8 ms·

Aside from USB playback, an Apple TV 4K can solve most of this. (I don’t know about Spotify Connect but assume it works with AirPlay if not).

antihero 5y ago
Right, I've bought an Apple TV 4K! I have a 28.99GB H.265 5.1 Atmos MKV file of Linux tutorials that I would like to play on it, sitting on my MacBook. What is the most painless way to play it on the Apple TV with no loss of quality (other than the surround, which will be played on 2.0 speakers anyway).
- bradknowles 5y ago
  Try AirPlay. Should let you wirelessly share the video from your laptop to the AppleTV unit.
drcongo 5y ago
Yeah, I have an Apple TV 4K on my LG dumb TV which does all this (AirPlay also being far superior to Spotify Connect), though it's the dumb TV that will play back anything off a USB stick. Willing to bet this TV outlasts a "smart" Samsung by many years.
- antihero 5y ago
  I like Spotify Connect as it is easy to transfer from desktop to TV
antihero 5y ago
Yeah the USB is the kicker. I want to avoid using some crap like Plex, so unless there's a super simple and reliable way of streaming 4K MKVs over the network it is nice to use the pendrive. I suppose the TV can still use the pendrive even offline, actually. What advantages does an AppleTV 4K (£169) have over a Roku Streaming Stick+ (£45)?
- drcongo 5y ago
  I own both, and the Roku is slow, buggy and has really horrible UX. It doesn't get used at all.
- neilalexander 5y ago
  You can get VLC on Apple TV which makes streaming most things on the LAN simple enough but yeah, just using the USB port on the TV would probably work for that use case. The UI is miles better on the Apple TV and the remotes are very good, but you do need to create/use an Apple account in order to download things (like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime etc.) from the App Store.
- varenc 5y ago
  I stream 4K MKVs from my phone (an iPhone) to my Apple TV 4K using AirPlay all the time. It used to be a challenge getting the codecs right, but there's broader support now. It took awhile to find a good iOS app that supports this, but once I found nPlayer[0] I've never gone back. It's faarrr better than the VLC iOS app. It works quite well even when my phone is streaming media that's on cloud storage somewhere (nPlayer supports many). But for optimal playback I download the file to my device first. Of course if you want Dolby Atmos sound, I think you're out of luck. I think HDR should work but not sure. [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nplayer-plus/id539397400#?platform=iphone https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nplayer-plus/id539397400#?plat... edit: You can also install app on the ATV that accesses files stored over the network/internet as well, like VLC for ATV. Though I've never found a great one.
  - antihero 5y ago
    So what exactly is the system? You transfer the MKVs to your phone via a cable somehow? Is there any quality hit?
    - varenc 5y ago
      I use nPlayer to access my files over the network/sftp/Dropbox/WebDAV/put.io/HTTP and download to my local device. But like I said, streaming directly from the network works too. But for a high bitrate 4k file downloading first is better since the server=>phone=>ATV transfer can be too slow. (Resolution doesn’t matter, it’s all about bitrate. Some 4k HEVCs are lower bitrate/smaller files than 1080p h264s)

antihero 5y ago

Right, I've bought an Apple TV 4K! I have a 28.99GB H.265 5.1 Atmos MKV file of Linux tutorials that I would like to play on it, sitting on my MacBook. What is the most painless way to play it on the Apple TV with no loss of quality (other than the surround, which will be played on 2.0 speakers anyway).

bradknowles 5y ago
Try AirPlay. Should let you wirelessly share the video from your laptop to the AppleTV unit.

drcongo 5y ago

Yeah, I have an Apple TV 4K on my LG dumb TV which does all this (AirPlay also being far superior to Spotify Connect), though it's the dumb TV that will play back anything off a USB stick. Willing to bet this TV outlasts a "smart" Samsung by many years.

antihero 5y ago
I like Spotify Connect as it is easy to transfer from desktop to TV

antihero 5y ago

Yeah the USB is the kicker. I want to avoid using some crap like Plex, so unless there's a super simple and reliable way of streaming 4K MKVs over the network it is nice to use the pendrive. I suppose the TV can still use the pendrive even offline, actually. What advantages does an AppleTV 4K (£169) have over a Roku Streaming Stick+ (£45)?

drcongo 5y ago
I own both, and the Roku is slow, buggy and has really horrible UX. It doesn't get used at all.
neilalexander 5y ago
You can get VLC on Apple TV which makes streaming most things on the LAN simple enough but yeah, just using the USB port on the TV would probably work for that use case. The UI is miles better on the Apple TV and the remotes are very good, but you do need to create/use an Apple account in order to download things (like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime etc.) from the App Store.
varenc 5y ago
I stream 4K MKVs from my phone (an iPhone) to my Apple TV 4K using AirPlay all the time. It used to be a challenge getting the codecs right, but there's broader support now. It took awhile to find a good iOS app that supports this, but once I found nPlayer[0] I've never gone back. It's faarrr better than the VLC iOS app. It works quite well even when my phone is streaming media that's on cloud storage somewhere (nPlayer supports many). But for optimal playback I download the file to my device first. Of course if you want Dolby Atmos sound, I think you're out of luck. I think HDR should work but not sure. [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nplayer-plus/id539397400#?platform=iphone https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nplayer-plus/id539397400#?plat... edit: You can also install app on the ATV that accesses files stored over the network/internet as well, like VLC for ATV. Though I've never found a great one.
- antihero 5y ago
  So what exactly is the system? You transfer the MKVs to your phone via a cable somehow? Is there any quality hit?
  - varenc 5y ago
    I use nPlayer to access my files over the network/sftp/Dropbox/WebDAV/put.io/HTTP and download to my local device. But like I said, streaming directly from the network works too. But for a high bitrate 4k file downloading first is better since the server=>phone=>ATV transfer can be too slow. (Resolution doesn’t matter, it’s all about bitrate. Some 4k HEVCs are lower bitrate/smaller files than 1080p h264s)