It's best to get CinemaHD from a filelinked store. Then you can get the ad free modded version. Otherwise, this site gives instructions how to install the original version.
Oh, I would still take the remote over having to use my phone or tablet with the Chromecast lol
I just tried it...and you are right, it does work! Very interesting...JayPatelRFD wrote: ↑ you dont need PikTV for it to work. I only have optik and i can sign in and access all my channels.
Smart Youtube TV app (or the still in beta replacement SmartTubeNext).
Elrondolio wrote: ↑ A couple things.
AI upscaling works really well, but is highly dependent on your source material. If you playback a low bitrate or poorly encoded file it'll only magnify the artifacts that are inherent in the source material as it upscales to 4K and this can look quite terrible. However, if your source material is encoded properly and at a high enough bitrate where you don't notice the artifacts without AI upscaling but it was encoded at 720 or 1080p then AI upscaling can look excellent upscaling it to 4K. The same goes for any streams you may play back from youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. If the source material isn't 4K then AI upscaling can make these streams look so much better at 4K, as long as it was a decent encode with decent bitrate to begin with, just at lower resolutions. One really needs to toggle AI upscaling off during playback of poorly encoded or low bitrate material, which is easy to do by holding the menu button durring playback to toggle it on/off. Its definitely hit or miss for some people, of course.
As for audio: if you are seeing "Direct" then your source device (ie: Shield, Firestick, etc) is decoding the media's audio stream and sending along uncompressed PCM channels already decoded to your pre-processor/receiver/soundbar for playback directly over HDMI or eARC (no ARC support). If you have a traditional 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup this is just fine and is actually a good setup as something like the Shield can decode the audio and video in a way to reduce judder in 23.976 material among other enhancements. The problem comes with Dolby Atmos or DTS:X sources that support object based sound instead of speaker or channel based sound. Previous uncompressed formats such as Dolby TrueHD (without Atmos) and DTS-HD MA support up to 8 channels only of sound with no effects channel support, etc. Dolby TrueHD with Atmos and DTS:X object based formats on the other hand can support up to 13.2 channels (and more) and where the sound comes from is spread all over your room via those multiple speakers, depending on where the sound engineer placed that sound object. This is in contrast to traditional TrueHD or DTS-HD MA where sound is sent to a specific speaker only.
When you have your source device decoding the sound instead of "bitstreaming" it to your pre-processor/receiver/soundbar that supports object based formats (TrueHD with Atmos, DTS:X, etc) then you are *losing* all that object based information and only addressing up to 8 channels of uncompressed sound (and thus seeing "Direct"). If your pre-processor/receiver/soundbar supports Dolby Atmos or DTS:X and you have the speakers setup to take advantage of that (or they're built-in to your soundbar, etc) then you absolutely do *not* want your Shield, Firestick, etc decoding your soundtrack to PCM "direct" channels but instead want to set those devices to "bitstream" or pass through the audio tracks to be processed by the pre-processor/receiver/soundbar itself - if they support that (the Shield does). This will allow you to get the full Atmos effects and, without doing so, these will get wiped out. The following is an example to help make it clearer.
In my home theatre I have five effects channel speakers: one mounted centered high near the ceiling over the projection screen, two mounted left and right in the ceiling in the front half of the room and two mounted left and right in the ceiling in the rear half of the room (between the front and second row of the seated positions). In addition to the effects channels, I have a traditional 9.2 setup of speakers near ear height (front left, center, front right, mid-room left and right, rear seated position left and right as well as rear back left and right in addition to 2 subwoofers). Add them all together and that makes my setup a 9.2.4 system (or 13.2 when written to describe amplified channels). If I were to have the Shield decode a TrueHD: Atmos movie and send along uncompressed PCM channels ("Direct"), I'd have sound *only* come from the ear height speakers and no sound come from the ceiling height effect speakers. When I have the Shield send the unmolested "bitstream" to my pre-processor, it decodes Dolby TrueHD with Atmos or DTS:X (or Auro-3D processed) soundtracks and sends each object based sound to speakers all across the room depending on where the sound engineer placed them... including the 4 or 5 effect channels in/near the ceiling. With the newly released DTS:X Pro one can setup a system with up to 32 speakers (!) and it'll work with all existing DTS:X encoded soundtracks. But again, if you were to allow your source device to decode your DTS:X soundtack (ie: "Direct" mode) then you lose all these channels outside of the standard 8 uncompressed that older TrueHD or DTS-HD MA supports.
Thankfully you don't need 13.2 or 32 channels or speakers to take advantage of TrueHD with Atmos or DTS:X. Thanks to what's called spatial remapping built in to your receiver's TrueHD Atmos or DTS:X decoder, even a more standard 5.1.2 setup can take advantage of those extra effect channels... but only if you allow your pre-processor/receiver/soundbar to decode the soundtrack, instead of your source device such as the Shield.
