Player Comparison¶
How to read the matrix¶
Green: documented support or a stated implementation contract. Yellow: conditional support, conversion or a different rendering path. Red: the requested feature is not supported in the cited description. Grey: unknown. Cells say only whether something is supported, with a short qualification where it changes the answer. The small number links to the source note, which states the evidence type (manufacturer, developer, measurement, review or register); the whole badge is clickable. Green does not mean independently verified or better-looking. Grey-cell notes identify evidence gaps rather than proof of support or failure.
HDR10+ means dynamic-metadata playback, not just HDR10 fallback. Apple TV support requires compatible hardware, app and display; the documented Apple TV model is 4K (3rd generation). Grey entries remain unverified for the specified build.
FEL colours: green means the enhancement layer is used to reconstruct the picture. Yellow means the enhancement layer is discarded, but the Dolby Vision metadata (the RPU) is adapted to the base layer. Red means no Dolby Vision playback of the file, or the enhancement layer discarded with the metadata left unmodified, which can make the picture darker than HDR10. Adjusting the RPU can keep the brightness in line with the base layer, but it cannot restore highlights or detail that only the enhancement layer carries.
Dolby Vision mode. The Dolby Vision columns describe TV-led output, where the TV does the final picture adaptation. According to HT2 Tweak's register (note 24), the PC build, Vero V and Shield have no player-led Dolby Vision (LLDV), while the CoreELEC boxes have both; the Ugoos settings in note 10 choose TV-led. The Apple TV's mode is not documented in the sources here. See TV-led and player-led.
The Dolby Vision Profile 7 MEL column says whether the file plays as Dolby Vision; an MEL carries no picture residual, so base layer plus RPU is complete playback. It concerns the documented processing path, not every container/app combination. FEL reconstruction requires the residual to contribute, not merely decoding an EL stream. Video output describes precision after composition: a 12-bit HDMI carrier alone does not establish 12-bit reconstruction.
The four successful video paths distinguish full reconstruction with higher-precision output, reconstruction followed by 10-bit output, base layer with DV metadata, and HDR10-only playback. They describe signal completeness, not a universal ranking of visible quality. Playback failure is a separate outcome.
3D Blu-ray (MVC) concerns 3D Blu-ray remuxes, which carry a full-resolution second view as MVC. Green means frame-packed 3D output from MVC; yellow means only some 3D forms work, such as half side-by-side or top-and-bottom; red means MVC plays as 2D. A display that accepts frame-packed 3D is also required.
Cells linked to note 24 come from HT2 Tweak's community-maintained player spreadsheet, independent of the manufacturers. Only the columns this guide already used are taken over, plus 3D. "Unknown" means the sources here, including that spreadsheet, do not settle the question; it is not evidence that the feature is missing.
Plug and play? describes initial setup effort, not guaranteed compatibility or accuracy: green means a normal app/appliance setup; yellow means conditions apply; red means manual OS/media setup. Library access, HDMI and speaker settings still need configuring.
Open-source notes refer to the named software, not the entire device or every driver/decoder. Installation and source-availability references are recorded in S41. Shield bitstream passthrough is supported by vendor documentation and the SPMC project’s configuration guide (S42); this is not a local bit-identity measurement.
Versions and corrections¶
Dates show when an entry was updated, not a hardware-test date or certification of the latest firmware. Native Player entries reflect the 2.0 developer announcement. AetherEngine and CB1 refer to the pinned commits in the implementation comparison; host apps may differ. The Ugoos row uses the p3i T4c configuration specified in its build note. No device has been measured for this guide.
For the PC, supported AMD and Intel hardware is defined by the pinned RC3 documentation. One GPU's result does not qualify every other GPU, connector or driver. Physical HDMI validation remains separate from the CB1 mathematical contract.
Disc players and game consoles are not in the matrix because they do not play remux files. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X play discs in HDR10 only, with no Dolby Vision or HDR10+: see game consoles.
