[User 309201]

These will do what you want...all Gigabit Ethernet & AC WiFi equipped. You need Gigabit for trouble free high bitrate 4K HDR networked streaming.

(nod)

Just want to double-check a few things here....

Either an $105 DirecTV deal -

Something I didn't mention because I didn't realise it was relevant is that I'm in the UK, so I don't think DirecTV is an option.

Apple TV 4K running MrMC

That's a tad more expensive than I was hoping for, but I'll check it out. Is it 100% confirmed that it can decode DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD losslessly to multi-channel PCM?

The Apple TV 4K does not do auto resolution switching, and in reality it does not need it because it's 1080p > 4K picture upscaling is high quality. You leave it in 4K SDR and let it auto Frame Rate & Dynamic Range match.

I don't necessarily mind manually changing output resolution if it doesn't require too many button presses; but I doubt that its upscaling is as good as my Lumagen RadiancePro video processor, so the ability to output 1080p at native resolution is important.

(It makes life easier if one can get native 480p/576p output as well, but hardly any device seems to do that!)

take your pick from a Vero 4K+ running OSMC Krypton or a AML S912 running LibreELEC Kodi Krypton. (S912 - MINIX U9 preferred due to far superior chipset cooing). All should be used with Wireless remotes for a responsive setup.

The Vero 4K (I think) uses an S905X chipset; does the 4K+ use the same chip? If so, does it have to dither 10-bit colour to 8 bits for HDR (as mentioned in the "4K HDR State of Play" thread)?

And am I right that it can handle 16-bit audio but not 24-bit, and downsamples higher audio bit-rates to 48kHz?

What would you say are the relative merits of Vero4K+ running OSMC vs Minix U9 running LibreELEC (in playback terms)?

You should also have a read here...

4K HDR - State of Play thread (click)

...and follow the Frame Rate Matching & Dynamic Range matching link in that thread.

Noted

"Flawless" is a very exact word, and nothing is 100% perfect

That's rather depressing. Is decoding x264 and x265 video correctly really that complicated?

But the devices listed above are about the closest you will get to "set and forget", auto virtually everything, mixed SDR / 4K HDR setups with your particular audio requirements and great picture quality.

I don't necessarily need everything to be "set and forget", so long as there's *some* achievable combination of settings which produces correct output, and documentation somewhere which tells me what it is.

As I said, this isn't a high priority, but is there any prospect of any of these devices handling frame-packed 3D? If the answer is no, I can live with that but it might serve as a "tie-breaker" if there is.