Moving From Nvidia Shield to Apple TV 2022 Model

[racameron]

@Akila

I got the ATV4K 2nd Gen and been using it for almost a year by now. and I personally regret buying it.
it might be a great device if you stream movies from streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. but it is almost useless if you try streaming your own media. for example, I stream Using Kodi

There is no official or supported way to install Kodi onto an Apple TV. The closest approximation is the MrMC app, which is a forked version of Kodi that does not fully support all of Kodi's features. If your primary use-case is Kodi, why on Earth would you choose Apple TV; your best option is a small PC running Linux or any of the JEOS projects custom-built for Kodi.

(Until I switched to Channels, that is exactly what I did ... small HTPC with IR input running Kodi with media served from Tvheadend and a NAS, and shared media libraries with a local database server.)

@Akila

you can't Install a VPN client on the ATV, hence you can't fool Netflix and other streaming services on your region to get better content library.

If your media streaming is based upon illegal rights circumvention, then of course Apple is not the platform to consider.

@Akila

it doesn't support Dolby Ture-HD let alone Dolby Atmos on Kodi or external Media, it will always decode it as 5.1 only. playback.

The Apple TV does not support True-HD, and never has. Other "atmospheric", 7.1, or 5.2.1 content is supported, even Dolby Atmos. (But not True-HD content encoded as Dolby Atmos.) And support for pass through audio content has more to do with app itself—Kodi—than the platform.

@Akila

Apple pretty much jails you with their TVoS.
if you thinking of getting ATV and you planning also to stream external media and/or Kodi and you have a good sound system setup at your listening area, I would highly suggest staying away from Apple TV. having said that, if you planning on streaming only from traditionally streaming services, then it's a great device

Yes, Apple has always had a closed ecosystem. However, I have no problems with external media support from other apps; Plex and Channels do a great job of delivering my saved content to devices both in-home and remotely, to both Android and Apple clients.

Also, the UX for streaming services in Apple devices always seems to be FAR superior on Apple than Android.

However, if the bar that must be met is whether you can full system access to the device itself—system access and user "freedom" (however you wish to define the word, including making illicit activities easier)—then you are better served with an Android device you can hack.

[ChannelMan99]

@Akila

6. you can't Install a VPN client on the ATV, hence you can't fool Netflix and other streaming services on your region to get better content library.

You can always install the VPN on your router if the router will support it.

[Akila]

@ racameron, Everything you are saying is correct, but it doesn't change or contradict my point/message I am trying to relay/point out.

My point is/was very simple: if your use case is media streaming only through traditional streaming services out of the box, then ATV will do great.
However, if you are planning using other streaming methods in addition to the traditional streaming services, such as Kodi, ATV is not a good choice for you due to it's heavy limitations and customizations you would have to do to gain some of the audio/video support. hence, I would stay away from Apple device in those use cases.and your best bet would be "Nvidia Shield" as it has the most versatile audio/video support out of all streamer devices up to today.

@ ChannelMan99, yes that is an option, but it's another device/capability you need to have a dependency on.
Also it is important to note that most routers that do support VPN , support only OpenVPN and/or VPN providers support only OpenVPN for routers. OpenVPN is very slow compared to IKEA or Wireguard and requires a lot of processing power from your router to get reasonable speeds. so you won't get much VPN streaming speed, unless you opt to a much more powerful and expensive router and that adds more to your overall costs which makes ATV not so worthwhile, financially.

[crogs]

It's funny when people complain about not being able to get the best performance out of watching their pirated content. Que the tiny violins...

[ChannelMan99]

You should give Kodi a try- you will quickly be glad to pay for content-
Kodi for illegal use is a real science project. It's not for the casual user.
Kodi can be used for legal purposes, and I'm sure a lot of people use it that way, but where it is frequently used is for less than legal purposes.

[Fofer]

Infuse on the AppleTV plays everything I used to use side-loaded Kodi and MrMC for. It's in the App Store too.

Infuse 7 - An Elegant Video Player

[ChannelMan99]

Thank you- I will take a look.
Edit- Apparently I have had the app before- The app store shows that I have had it installed before- likely on a Apple TV years ago.
I seem to remember that it worked a lot better with Infuse to stream movies off my Diskstation. I don't have many movies, but I like to keep the Christmas classic for the kids in easy access.

[Fofer]

It’s worth mentioning that the AppleTV also supports “Home Sharing” vía software on a Mac or PC, no extra software required.

Use Home Sharing to share media from a computer to other devices

But it supports far fewer file types than Infuse, MrMC and the like do.

I often streamed my own downloaded movies this way before I discovered the more versatile and beautifully integrated solution that is Channels DVR.