I'm looking to buy an Android TV device and a new soundbar. Ideally I want just one remote to manage Android TV, power the tv off/on and change the volume on the soundbar. My tv supports CEC and I'm leaning toward the Nvidia shield tv. I'm curious, what do other people with similar requirements use? I'd like to keep the total cost for both devices under $450 total.
Love my Shield! I’ve done away with a remote completely with my TV, Shield and Samsung N950 soundbar. Everything is controlled with my phone since I have it with me 99% of the time.
Shield..esp if u want to run 4k content through plex.
I have a shield hooked up to my TV and a Vizio soundbar hooked up via HDMI arc. The shield remote can control everything - powering the TV on and off and changing the volume.
The shield is overpriced though. Id get a fire TV 4k which is way cheaper, has a better remote, and better software experience.
I have a shield and a Vizio 43 inch sound bar + wireless rears and sub. I cannot remember the model number of it.
However - I do not recommend the Vizio Soundbars after owning one. It sounds good, and it does it's job - but:
It occasionally gets stuck on an input, especially if you cast audio to it. Getting it back to another input is all but impossible - it just won't do it. I've removed it from any Cast Groups so it doesn't happen on accident, but I've even had to factory reset it to get it to work again from this.
It's plugged into the the network with a cable, but the app still forces you to setup Wi-Fi a connection - which it then prefers and really never uses the built in NIC
It's very slow to respond to the remote.
The app control sucks and frequently the sound bar doesn't respond or responds 30 seconds after a button push even though it says it's connected.
It doesn't seem to play well with CEC Volume control - like it works most of the time, but fails enough of the time to make you question your sanity.
2019 Shield + the great bang for the buck, and we’ll sorted, Yamaha YAS 108 / 109 or 207/ 209 Soundbars.
Depending on your TV- HDMI CEC control will sort out TV / Soundbar OFF / ON.
Audio volume control is either by HDMI-CEC or via the Shields remote.
Be aware, because most budget soundbars only support AC3/DD, you need an external Apps media player with a Dolby Audio licence, that also properly implements Dolby audio, to downmix Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ etc DD+ into DD only audio.
Only the 2019 Shields, Amazon Fire TV’s and Apple TV’s do that properly.