there is no perfect streaming box
If you want to play high quality movies in your home theater, you basically have 3 options. All of them have some drawbacks :/
| Shield Pro 2019 | Apple TV 4k 3rd gen | HTPC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dolby Vision | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| TrueHD Atmos | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| .ass subtitles | ❌* | ✅ | ✅ |
| Smooth UX | ❌** | ✅ | ❔*** |
*) Only matters if you watch anime (regular movies & tv shows don't use .ass subs.) Software issue, not hardware issue. ExoPlayer (default video player Android uses) doesn't support .ass subs and looks like no support is coming. There are some apps which support .ass subtitles (Vimu, VLC, Kodi) but they all have some problems in my opinion.
**) You can use custom launcher which helps a lot. But generally I don't find the UX as smooth as it should be for a 200€ streaming box.
***) Haven't researched since I'm not considering this for the lack of Dolby Vision support.
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