Impressions after a couple days

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Heavy Amazon Fire stick user here who just dumped Fios TV for Youtube TV. I use Hulu, Prime, HBO GO as well. Here are my impressions after an easy setup and a few hours of use:

• Not having Apple TV Plus hurts....Amazon has it
• Not integrating Youtube TV is a miss...nice that you can still get the app and play but no advantage over Amazon
• No ability to control the volume on my AV receiver a miss...compared to Amazon
• I like the list of my app which shows me recommended shows for each. HBO Go is a great example. Same with Hulu.
• Not sure i love the live guide even if it had Youtube TV integrated. Don't love the layout
• Agree that it is very snappy
• Not sure what an app like ESPN will help if you are streaming tv...It wouldn't let me login from YouTube TV account, only cable companies
• TIVO really needs to heavily integrate live streaming services and based on my viewing, show suggested shows in the favorite app list.
• I like the Pandora type music apps which show my recently played stations but the volume control makes this a slight miss once again.
• No Amazon Music app is a miss

 

I think there's a clue in YouTube viewing that the OP mentions. At least the TS4K has the required hardware for YouTube HDR. The ATV4K does not, likely won't ever support a unique Google requirement.

I have Roku Ultra, Fire TV 4K Stick and Apple TV 4K connected to my TV. When it comes to YouTube app, no contest; Roku Ultra with the required hardware AND framerate matching beats the others by a good margin where HDR and framerate are critical. TV could be another factor; my TV doesn't handle all framerates fixed at 60p by streamers. It's a janky mess with motion and I'm sensitive to it.

I'm not a fan of forced HDR. Not everyone cares or mentions settings. Where the ATV4K allows users to opt out of forced HDR or DV, who knows how someone sets theirs up when saying it's garbage or bested by supported hardware with forced HDR in YouTube app viewing? But no doubt in my mind, if talking actual HDR or framerate matching in YouTube app, there are better devices than the ATV4K for YouTube app viewing where those features aren't supported by it. I'll use my ATV4K for music but even music videos can get annoying with motion. I prefer the Roku Ultra for that.

I'd likely say the Roku Ultra bests the TS4K unless the TiVo can be setup to auto match the framerate; that's my opinion. Much like the Fire TV 4K devices with framerate matching that doesn't work outside of Amazon apps, I just don't want to buy another device that is limited on native mode capabilities, forcing dynamic range and fixed 60 fps. I'd prefer full native to content streamed and all the necessary hardware and codecs. When it comes to native TV broadcasts, I'd actually prefer native resolution and let the TV upscale and convert it all to native panel mode.

With so many abandoning cable and satellite where there were native mode boxes, I'd think that streamer makers would think video and audiophiles want these features and would buy! I'm wondering when support for HDMI 2.1, eARC, and YouTube 8K comes in a streamer! Likely time to upgrade TV with those features but framerate matching may be a must have too. I won't settle for forced video modes spending that much!

I don't know that leaves me looking at? Roku TV, Android or Google TV built-in? The upcoming Google Chromecast 2? What streamer will meet that need? This wasn't it.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

 

How is pause/play different than the center of the d-pad? In what apps does this make a difference?

 

After mapping the TiVo button on the remote to Reelgood and using it as my main app, I’m starting to like the device. CEC control is my main complaint right now.

 

Because why would I, as someone who has some interest in the device but has not yet purchased, buy the device in its current alpha development shape?

 

This is just a 50 buck SEI Robotics e4k streamer sei-400.

 

Here is a picture of the AirTV Mini remote:
https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/08/airtvminiremote-100809183-orig.jpg

It has dedicated buttons (that the TiVo Stream 4k doesn't have) for:
- Play/pause
- Rewind
- Fast forward
- Voice Typing (in addition to Google Assistant) -- does the Pro version of Button Mapper work if you remap one of the TiVo Stream 4k buttons to that?
- Recall -- apparently that lets you switch between the last shows you were watching within the Sling app

I tried remapping 1,2,and 3 to Rewind, Play/Pause, and Fast Forward. Play/pause seems to work, but I'm not seeing apps that are responding to rewind/ff.

 

Let us know if you get this connected to the hub.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

after using SLingTV on a firestick and then on this device I think the picture is improved. WHat I mean is the firestick would take about 60 seconds or so to give a sharp picture. There always seemed to be a delay. You would get a picture but it would sharpen over the next minute or so. This unit seems to be instantaneous. I have also used HuluTV on a firestick and it seemed to have a clear picture instantaneously as well. I dont notice this so much on my smaller TV's but I do at 65" (its not 4k set though just 1080p)

 

The AirTv 4K Mini is better than this in every way. Even the remote is better! The remote feels substantial in your hands and has the play ff/rw buttons. Perfect for Kodi

 

Does the AirTv 4K Mini also have forced HDR?

If so then I guess there is no hope for the Stream 4K, and I might as well return them.

 

It does have it enabled, it senses my Samsung UHD set correctly, but I disable it since most stuff I watch is not HDR and looks crappy with hdr set to ON.

Also as I mentioned before, with KODI, the Tivo Stick does not allow the built in hardware decoder for MPEG2, the Air TV does. With the Air TV Mini, my 480i or 480p SD stuff looks almost as good as coming from a HTPC with a Radeon Card in it. Simply amazing!

 

I have not tried out any MPEG2 content. Anything I have would be 720P, 1080i, or 1080P.

Although I take that back. I did play back some test videos and I know some of them were using MPEG2. I did not have any problems playing them back with the VLC player. I'll need to look closer at them this weekend to see what was going on.

 

I don't have any problems with playing mpeg2 from the HD Homerun Quattro in the HD Homerun app or Plex and Emby. They all direct play just fine