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uomiarz · 2015-10-09, 05:00

Hello,

Can anybody confirms that latest firmware update will allow playback of multichannel FLACs?

Test files here (bottom of the page)
http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-download...files.aspx

thx

ideal2545 · 2015-10-10, 02:01

(2015-09-24, 07:04)Karnis Wrote: Got a Shield 16 GB today from Microcenter in Maryland. Running Kodi, Plex and VLC at 1080p 60 Hz, haven't messed with 24p yet. Probably won't for a while because I pretty much know what to expect from what I've read. :-)

Kodi runs great w/ Aeon MQ 5 skin. I have it tweaked really nice for a great set top box experience.

I knew about the DTS HD & True HD passthru issues beforehand, so I'm hoping that gets into a future release.

Not as impressed with the image quality however, compared to my Kodi Win 7 PC with a Geforce GT 720 card. Getting banding on my torture test clip, Breaking Bad S5 E7, "Say My Name", full quality MKV rip.

When they pull up in the desert and Walt says the tanks not coming, they are very subtle shades of blue in the background sky. The GT720 handles it perfectly, nice smooth gradients of blue.

On the Shield, same scene, noticeable banding. Used the Shield VLC player with same results. I'm hoping the Kodi player gets some tweaks to its decoding engine and improves image quality and it's not a HW issue...but that's 2 different players. Going to try the native player soon via USB thumb drive & compare.

Shame if Nvidia packs all this horsepower under the hood but it can't get picture quality of a $70 blu ray player.

Other quick impressions:

Netflix runs really smooth, very fast interface, same with You Tube.

Could've sworn VUDU was an available app....sucks it isn't. It's my go-to streaming HD quality app on my Roku & Blu Ray player.

Kodi played all my DTS CD rips, and no problem w/ web server remote control from my tablet.

Overall it's a cool box that seems to have an identity crisis: it's packed with lots of hardware but the GUI and settings menus seem dumbed down. I wouldn't mind a customizable interface and some more depth to the menus. It needs a little more geek to it.

Have you changed your opinion on this image quality issue that you're seeing compared to your Windows HTPC? I'm currently debating actually switching away from my Windows HTPC to this to get better integration with Hulu and Netflix, but I definetly don't want my image quality to suffer!

frenshprince · 2015-10-12, 01:14

That's a fact, PQ is not that great.
Don't know if it's an hardware issue or something else, bit it's significantly behind my htpc, my Dune Smart, my Popcorn A400, or my yamaha bluray Player.

It's a nice box, with a lot of' features.
But if you care a lot about picture and audio quality, it's better to forget about it.

drhill · 2015-10-12, 01:41

(2015-10-12, 01:14)frenshprince Wrote: That's a fact, PQ is not that great.
Don't know if it's an hardware issue or something else, bit it's significantly behind my htpc, my Dune Smart, my Popcorn A400, or my yamaha bluray Player.

It's a nice box, with a lot of' features.
But if you care a lot about picture and audio quality, it's better to forget about it.

What PQ issues are you having? Matches the my OpenElec Chromebox for me.

hdmkv · 2015-10-12, 02:18

Do we know status on HD audio support for Kodi w/Shield TV? I'm debating whether to keep Chromebox for my home theater or jump to Shield TV.

drhill · 2015-10-12, 02:21

Kodi 16 decodes TrueHD and DTSHD* to LPCM. The devs have basically said HD passthrough support will be ready "when it's done". The only real problem currently is VC-1 is broken in the 2.0 update in Kodi (as of last week, has it been fixed in the nightlies?) and Nvidia (or Google) introduced a bug where most video output has a bad color decode (washed out) that is said to have a fix this week.

jonsco2 · 2015-10-12, 13:24

Hi Guys, apologies if I'm being a little slow but can anyone help me with adding Android Apps as favourites? I'm running Kodi from the Play store and for the life of me I can't figure out how to add Netflix etc as favourites?

Thanks

futrader · (This post was last modified: 2015-10-12, 15:22 by futrader.)

(2015-10-12, 13:24)jonsco2 Wrote: Hi Guys, apologies if I'm being a little slow but can anyone help me with adding Android Apps as favourites? I'm running Kodi from the Play store and for the life of me I can't figure out how to add Netflix etc as favourites?

Thanks

In the Confluence skin select Programs---->Android Apps---->select the app you are looking for then press C or right click and select it as a favorite.

frenshprince · 2015-10-12, 15:37

(2015-10-12, 01:41)drhill Wrote:
(2015-10-12, 01:14)frenshprince Wrote: That's a fact, PQ is not that great.
Don't know if it's an hardware issue or something else, bit it's significantly behind my htpc, my Dune Smart, my Popcorn A400, or my yamaha bluray Player.

It's a nice box, with a lot of' features.
But if you care a lot about picture and audio quality, it's better to forget about it.

What PQ issues are you having? Matches the my OpenElec Chromebox for me.

Not really an issue
Just tha Nvidia Shield picture quality is not as good a my other players Smile

drhill · 2015-10-12, 15:40

In what way?

frenshprince · 2015-10-12, 15:56

(2015-10-12, 15:40)drhill Wrote: In what way?

Especially about clearness and fluidity.
I work on mastering video for 15 years, so my eyes are kinda astute Big Grin

I don't say that PQ is bad; but not reproduce the quality source as is should.

JonnyVee · (This post was last modified: 2015-10-13, 01:12 by JonnyVee.)

(2015-10-12, 15:56)frenshprince Wrote:
(2015-10-12, 15:40)drhill Wrote: In what way?
Especially about clearness and fluidity.
I work on mastering video for 15 years, so my eyes are kinda astute

I don't say that PQ is bad; but not reproduce the quality source as is should.

I'd agree ... I just purchased a Shield to replace my Zotac Zbox BI320, which was running Kodi DSPlayer/MadVR (running light settings in MadVr - it's only a Celeron 2957u after all) in Windows 10. The DSplayer picture is nicer, but the Shield is not to far behind. At the end if the day, my wife hated using Netflix and Hulu via a HTPC in our family room/main viewing room and the Shield offers a WAF that the HTPC could not.

I also have a HTPC in our Home Theatre rec room. That HTPC has an i7 4770 and a GTX 970. MadVR settings are maxed out and picture is gorgeous on a big screen.

So yeah, i would say the Shield's pic is not the same as either of my HTPCs that use Kodi DSplayer and MadVR. However, the picture quality between HTPCs can very greatly as well as my GTX 970 HTPC exceeds the Zotac.

Hiphopopotamus · 2015-10-13, 16:23

Update 2.1 is now available

Release notes: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic...10-13-15-/

Plus more enhancements:
Improves HDMI black levels and HDMI compatibility

ewitte · 2015-10-13, 18:04

This is awesome one of the bigger issues that caused me to jump ship on WMC was the complete lack of support, updates, etc.

PQ has looked better for me but I was running Intel HD 4600 graphics.

dafresh · 2015-10-13, 18:10

Can someone retest picture quality with 2.1 ?
Regarding a post in nvidia`s changelog thread, there is allways a conversation from
original picture to Full RGB and again to the outputformat RGB limited or YCBCR limited.

Well, seen this in on Intel NUC and Raspberry Pi before and allways results in banding :-|
I have a little hope, the shield provides better results, equal to my WDTV Live to replace it.