I’ve been very disappointed with my Chromecast Ultra primarily because the bulk of my library downloads are “unsupported file format”. Connectivity sux also. I’m looking at an Nvidia Shield or METOO device. Can ANYONE tell me if these devices do a better job of playing files (ie: MKV’s etc)? I’m constantly forced to stream direct to my LG TV because ironically it supports EVERYTHING.
I don’t really care about gaming, I have consoles for that.I do want the speed of a hardwired ethernet and 4k processing speed. Streaming is the main thing, and FILE playback from my NAS.
Welcome. Yep, I never cared much for Chromecast, mostly for me its the google connection but yes A mecool box will be a world apart for streaming. Many others as well. Mecools are well built. Others will chime in with suggestions and we will see where it leads.
They have really caused tons of problems with my 17 and shield 19. Even with HOTFIX 3, Still unable to use any network storage. Hope it’s fixed soon. I loved the Shield
just spoke to their pre-sale tech - they insist all these issues have been addressed. No way of confirming this of course.
From the hundreds of reviews on AMZN it seems the recent addition of ads to the homescreen really killed this. I would also hate that…I’m very ad-averse.
So what…Roku Ultra? MeCool? Anyone tried the Zidoo devices ($$$ media players, but I don’t think you can cast to them???).
I have a Synology NAS I use to cast my library. Not interested in devices that won’t recognize my network storage (like my XBOX…grrr) and allow me to cast all the file formats I have there.
Seriously, looking for recommendations - all input very much appreciated!
The same file played from my Synology NAS using DS-Video…when cast to my LG TV works perfectly, but when cast to Chromecast Ultra it says “unable to play file not supported”.
So the “player” is fine, its the device being cast to (decoder?). Unless Google is simply not providing the Codec for that file type/format…
Similar behavior using VLC or AllCast.
Unfortunately these are the only two “Decoders” I have to test with.
It most likely means your devices doesn’t have the hardware decoders to play that selected file, when choosing a android box read the hardware specs it will tell you what it supports.
Well I definitely should NOT have assumed Google would make a product that supported the most widely used file formats out there. MKV’s are everywhere, but very few of them will play. What’s weird is some do , some don’t, and I don’t have the tools or expertise required to pick apart the files to diagnose the disparity. So looking at the Nvidia Shield now, it basically contains a “Chromecast 4k”, and while they list basically the same list of file formats that the Chromecast Ultra did a few years ago, can I assume they’ve made any improvements in this area? I figured this was just their way of fighting back at Apple (I believe MKV is most prevalent on iOS right?).
The Roku Ultra lists these:
H.264/AVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); H.265/HEVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); VP9.2 (.MKV); AV1 (.MP4, .MKV)
The Shield lists as “Container support” (does that mean only PLEX server supports it? OR does this imply Casting decoding as well?):
Format/Container support: Xvid/ DivX/ASF/AVI/MKV/MOV/M2TS/MPEG-TS/MP4/WEB-M
If the device supports containers files like mkv then you need a player that can play it, just player plays them.
The hardware and software beed to go hand in hand, it’s not one without the other. Your issue is hardware doesn’t support the file, and if it does you need the player to play it.
So while Roku distinguishes between H.264 and H.265, Nvidia does not.
However PLEX will convert 265 to 264 allowing playback, allegedly, but that doesn’t tell me if casting to it would do the same.
From an undated article (hate when they do that…) “Chromecast Ultra doesn’t support decoding H.265 codec yet.” So this would seem to require an HEVC decoder to re-encode H.265 to H.264 in advance of casting. Unless the newer Chromecast 4k supports 265 natively…
It seems the only way to really know is to buy and test…was hoping someone here had some experience and could save me the expense…lol.
So it sounds as if I’d be out of luck trying to cast from my Synology NAS…? As you point out difficulty with network storage…
I wouldn’t necessarily need to use PLEX to server content from my NAS, I wuold be fine with just being able to cast from my NAS to the Shield as I do today with my CC Ultra.
