Looking for comments / experience of users who run Apple TV, and you use Channels DVR app for local media playback, and/or Infuse Pro (or Plex or Emby i suppose) to play back local media files.
By "local media files", i mean, any single .mp4/.mkv etc media file that is not a CDVR recording. This maybe a movie or tv show rips, music video, videos ripped from YouTube or whatever. Basically, anything one would use a home media server like Plex/Emby etc for.
More specific context to my use case.
I surf my YouTube subscriptions every day, and download what i want to watch to a .mkv file.
I put that file on network shared folder on my media server.
I then use Infuse Pro on my Apple TV to navigate that folder and play the videos.
I also have TV shows/movies Libraries on a Plex server and browse and watch them via Infuse.
I recently started messing around with using Channels app to play the random videos i watch, just to see how it compares to Infuse Pro (one of the best players for Apple TV).
I am mainly concerned with video quality and player functionality.
Infuse Pro can play anything pretty much, directly, no transcoding needed.
It has very good "media server" connection type way to interact with the app.
You can connect it to Plex, Emby, etc, or even a direct SMB network share, no media server needed.
It has a clean and neat UI with easy to set Favorite icons to once click open your content Libraries or media folders.
Infuse also has many up front settings during playback, including adjust picture zoom or aspect ratio, and chapter controls(jump to certain chapter or time code).
The seek bar is also very slim and inobtrusive.
Picture and audio quality is superb and I have been told on their forms, they use their own custom built backend player.
Channels DVR app, in my brief testing with the same media files. Performs well.
However, it lacks in a few areas.
Channels, i have noticed is missing the more advanced settings visibility as Infuse has with its drop down menu during playback. (Picture zoom, aspect ratio, and Chapter controls)
There are some other "issues" i have noticed in comparison.
Audio is much much lower volume in Channels than in Infuse.
I notice micro stutters ever maybe 10,15 secs(not certain) in 4K 24p content.
I have the issue of excessive screen backlight flicker/flashing with my Samsung TV, if Channels deinterlacer setting is set to Hardware. No such flickering issues when changed to Linear(60fps).
(made a thread on the flickering while back and mentioned Infuse app as well)
The good things i noticed with Channels app that is better than Infuse Pro.
Much faster starting of playback and seeking/scrubbing of even large 4K files.
Picture quality, when deinterlacer is set to Hardware, is crisper and a tad sharper. (but has the flickering i mentioned before)
Channels does feel, overall, more responsive and zippy.
I do not know, (perhaps the devs will care to comment on this point), if there are any raw differences in the backend player Channels uses vs Infuse Pro. If one is technically superior or more refined/optimized than the other.
Channels DVR UI is very different than Infuse, a bit more clunky, imo, (and also very Purple) than Infuse. (for this specific context of local media library)
But, I know that Channels DVR is first and foremost a Home DVR solution, and a "local home media library" is a much more recent add-in feature that is secondary to the main purpose and design of the app.
I would be nice if Channels had a way to "connect" to a Plex/Emby/etc media server, and populate its "Library" from that source, alike to how Infuse can. That would make Channels alot easier to be used as a frontend UI interface and player for ones existing home media library. Again, like Infuse can be used.
Though, i can see why the devs would want to keep things more focused on their own app and server ecosystem. Having to add in and manage connections to other "competitor" products, is alot to manage. (Infuse also has had alot of issues and bugs with this aspect)
If anyone else has any insight or comments into playing local media files in Channels vs Infuse, feel free to share your experience.