Atmos & UDH4K status on Xbox/FireTV/Shield Pro/ATV 4K /Others - OTT content

[ankitbhargava]

All of us have struggled with finding out if UHD 4K and Atmos works on various Media Players while consuming OTT content and more specifically Netflix and Prime.

I tried looking up any earlier threads consolidating the experience at one place and couldn't find one so I wanted to start this one.

I own the 3 Streaming devices
Xbox One S
Nvidia Shield Pro 2017
Fire TV 4K

I have done extensive testing in last couple of days by playing same scenes on Netflix and Prime across the devices one by one and notice the difference.

Here is the result only in context of OTT content


Shield pro
Netflix - 4k works, Atmos doesn't work
Prime - not sure 4K works or not because it doesn't show anywhere. Atmos works, tested in Gulabo sitabo in Pure Direct it showed Atmos in input side

Sound Quality - 7/10
Picture Quality - 7/10


Xbox One S
Netflix - 4k works, Atmos works but it shows Atmos in all content.
Prime - can't tell about 4k because it doesn't show , can't tell Atmos because it shows Atmos in all content

Sound Quality - 9/10
Picture Quality - 8.5/10


Fire TV Stick 4k
Netflix - 4k works, shows in Netflix app. Atmos doesn't work, doest show Atmos symbol on any content
Prime - UHD 4k works, checked in Gulabo Sitabo by pressing down key. It shows resolution. Dolby Atmos works, checked in Gulabo Sitabo. Shows in options - Audio

Sound Quality - 7/10
Picture Quality - 7/10 (Somehow Prime App shows best Picture Quality on Fire TV 4K but Picture Quality on Netflix wasn't impressive at all)

Please do share your experience if you use multiple devices and have done one on one comparison. Also if there is anyway to find if Prime App streams in 4K on Shield Pro or Xbox.

 

[Love4sound]

I used shield 2017, Sony blu ray player, ps4. Sold all and currently using 2019 shield pro. In my shield pro 2019 I get atmos through Netflix. IMO Audio quality in any streaming services isn’t good and feels compressed. When I watch any content from OTT I turn of Denon and use only the tv speakers. Coming to your question the shield plays all atmos content in Netflix and few months back I saw the old guard and shield played atmos. I also remember watching few atmos contents in Netflix using my 2017 shield

 

[ankitbhargava]

Any clue how to find if Amazon Prime is streaming the content in 4K/UHD on Shield Pro? Do not see any logo or info anywhere.

 

[nikme]

Using jio tv box and 4k works in Netflix and Amazon prime no support for Atmos though.

 

[OM_2K19]

As far as Netflix/Apple TV+ is concerned, in my experience, Roku provides the most pleasuring experience. It plays 4K/HDR/ATMOS(DD+) contents flawlessly.

 

[revolty]

As far as Netflix/Apple TV+ is concerned, in my experience, Roku provides the most pleasuring experience. It plays 4K/HDR/ATMOS(DD+) contents flawlessly.

Hello,
Does Roku work in India? I had heard that it was meant for American audience only; with maximum apps not working in India. Please excuse my wrong writing/typing skills.

 

[OM_2K19]

Hello,
Does Roku work in India? I had heard that it was meant for American audience only; with maximum apps not working in India. Please excuse my wrong writing/typing skills.

It does work but only Netflix, Prime Video, Zee5 and Apple TV+ is available in India.

 

[revolty]

It does work but only Netflix, Prime Video, Zee5 and Apple TV+ is available in India.

Ok. Thanks.

 

[superczar]

I haven't tried shield..
Firestick 4k can't do Atmos in anything but prime.

The only device that does proper Atmos on both streaming services in my experience is ATV 4k

 

[kvm]

I haven't tried shield..
Firestick 4k can't do Atmos in anything but prime.

The only device that does proper Atmos on both streaming services in my experience is ATV 4k

Can you pl check if ATV 4K is still streaming Atmos over Prime(pl indicate the title too) as I couldnt stream Atmos using both Shield 2017 and Firestick 2020 editions over Prime - not sure if its a device issue or Prime issue

 

[Ketan]

Can you pl check if ATV 4K is still streaming Atmos over Prime(pl indicate the title too) as I couldnt stream Atmos using both Shield 2017 and Firestick 2020 editions over Prime - not sure if its a device issue or Prime issue

ATV4K does play DA on PrimeVideo. However, there are hardly any content for DA on PrimeVideo. There are many on Netflix though. Following talks about DA/DV content on PrimeVideo. However, it seems its US content they are talking about.
Everything on Amazon Prime Video in HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and/or Dolby Atmos | High-Def Digest

I have had a look at Suspiria on PrimeVideo using ATV4K, on the title it shows 5.1 audio. However, when I play the movie, it seems to have DA as shown by my AVR.
I'm thinking of getting Nvidia Shield TV pro (2019) from US via someone returning to India. I'm still thinking if I should spend that 12-13K (will be using some $50 gift coupon that my company gave me some time back) on shield tv pro when I have ATV4K+ Infuse that can play local media. I havent watched a lot but somehow the interface is too limited when I want to forward/rewind or go to a time in the playback using Infuse.