Outdated entry? Submit the exact model, app/build/firmware and a source supporting the correction. Contribution policy · Testing
Source notes¶
1. Infuse: picture formats. Firecore lists Dolby Vision Profile 5 and 8, HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG on compatible hardware. A Profile 7 disc remux is not among them: a Firecore forum reply describes Profile 7 as unsupported on Apple TV, so such files play their HDR10 base layer (S48). Pro required for Dolby Vision; HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG are free. HDR10+ needs an Apple TV 4K (3rd generation).
Sources: S10 Firecore — Infuse, checked 6 November 2026 · Source status and scope.
2. Evidence gap. This capability has not been established for the exact configuration. This note is not evidence of absence. See the research queue.
3. Infuse: sound. Infuse decodes TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio on the Apple TV and sends PCM, up to 7.1 channels at 24-bit/48 kHz; tracks at 96 or 192 kHz are converted to 48 kHz. TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X therefore play as their 7.1 versions without height channels. Infuse's Atmos support covers Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) Atmos, typical of streaming-style files, not Blu-ray TrueHD Atmos. Pro required for lossless TrueHD/DTS-HD audio and for E-AC3 Atmos.
Sources: S09 Firecore — Audio Options & Capabilities and Firecore — Infuse (Pro feature list), checked 6 November 2026 · Source status and scope.
4. S41. AetherEngine README · CroqueMr repository · LibreELEC installer source · CoreELEC repository · Ugoos installation guide · OSMC About · Source status and scope. Setup colours are editorial classifications; they are not playback measurements.
5. Native Player: sound and general support. The developer describes lossless decoding of TrueHD and DTS-HD on the Apple TV, sent to the receiver as multichannel PCM over Dolby MAT. How Atmos and DTS:X objects are rendered is explained in note 28. Pro required to play TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X in full; without Pro they play as a free preview. HDR10 and HDR10+ are free. These are developer statements; no independent renderer test is known.
Sources: S11 Native Player 2.0 — developer announcement and the App Store listing (version 2.0.1, Pro terms), checked 6 November 2026 · Source status and scope.
6. Apps based on AetherEngine (video). The row assumes the app enables every optional video feature: the DualLayerDolbyVision component with preferDualLayerDolbyVision for FEL composition. Each app decides what it includes and enables; check the app. HDR10 and HDR10+ (ST 2094-40 passed to the system player) are documented in docs/formats.md at f7bea86; HDR10+ needs an Apple TV 4K (3rd generation). S03. AetherEngine — FEL design · Source status and scope.
7. Apps based on AetherEngine (audio). S12. The row assumes the app enables every optional audio feature: the TrueHDObjectAudio and DTSXObjectAudio components with objectAudioRendering, and the .lossless audio bridge mode. These can be enabled together. Object rendering applies only to 48 kHz tracks; others play through the lossless bridge as 7.1 without heights. The pinned documentation describes local rendering to a speaker bed and 24-bit PCM on the relevant local path. Yellow denotes local rendering instead of original-object bitstream passthrough, not a disabled option or proof of audible loss. Without these settings, the engine's default audio bridge re-encodes TrueHD and DTS-HD to lossy E-AC3 (5.1, 48 kHz); the host must select the .lossless mode to deliver lossless PCM (up to 7.1, source sample rate kept), per docs/formats.md at f7bea86. The current developer documentation describes BedRegression: speaker feeds are derived from the compatible lossless channel presentation, steered by decoded object information. It also describes approximate TrueHD object signals without matrix interpolation and unused metadata such as object size and zones. DTS:X rendering is limited to supported presentations/layouts. Lossless PCM after this processing does not establish reference-equivalent spatial rendering. Implementation description, reviewed 8 November 2026 (dynamic developer documentation; a code audit remains open). Renderer accuracy, host-app integration and actual HDMI delivery remain unverified. AetherEngine — README · Source status and scope.
