Amazon Fire or Google Chromecast?

[mechman]

So my original Chromecast in my theater has finally died after what I would consider, a long life. So I'm in the market for a new casting/streaming device. Roku has pretty much tossed itself out the window with all of the problems I've had with the Ultra's handshake and HDCP issues. Not to mention their awful support. So what's an enthusiast to do? Both Amazon and Google have new 4K HDR devices out. Anyone have one yet? They both appear to do what I want them to do - casting, 4K, and HDR (although neither supports DolbyVision).

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I have had very good success with Shield TV Pro... after an initial hiccup and NVidia shipping me a new unit. It's been flawless since. And it does HDR.

 

[mechman]

Can you cast to it Sonnie? That's a feature I cannot live without.

 

[mechman]

Apparently I've also been led down the wrong path on the Chromecast, it does support Dolby Vision.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I am not sure if the Shield supports DV, but they do upgrades regularly.

I think it does cast, but I have never used it. It seems like I remember if I pause it for long enough I see something about Chromecast pop up on the screen... but you may want to research it more.

According to all the guys at Metra Home Theater, (they do tons of testing), the Shield Pro has been the best one out there to give them the least amount of issues... but be sure to use DP Labs certified cables to be on the safe side.

 

[mechman]

Well I got sick of doing research and decided to give them both a try. I'll update as I go along.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Sweet. This should be interesting!

 

[mechman]

I received the Amazon Fire TV yesterday and I unpacked it today. It's packaged up like an iPhone - everything has it's own compartment. Setup is extremely simple - plug the Fire TV into an available HDMI port on either your display or your receiver and then plug the included USB power cord into the Fire TV. When you get it all setup you turn on the Fire TV, register the remote, set the language and connect to the internet. Currently I'm using my 5G wireless as the ethernet adapter was back-ordered until December. Once you're connected to the internet the Fire TV will register itself. If you bought your device on Amazon like I did, it will automatically be registered to you. At this point you select several apps that you want to start out with and then you're ready to go. Five minutes from the box to being useful!

The thing that struck me immediately was the lack of a flashing HDCP issue screen that plagued the Roku Ultra. More to come...

 

[mechman]

Watched some Grand Tour and Stranger Things on it initially. Stranger Things looked quite a bit better under Dolby Vision (my LG C7) than HDR10(Amazon Fire TV). Unfortunately the Fire TV does not support Dolby Vision. So that series will have to be finished through the LG C7! HDR10 looked good on Grand Tour. It will be interesting to see some HDR10+ content that is slated to come out on Amazon and whether or not this device will support it. I know it's capable of displaying it as HDR10. I'm just not sure if it's capable of HDR10+.

I do know that the Chromecast Ultra does support Dolby Vision.

 

[mechman]

I watched several shows last night on the Amazon Fire TV (still wireless) with not a single hiccup. It's already better than the Roku Ultra!

The Chromecast Ultra is supposed to show up today. More than likely I'll get a first look at it on Friday. But I may sneak a peek in tonight.

 

[mechman]

Hooked up the Chromecast Ultra and I can confirm that it does stream in Dolby Vision. I've run the Amazon Fire TV wirelessly for over 4 days without a single problem. Now I'll put the Chromecast Ultra to the test. The big differences so far are that the CU has an ethernet port on the power plug and that the CU does Dolby Vision. Also, the CU requires a separate device (phone, tablet, computer) to work. I've used these three devices initially - iPhone 6S Plus, iPad (5th gen) and a Surface Pro 4.

 

[mechman]

Some pictures:

Google Chromecast Ultra

IMG_0347

• mechman
• Nov 27, 2017

Google Chromecast Ultra

Amazon Fire TV

IMG_0348

• mechman
• Nov 27, 2017

Amazon Fire TV

Google Chromecast Ultra vs. Amazon Fire TV

IMG_0349

• mechman
• Nov 27, 2017

Amazon Fire TV/Google Chromecast Ultra

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Thanks for doing this little mini review.

I have an older Chromecast and a number of Fire TV sticks. The sticks overheat sometimes and get slow and buggie. I still prefer it to Chromecast for the most part. However it's casting is buggie and 3rd party airplay apps are ok at best.

My wife watches Russian TV shows that we like to cast but they don't use apps which can cast so I have to use airplay which doesn't work well. Still looking for a fix.

 

[mechman]

Can't you cast them using a browser?

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Can't you cast them using a browser?

It hasn't worked on the fire device and is inconsistent on the chrome. Airplay still works best.