 

[Ketan]

All of us have struggled with finding out if UHD 4K and Atmos works on various Media Players while consuming OTT content and more specifically Netflix and Prime.

I tried looking up any earlier threads consolidating the experience at one place and couldn't find one so I wanted to start this one.

I own the 3 Streaming devices
Xbox One S
Nvidia Shield Pro 2017
Fire TV 4K

I have done extensive testing in last couple of days by playing same scenes on Netflix and Prime across the devices one by one and notice the difference.

Here is the result only in context of OTT content


Shield pro
Netflix - 4k works, Atmos doesn't work
Prime - not sure 4K works or not because it doesn't show anywhere. Atmos works, tested in Gulabo sitabo in Pure Direct it showed Atmos in input side

Sound Quality - 7/10
Picture Quality - 7/10


Xbox One S
Netflix - 4k works, Atmos works but it shows Atmos in all content.
Prime - can't tell about 4k because it doesn't show , can't tell Atmos because it shows Atmos in all content

Sound Quality - 9/10
Picture Quality - 8.5/10


Fire TV Stick 4k
Netflix - 4k works, shows in Netflix app. Atmos doesn't work, doest show Atmos symbol on any content
Prime - UHD 4k works, checked in Gulabo Sitabo by pressing down key. It shows resolution. Dolby Atmos works, checked in Gulabo Sitabo. Shows in options - Audio

Sound Quality - 7/10
Picture Quality - 7/10 (Somehow Prime App shows best Picture Quality on Fire TV 4K but Picture Quality on Netflix wasn't impressive at all)

Please do share your experience if you use multiple devices and have done one on one comparison. Also if there is anyway to find if Prime App streams in 4K on Shield Pro or Xbox.

I have always believed (and read more than a few places) that ATV4K does the best job of streaming, especially with netflix, it seems to be latching to certain netflix server farm for better bit rate etc.. not sure how much it is true. However, I have found netflix to be great on ATV4K, Only other app I have compared so far was the netflix App on LG C8, but I guess I preferred ATV4K. I have got the xbox one recently, surprised to see you mentioned it does better job on sound and picture quality than the ATV4K, I'm going to try a few movies this weekend to see how the experience is! Thanks for sharing this review.

 

[superczar]

Can you pl check if ATV 4K is still streaming Atmos over Prime(pl indicate the title too) as I couldnt stream Atmos using both Shield 2017 and Firestick 2020 editions over Prime - not sure if its a device issue or Prime issue

You are partly right .. something is off with Prime- Jack Ryan which was in Atmos is not in atmos anymore - pretty sure of it coz i watched it with atmos
So I looked up whats available - and apparently gulabo sitabo is!

Tested with that and that does still work so may be worth testing on your setup too - BTW Firestick 4K will definitely work for prime but then it wont work for netflix.. which is where most of the atmos content is anyway.

I have always believed (and read more than a few places) that ATV4K does the best job of streaming, especially with netflix, it seems to be latching to certain netflix server farm for better bit rate etc.. not sure how much it is true. However, I have found netflix to be great on ATV4K, Only other app I have compared so far was the netflix App on LG C8, but I guess I preferred ATV4K. I have got the xbox one recently, surprised to see you mentioned it does better job on sound and picture quality than the ATV4K, I'm going to try a few movies this weekend to see how the experience is! Thanks for sharing this review.

Yeah, am also in the same boat.
Other than probably the shield, I have tried practically every streaming solution across multiple setups and prefer the ATV by a wide margin for PQ, convenience and overall stability/ease of use
I tried streaming NF with a PS4 once but found it to be not too great an experience- would be curious to see how the xbox fares
May also help with the decision making process for the current gen consoles when they become available

 

[superczar]

dupe - plz ignore

 

[Ketan]

Yeah, am also in the same boat.
Other than probably the shield, I have tried practically every streaming solution across multiple setups and prefer the ATV by a wide margin for PQ, convenience and overall stability/ease of use
I tried streaming NF with a PS4 once but found it to be not too great an experience- would be curious to see how the xbox fares
May also help with the decision making process for the current gen consoles when they become available

So, I'm planning to add one more device, Nvidia Shield TV pro was around $179 on amazon.com so I went ahead with it. Waiting for someone to travel back so I can receive it without getting into shipping and customs etc.