8. Shield: picture formats. NVIDIA's specifications list HDR10 and Dolby Vision. HDR10+ is not supported on current Shield models (note 24). What a Dolby Vision file actually does depends on the playback app; see note 27.
Sources: S16 NVIDIA — SHIELD specifications, checked 6 November 2026 · Source status and scope.
9. Shield: sound. The Shield sends TrueHD (including Atmos), DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X undecoded to the receiver, which decodes and renders them. Enable passthrough both in the Shield's sound settings and in the playback app, and use a receiver that supports the formats. This documents the passthrough path; it is not a bit-for-bit measurement.
Sources: S42 NVIDIA SHIELD user guide · specifications · SPMC recommended passthrough settings for NVIDIA Shield and AV receivers · Source status and scope.
10. DEVELOPER / PROJECT DOCUMENTATION · checked 2026-11-06 · no local hardware test.
Selected configuration: Ugoos AM6B+, CoreELEC Amlogic-ng p3i T4c, release tag T4c (CoreELEC commit d60b91e). Release notes, project and hardware scope, inherited changes and S922X-J installation / profile guide.
The project targets S922X devices and documents FEL fixes; the platform guide documents P7 MEL/FEL and TV-led metadata transmission. T4c documents TrueHD and DTS-HD passthrough. The matrix treats Atmos/DTS:X carriage through these lossless transports as a supported path, not a measured object-integrity result. T4a notes describe DTS:X passthrough and default-enabled dialogue-normalisation modification.
Editorial comparison settings: TV-led DV with a compatible display, native HDR10 output for HDR10, no forced VS10 conversion or custom display overrides; CMv4.0 append set to Off (the T4a notes document Smart append as the TV-led default); HDMI passthrough enabled for TrueHD and DTS-HD with a compatible receiver, transcoding/core fallback disabled. Disable dialogue-normalisation defeat for Dolby and DTS to retain source metadata. Install the required DV module and device tree using the platform guide. This is a selected feature-complete configuration, not a claim that it is universally the most stable or accurate build. Exact module hash and end-to-end output precision remain unqualified. T4b also reports HDMI-switching blackouts with some Denon/Marantz receiver chains; check compatibility before adopting this configuration.
11. PC · LibreELEC: Dolby Vision. The row describes CroqueMr's LibreELEC build with its CB1 Dolby Vision engine, which reconstructs Profile 7 FEL itself and sends the picture to the TV as 12-bit 4:2:2 inside the TV-led Dolby Vision signal. Its default mode is Reference; Master Reference is the most precise mode. In DMDreview's external test (Intel UHD 730), Master Reference came closest to the reference of the devices compared; AMD has only the developer's own comparison. See external tests.
A separate preliminary Hades RC8 report describes sample-specific playback failures on Intel N150 and AMD 5800H. Hades is a different build; those observations do not change this row’s CroqueMr/CB1 scope.
Sources: S06 CB1 — Master Reference contract · Source status and scope.
12. Vero V: formats and sound. OSMC's specifications list HDR10 and HDR10+ output and bitstream passthrough of the lossless audio formats to the receiver. The summary may lag the newer Dolby Vision notes 13–14.
Sources: S15 OSMC — Vero V technical specifications, checked 6 November 2026 · Source status and scope.
13. Vero V: Dolby Vision. OSMC documents Dolby Vision output in TV-led mode: the TV does the final picture adaptation, so the TV must support Dolby Vision. Profile 7 files are supported.
Sources: S14 OSMC — Dolby Vision on Vero V, checked 6 November 2026 · Source status and scope.
14. Vero V: FEL. OSMC's regular May 2026 update added Dolby Vision FEL support for all Vero V users; the testing thread describes TV-led playback for CMv2.9 and CMv4.0 metadata. OSMC does not state the output precision, and no external 12-bit test is known for the Vero V (measurements wanted).
