AVP & Movies/streaming/NAS experiences?

[Brenster]

I'm giving serious consideration to buying an AVP. Long established Mac/iPad/iPhone/Apple TV box user. I'm already confident on the spatial computing uses I want. All of my questions are around movies/videos on NAS drives/streaming.

Long story short, as well as being a film buff (silent era to present) with a considerable library of iTunes purchases as well as ATV+/Disney+/Prime/Sky (UK TV & movie subscription service)/Paramount+ subscriptions. Also, I'm autistic and have long used ANC headphones for both music listening and blocking out environmental noise at work & home. Having just got back from the cinema, ordinarily my blood would be boiling with people using their phones during the film to check messages, social media etc. Instead I'm thinking I'm now in the minority for wanting to watch films at the cinema 'correctly'.

A few weeks back, I did the AVP demo in-store shortly after its UK launch. Spatial computing aide, what truly impressed me was the short demo of the ATV+ Foundation season 2 trailer. The perception of a cinema sized screen along with HDR had me seriously considering using it as an alternative for my existing home cinema setup (55" Dolby Vision set together with a 5.1.2 Atmos AV receiver & speaker setup). The Foundation trailer experience gave me an equivalent perceived experience to my prefered Dolby Cinema/IMAX screen with the added benefit of complete isolation - no one else around with phones and their 'incorrect' viewing habits.

I've a few questions though;

• Are iTunes Extras accessible/viewable from iTunes purchases within AVP?
• iTunes purchases, ATV+ & Disney+ playback in AVP is well understood. Both Prime & Paramount+ apps are listed as being available on AVP. Can anyone speak to their experience of using either app within AVP? Are they 'merely' iPad apps presented within AVP?
• I've a NAS drive accessed using SMB via VNC on our Apple TV boxes for playing back DVD & BluRay rips, mostly of imported Criterion discs (Hitchcock, Kurosawa etc). I can access & play also access these using the Files app on my iPad by mapping a drive/UNC path to the 'server'. Would this also work with AVP? If not, would something like PLex work with AVP if I were to change to a NAS drive that supports it?

 

[HDFan]

1. I am not seeing the iTunes extras.
2. Prime video only displayed in 1080p.
3. I discontinued Paramount+ but I think it worked at a higher resolution. It was OK.
4. If you mean "iPad apps" so they don't have immersive environments then yes. You can use some of the standard immersions.
5. I have no problem streaming Plex from a QNAP NAS. As for SMB it does work but it depends on which VP client you use.

 

[TLewis]

Just for emphasis: if you want to watch media from a NAS, you need to use an app that supports incremental reading (streaming). The Files app will want to completely download a movie before playing. I happen to use nPlayer, but many people like Plex.

 

[Brenster]

1. I am not seeing the iTunes extras.
2. Prime video only displayed in 1080p.
3. I discontinued Paramount+ but I think it worked at a higher resolution. It was OK.
4. If you mean "iPad apps" so they don't have immersive environments then yes. You can use some of the standard immersions.
5. I have no problem streaming Plex from a QNAP NAS. As for SMB it does work but it depends on which VP client you use.

Thanks - Paramount+ is constrained to HD/1080p here in the UK but it is more than good enough for supporting my 1966-2005 Trek habit.

Just for emphasis: if you want to watch media from a NAS, you need to use an app that supports incremental reading (streaming). The Files app will want to completely download a movie before playing. I happen to use nPlayer, but many people like Plex.

Will keep it in mind; trying to avoid needing to download as much as possible in order to go with the 256GB AVP and I don’t anticipate much, if any, usage outside of the home/away from home WiFi.

 

[axantas]

For streaming from a NAS, including SBS/OU 3D movies I use Moon Player. It plays everything even in two nice virtual cinemas. Highly recommendable.

 

[2128506]

I run Plex off Macbook with 4TB external drive for movies. Infuse works flawlessly (there's also Plexi app, did not try it yet, no need). When I had it, ran Plex off Synology NAS, worked like a charm.

Infuse can connect to various sources and protocols as well. But if you can run Plex, use it instead - organization and UI is just so much better than files/folders. Basically, local mode of Netflix.

P.S. TinyMediaManager for organizing NAS into Plex-compatible structure with artwork etc.

P.P.S. Turn on library mode and caching in Infuse's source advanced setting.