 

[Ketan]

Xbox One S
Netflix - 4k works, Atmos works but it shows Atmos in all content.
Prime - can't tell about 4k because it doesn't show , can't tell Atmos because it shows Atmos in all content

Sound Quality - 9/10
Picture Quality - 8.5/10

I looked at netflix using Xobx One again today, last time when I looked at it, I felt there are some discrepancies around what it shows with ATMOS content, some it wasn't showing.
Today, it seems its showing DV/DA just fine, same as what I see using ATV4K. A navigation button click seems to show the bit rate at which its streaming, for DV movies, it shows only 15.25mbps (2160p) and for HD movies (1080p) it shows only 7.5 mbps. This doesn't change, remains constant. Wondering if it shows correct info on what Xbox One is streaming at?

I'm sure ATV4K should be streaming at higher rates, I'm yet to enable the HUD on ATV4K, but I have seen others reviewing it and ATV4K shows varying rates around 25-30mbps for 4K movies on some YT reviews. I don't have any other apple devices, have high sierra running on virtual box on my Windows PC but xcode 10.x running on that doesn't seem to be happy with the iOS 14.2 running on ATV4K. I guess I need to upgrade to Mojave and setup latest xcode to enable the developer tools and get the HUD function on my ATV4K in order to see the actual bitrate its streaming at.

There used to be a bug with Xbox One S where all audio is output in an Atmos container, regardless of whether the source is in Atmos or not. So, I feel you are facing that same issue. Please check if you are running the latest and greatest on your Xbox.

 

[kvm]

ATV4K does play DA on PrimeVideo. However, there are hardly any content for DA on PrimeVideo. There are many on Netflix though. Following talks about DA/DV content on PrimeVideo. However, it seems its US content they are talking about.
Everything on Amazon Prime Video in HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and/or Dolby Atmos | High-Def Digest

I have had a look at Suspiria on PrimeVideo using ATV4K, on the title it shows 5.1 audio. However, when I play the movie, it seems to have DA as shown by my AVR.
I'm thinking of getting Nvidia Shield TV pro (2019) from US via someone returning to India. I'm still thinking if I should spend that 12-13K (will be using some $50 gift coupon that my company gave me some time back) on shield tv pro when I have ATV4K+ Infuse that can play local media. I havent watched a lot but somehow the interface is too limited when I want to forward/rewind or go to a time in the playback using Infuse.

Thanks. True, there is hardly any DA content on Prime India. Will check out Suspiria.

You are partly right .. something is off with Prime- Jack Ryan which was in Atmos is not in atmos anymore - pretty sure of it coz i watched it with atmos
So I looked up whats available - and apparently gulabo sitabo is!

Tested with that and that does still work so may be worth testing on your setup too - BTW Firestick 4K will definitely work for prime but then it wont work for netflix.. which is where most of the atmos content is anyway.


Yeah, am also in the same boat.
Other than probably the shield, I have tried practically every streaming solution across multiple setups and prefer the ATV by a wide margin for PQ, convenience and overall stability/ease of use
I tried streaming NF with a PS4 once but found it to be not too great an experience- would be curious to see how the xbox fares
May also help with the decision making process for the current gen consoles when they become available

Thanks. Yes, I even tried Gulabo Sitabo with both Shield 2017 and FTV 2020 (which is supposed to stream DA with 1080p video) but it shows DD+ only on the FTV and AVR too. Does your ATV and AVR shows Atmos/DD+ as input stream for Gulabo Sitabo? If so, I would rather get it and call it a day!

 

[superczar]

Thanks. True, there is hardly any DA content on Prime India. Will check out Suspiria.

Thanks. Yes, I even tried Gulabo Sitabo with both Shield 2017 and FTV 2020 (which is supposed to stream DA with 1080p video) but it shows DD+ only on the FTV and AVR too. Does your ATV and AVR shows Atmos/DD+ as input stream for Gulabo Sitabo? If so, I would rather get it and call it a day!

Yes. Check the image I had attached above. Presume that's what you are looking for

 

[kvm]

Yes. Check the image I had attached above. Presume that's what you are looking for

Thanks. yes - I didn't notice it earlier. Don't know if Prime streams DA 'only' along with 4K video which is against their marketing about FTV 2020 though! In my HT setup I have a 1080p projector and the FTV/AVR shows DD+ only. Would you know if ATV 4K streams DA even with 1080p video?

 

[superczar]

Thanks. yes - I didn't notice it earlier. Don't know if Prime streams DA 'only' along with 4K video which is against their marketing about FTV 2020 though! In my HT setup I have a 1080p projector and the FTV/AVR shows DD+ only. Would you know if ATV 4K streams DA even with 1080p video?

Prime does DA only on 4K streams
I have a similar separate 1080p setup for a projector room
DA doesn't work on it at all with the firestick 4k but works fine with ATV 4K for noth NF and Prime

I have been meaning to get another ATV 4K just because of this stupid behaviour but been deferring it in the hope that the new model will launch

@Ketan , if you do get the shield, i would be more than happy to take that ATV4K off your hands