drive mounted locally, plus lag/bandwidth issues
Anybody know of any better options? Apple TV? Other software solutions?
Here is what I've noticed...
Hardware:
Shield - does many things right, Ethernet connection, but no hdr on YouTube, no Apple TV+, sluggish
Fire TV 4k - does most things ok as well, pretty fast wifi, YouTube 4k doesn't work perfectly, no frame rate switching, no HD audio passthrough, lately having issues that need rebooting almost daily
Chromecast with Google tv - doesn't see my tv through my receiver, doesn't pass Dolby or DTS audio back through arc when directly connected to my lg OLED, known issue with hdr not really working on my setup, doesn't pass HD audio through, can't change framerate, otherwise nice interface, speedy, so I gave it to my mom
Software:
Kodi - good enough for local streaming, Google drive stutters and buffers a fair bit on many Larger files, regardless of connection speed and type, ugly interface
Plex - hard to do Google drive as you get the 24 hour ban whenever you try to add stuff from Google drive mounted locally, plus lag/bandwidth issues
Anybody know of any better options? Apple TV? Other software solutions?