Hell guys and girls
I've been backing up my movies for 20+ years. From backing up onto blu ray discs to storing movies onto NAS drives using makeMKV, which I love and KODI to play the mkv file. I'm very particular in trying to keep the best picture and sound quality as if you're playing it from a disc and will be upgrading to 4k very soon.
This got my thinking.... What do you consider to be the best program to play the mkv files so there's no loss in quality?
Do most players play the file without any loss in quality?
Is Kodi a good choice?
Whats your go to player
obviously TV/projector makes a difference, i'm just trying gauge if there's any benefit in changing program?
FYI im using kodi on a Nvidia shield TV pro
What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
Re: What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
First, blu-ray menu support is hit or miss per title.
Coreelec is a small Linux distro aimed at running Kodi specifically, although it runs other things, but not officially... not really.
Ugoos AM6B+ is the only device than can decode Dolby Vision Full Enhancement Layer (FEL) and the old VC-1 (a.k.a WM9), however it can't run android streaming apps like Hulu, Netflix, etc.
Homatics Box R 4K Plus does Hulu, Netflix, etc. and can utilize DV FEL, however does not decode VC-1.
Both of the above currently require using Coreelec to utilize the DV FEL layer.
Any other player besides the above 2 will probably not decode DV FEL and maybe not decode VC-1, but they will run streaming apps like Hulu, Netflix.
Running UHD in a loseless manner requires about 30MB/s to safely buffer, so you'll need at least a 1gbs ethernet/RJ-45 connection or fast and clean WiFi 5ac or better.
The shield pro is O.K. if you don't care about DV FEL, but I'm guessing you've noticed the sticking frame issue and red shift. Other players, even the above mentioned, will sadly stutter from time to time with UHD lossless. That's not great to hear, but at least it isn't seemingly guaranteed like it is on the shield (I've had 2 of them).
If it helps your decision, as of right now no Amazon, Google or Hulu device will reliably playback high bitrate lossless UHD.
Coreelec is a small Linux distro aimed at running Kodi specifically, although it runs other things, but not officially... not really.
Ugoos AM6B+ is the only device than can decode Dolby Vision Full Enhancement Layer (FEL) and the old VC-1 (a.k.a WM9), however it can't run android streaming apps like Hulu, Netflix, etc.
Homatics Box R 4K Plus does Hulu, Netflix, etc. and can utilize DV FEL, however does not decode VC-1.
Both of the above currently require using Coreelec to utilize the DV FEL layer.
Any other player besides the above 2 will probably not decode DV FEL and maybe not decode VC-1, but they will run streaming apps like Hulu, Netflix.
Running UHD in a loseless manner requires about 30MB/s to safely buffer, so you'll need at least a 1gbs ethernet/RJ-45 connection or fast and clean WiFi 5ac or better.
The shield pro is O.K. if you don't care about DV FEL, but I'm guessing you've noticed the sticking frame issue and red shift. Other players, even the above mentioned, will sadly stutter from time to time with UHD lossless. That's not great to hear, but at least it isn't seemingly guaranteed like it is on the shield (I've had 2 of them).
If it helps your decision, as of right now no Amazon, Google or Hulu device will reliably playback high bitrate lossless UHD.
Re: What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
Thanks for reply
I'm not fussed about menu's its just mkv files of the movie.
I do run Cat6 to the Nvidia box.
I've never played a 4k movie, so have no prior opinion on it running on kodi or Nvidia.
A couple of questions on the back of this new information regarding Ugoos AM6B+.
Because it's android, i'm assuming i can run kodi on it or does it have its own built in player to support DV FEL?
Is kodi a good enough app if on the correct player?
I'm not fussed about menu's its just mkv files of the movie.
I do run Cat6 to the Nvidia box.
I've never played a 4k movie, so have no prior opinion on it running on kodi or Nvidia.
A couple of questions on the back of this new information regarding Ugoos AM6B+.
Because it's android, i'm assuming i can run kodi on it or does it have its own built in player to support DV FEL?
Is kodi a good enough app if on the correct player?
Re: What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
As flojo mentioned, you need to install CoreELEC to get that functionality. https://coreelec.org
Re: What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
Yes, but only Coreelec supports DV FEL, however Kodi can downgrade the DV layer to P8 and use just about any device... but this isn't "lossless".
To be clear, Coreelec == dedicated Kodi. That is, you flash a Coreelec image to a USB stick, copy 2 files to it, then boot from that USB stick. It automatically boots to Kodi but it does not have access to the things you see without the USB stick plugged in... it's its own thing.
If you don't mind having 2 devices, then the absolute definitive answer for you is to buy the Ugoos AM6B+ for lossless 4K UHD and keep the Shield for streaming apps like Netflix. If you didn't have the Shield, I'd suggest a used 1st/2nd gen Amazon 4K Firestick... streaming apps can use the cheapest devices and the Firestick has the best hardware at the cheapest price and still is supported.
Re: What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
This is off topic, but if you can't get DV FEL, don't worry at all.
I run Coreelec so I do see the FEL difference on all 4K UHD rips and that difference isn't frequently noticeable as you need that balance of white to black to create the strong emphasis, which really doesn't happen often, so you might not notice the difference between FEL and non-FEL very often.
A lot of internet articles do or used to mention how great it is, but IMO it just isn't to die for. Yes, you need some sort of HDR, no doubt, no contest, but DV FEL on current TV's with nit <= 1000 just isn't that different from non-FEL.
I run Coreelec so I do see the FEL difference on all 4K UHD rips and that difference isn't frequently noticeable as you need that balance of white to black to create the strong emphasis, which really doesn't happen often, so you might not notice the difference between FEL and non-FEL very often.
A lot of internet articles do or used to mention how great it is, but IMO it just isn't to die for. Yes, you need some sort of HDR, no doubt, no contest, but DV FEL on current TV's with nit <= 1000 just isn't that different from non-FEL.
Re: What's your opinion on the best player for blu ray & 4k mkv's
Who knew there was so much into it lol. I've been down a rabbit hole of information and my mind is hurting 
I'm not even going to try and fully understand it all, i don't think there will ever be a definitive answer. lots of
things have advantages and disadvantages.
What i have learnt that in the future I may need a dedicated box/player just for movies and not a all in one player like the shield, or i may find the shield to be satisfactory.
I'm not even going to try and fully understand it all, i don't think there will ever be a definitive answer. lots of
things have advantages and disadvantages.
What i have learnt that in the future I may need a dedicated box/player just for movies and not a all in one player like the shield, or i may find the shield to be satisfactory.