[selfcontained]

The Shield probably is better at single-threaded Python processing than most SoCs but nothing beats an x86. To be clear - playing video will be perfect, but scrolling through a large library can be slower. Heavy skins can bog it down too. Everything works - GUI nav can take a second or two longer. I'm completely used to it now but navigation was much snappier on my x86/NVIDIA box.

DV Profile 5 doesn't have an HDR fallback so you'd have to view 4K/SDR streams without a DV-capable player or TV (or both.) Or, most TVs have resolution up-scaling for 1080p or lesser resolution streams. x86/LibreELEC or Shield/Kodi can up-scale too, but the TV will do a better job.

[Spall]

Again, thanks for all the info.

It sounds like you're saying the Shield would be snappier than one of the A55 boxes mentioned earlier. Skin-wise, I just used the default Kodi skin. I used to get all crazy with it, but then I realized I'm there to watch movies and not hang out in the GUI. haha

Have you ever mucked around with Kodi's advancedsettings.xml on the Shield? I have several Kodi boxes in the house, so I point everything at a MySQL instance instead of maintaining local libraries. I assume it's possible to get to it _somehow_.

I just need to really solidify now if I'm just sticking with my current NUC and losing out on DV (but gaining HDR depending on file), keeping the Shield I picked up, trying one of those A55 boxes w/CoreELEC, or even switching off Kodi and just using something like Plex/Emby. That last option doesn't thrill me and I haven't dove into that research.

[selfcontained]

I suspect the Shield would navigate through a large content list faster than most other SoC-based hardware (not sure about AMLogic S922x, could be faster). The single-thread speed for your NUC is between 375 and 407 https://browser.geekbench.com/search?q=Celeron+J4025 vs. the Shield's 301-314 https://browser.geekbench.com/search?utf...+shield+tv I'd look at your A55/CoreELEC device's single-thread speed to give you an idea of how it'd compare.

I've not messed around with advancedsettings but I did install this https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=362847 but I don't know if I first need to make my own xml file and put it in an approved Android location (sorry don't know much about it.)

Find out what chip you have on your NUC and see if it can actually play HDR10 (I think yours is, what used to be called a Gemini Lake, era chip and I thought those could do HDR10 - you'll need to dig into that.) If it can, then the real decision you need to make is whether you'd be satisfied with HDR10 rather than DV HDR 8.1 or 5. If your A55/CoreELEC boxes can do HDR10 than at least you'd have a common HDR level for acquiring content.

[Spall]

Good advice. Apparently it does not support HDR. One user reported it doesn't here on these forums, and I found a overview on nucblog that had a couple snippets:

1) The only letdown here is that Intel will not support HDR on Gemini Lake NUCs. You will need to get at least an i3 NUC in order to play HDR videos in Windows 10
2) (in context of LibreELEC):  However, don’t expect any HDR capabilities yet (it hasn’t been confirmed whether this device is HDR capable even!)

I suppose it's possible that has changed on the Linux side of things, both of those were from 2018.

I don't mind actually replacing the hardware as I have another use for the NUC if it freed up, but I wasn't chomping at the bit to do it. I suppose if I have to replace to even get HDR10, I might as well get something that can handle DV, too.

Which I guess takes me back to the Shield or one of those Amlogic based boards with CoreELEC.

[selfcontained]

Right - seems like all roads lead to Shield. Well not really, as you mentioned, some of the AMLogic boxes with DV-certified Android on the eMMC can work with CoreELEC https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/homatic...plus/19596 but my thinking is that since I have to use an Android box, I might as well just stick with the Shield. But for "robust" (such as it is at this state) Dolby Vision, your options are (currently) pretty limited.

[Spall]

Well.. is what it is     Once my new TV arrives, maybe I'll try both. I have the Shield Pro sitting here in box still. I could easily order the Dune or similar from Amazon and return one if it doesn't quite fit the bill. But yeah, sounds like that's where I'm at.

Thanks!

[noggin]

Out of curiosity, if profile 5 is on the streaming services, and doesn't have an HDR10 base layer: what do people do without DV capable sets?

The streaming providers only send a Profile 5 stream to players that request that DV stream (and are thus DV compatible)

The streaming providers also have HDR10, SDR etc. encodes that that non-DV, and non-HDR players can request instead, as well as HD encodes for non-UHD players, h.264 streams for those that can't accept h.265, or h.265 for those that can't cope with AV1 etc. etc.

Unlike broadcast or physical media where one source has to satisfy everyone, streaming providers can host multiple versions of the same content and send the one most relevant to the device requesting it (and indeed also do that as a matter of course for different resolutions and bitrates within a given format - as HLS and DASH both support dynamic bitrate adjustment - so rather than buffering your content will drop to a lower resolution if your IP bandwidth is reduced)

[Spall]

This makes a lot of sense. Thanks