That was long winded, but hope that helps you understand what your system is doing and what you may want it to do instead, depending on your sound setup. Return your Shield for a Chromecast with Google TV only if you don't care about uncompressed audio or having the Shield set your TV's framerate to match the source material. Don't forget: the Chromecast with Google TV doesn't support *any* uncompressed audio formats and will downmix TrueHD: Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks to standard 5.1 compressed Dolby Digital, thus losing all the effect and other channels.
tl;dr: if you have a standard 2.1, 3.1, 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup you should allow your source device to decode and send PCM "direct" to your receiver/soundbar (Chromecast with Google TV cannot do this). If you have any effect speakers you should bitstream your soundtracks and have your receiver/soundbar that supports Atmos or DTS:X decode it instead. As well, if you have poorly encoded or low bitrate material, turn off AI upscaling on your Shield Pro, otherwise it can look really good with good source material.
just search on youtube tons of vids
Filelinked is an app you download on your android box. People create their own "stores" with apps that you can download. They arent really stores where you buy stuff, just an app database. That's what they call them tho. You find a code for the "store" enter it in the filelinked app and download/install whatever app you want. There are TONS of these stores. Best place to find a good code is on youtube. Just search best filelinked code. It's just a really simple way to get apps on your android box.
If that's all you need to do, and no way to do it directly on CC, maybe the best option would be to just grab some old router, change it's mac address and connect it btw. your router and CC... Works in many scenarios.
The Shield 2017 is able to convert TrueHD or DTS-HD MA to uncompressed PCM on the fly? Maybe it's taking the lossy core audio from both formats? Maybe the Shield 2019 can?Elrondolio wrote: ↑ As for audio: if you are seeing "Direct" then your source device (ie: Shield, Firestick, etc) is decoding the media's audio stream and sending along uncompressed PCM channels already decoded to your pre-processor/receiver/soundbar for playback directly over HDMI or eARC (no ARC support).
What can you cast with it? Browser screen?IbrahimY261 wrote: ↑ without it, you can only cast youtube videos from your phone to the tv,
cannot cast anything else
He said he was using Kodi so I answered with that in mind. Kodi on the Shield (2015, 2017 and 2019) will decode TrueHD and DTS-HD to 8 channel PCM if pass-through is disabled (the default). This is what I assume he is doing. Kodi uses FFMPEG to convert, it is not built in to the Shield and they indeed don't have the license. Plex will transcode as well if not bitstreaming (Direct Play). The result is what matters and that's PCM 7.1 if not bitstreaming (pass-through).audit13 wrote: ↑ The Shield 2017 is able to convert TrueHD or DTS-HD MA to uncompressed PCM on the fly? Maybe it's taking the lossy core audio from both formats? Maybe the Shield 2019 can?
To convert DTS-HD MA to uncompressed PCM requires a DTS license which I don't think the Shield possesses.
Here's how to bitstream DTS-HD MA and TrueHD to your receiver with Kodi: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/fo ... opicPage=5
Depending on the receiver, its display may show the bitrate and sampling frequency of the signal being received from the Shield and Fire TV.
What's the name of the one you bought? Probably other sellers have them...TFC2007 wrote: ↑ Just received this hub, $37.99 (no tax) from Amazon. Works perfectly, plugged in ethernet and a 1TB WD HD, used a Pixel 2 XL charger for power.
I think this is the cheapest hub on Amazon that works with the Chromecast with Google TV, definitely worth buying over Google's own ethernet adapter ($30 tax in).
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07YHJ ... UTF8&psc=1
Edit: the Amazon listing seems to have disappeared... Strange, I placed the order over the weekend, received today.
As an alternative, this one also works as well, but it's more money, $51.39 with coupon.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0836D ... UTF8&psc=1
that's why no more listing! I need to change MAC frequently tho.. Like once a week for certain reasons which I keep to myself
You are welcome. I too would definately wait to upgrade your receiver until they release with a minimum of 3 HDMI 2.1 ports (preferably all of them) and DTS:X Pro support.thesearchfordean wrote: ↑ Awesome response man, thank you! That really cleared up why it sounds the same. I compared scenes back to back and couldn't figure out why they sound the same. Can't wait to have a better setup when I move to a house from my condo, but for now, it looks like my 5.1 system wouldn't really benefit from the position-based sound. Also, gonna need to update this receiver when there's more HDMI 2.1 capable receivers on the market. For now, gotta figure out if I'll need to connect the XBOX Series X and PS5 directly to the TV and try to get the audio to the receiver with earc. I tried that with the Fire Stick 4K and it wouldn't play movies in Kodi with the lossless audio formats for some reason. Let's see what happens with the Chromecast; ordered one to try out.
Thanks. I have always passed TrueHD and DTS-HD MA to my receiver for decoding. I'll have to try having my Shield 2017 decode the signal to lpcm and look at the decoded signal's bit rate and sampling frequency.Elrondolio wrote: ↑ He said he was using Kodi so I answered with that in mind. Kodi on the Shield (2015, 2017 and 2019) will decode TrueHD and DTS-HD to 8 channel PCM if pass-through is disabled (the default). This is what I assume he is doing. Kodi uses FFMPEG to convert, it is not built in to the Shield and they indeed don't have the license. Plex will transcode as well if not bitstreaming (Direct Play). The result is what matters and that's PCM 7.1 if not bitstreaming (pass-through).