Sources: S13 OSMC — FEL in the regular May 2026 update, 4 May 2026 · OSMC testing thread, 19 March 2026 · Source status and scope.
15. HDR10+ on Apple TV. Apple's format guide identifies Apple TV 4K (3rd generation) as the HDR10+ model. Firecore and Native Player's developer listing document HDR10+ support. Requires a compatible display and content-matching settings. Developer/manufacturer documentation, checked 2026-11-06; no local output capture.
16. Paid app features. Infuse Pro (monthly, yearly or one-time lifetime purchase) unlocks Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos (E-AC3) and lossless TrueHD/DTS-HD audio, among other features. Native Player Pro (yearly or one-time lifetime purchase) unlocks full playback of Dolby Vision Profile 7, TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X, which otherwise play as a free preview. Apps based on AetherEngine set their own prices. Offers vary by region and date; prices are omitted.
Sources: Firecore — Infuse (“Go further with Pro”), Firecore purchase options, Infuse App Store listing, Native Player App Store listing (version 2.0.1). Checked 6 November 2026.
22. Native Player: Dolby Vision Profile 7. Native Player plays a Profile 7 file as single-layer Dolby Vision (Profile 8.1); the enhancement layer is never decoded. For MEL nothing is lost. For FEL, the developer says the app now checks what the enhancement layer carries. The developer reports that most FEL discs use it only for grain and small refinements; this guide has not established that distribution across disc releases. Some carry brightness above the base layer: their metadata describes a master reaching, for example, 4,000 nits while the base layer stops at 1,000, which made the converted Dolby Vision picture noticeably darker than the HDR10 version. According to the developer, on those discs Native Player now aligns the metadata with the base layer, so Dolby Vision plays at the HDR10 release's brightness with scene-by-scene dynamic mapping.
In the developer's words:
"Native Player now aligns the metadata with the base layer, so Dolby Vision plays with the same brightness as the HDR10 release plus scene by scene dynamic mapping. […] Highlights above the base layer peak still cannot be restored without decoding the enhancement layer."
What this does not do: highlights above the base layer's peak cannot be restored without decoding the enhancement layer, so on very bright displays the brightest highlights of such masters look as on the HDR10 release. FEL discs show a short prompt before playback; Dolby Vision is the default and HDR10 remains selectable. Pro required for full Profile 7 playback (free preview otherwise). The developer also argues against reconstructing the enhancement layer in software, citing accuracy and processing cost; that is the developer's position, not a test result.
Developer statements, not independent verification. Sources: Native Player developer post on FEL handling, 7 November 2026 · earlier technical explanation of the P7-to-P8.1 conversion (dovi_tool mode 2) · 2.0 announcement · S51.
23. Apple TV video precision. Apple’s HDR application guidance describes 10-bit video pixel buffers; its HLS guidance describes single-layer 10-bit Dolby Vision. Infuse and Native Player are shown as an inferred 10-bit video path, not a measured per-app HDMI bit-depth result. AetherEngine’s default 10-bit dither is separately documented in its pinned code (note 6). Dolby Vision HDMI tunnelling must not be confused with reconstructed picture precision. Checked 2026-11-06; no local hardware test.
24. HT2 Tweak's player spreadsheet (community register). Kodi Hardware Matrix, maintained by the enthusiast YouTuber HT2 Tweak (ht2tweak), last updated 4 November 2026; read 6 November 2026. Independent of the manufacturers. The sheet describes its ranking as consensus among Kodi, CoreELEC and AVS Forum users and invites corrections, and some entries link the maintainer's own video reviews, so a cell is a register entry rather than a documented measurement. Used here: HDR10, HDR10+, MEL, "Proper TV-led FEL", the three 3D columns (half SBS/TAB, full SBS, MVC MKV & 3D ISO) and "Proper HD/object-based audio passthrough". Prices, ranking, streaming and other formats are not used. The sheet assumes enthusiast CoreELEC builds (AVDVPlus or p3i on older devices; SamuriHL or djnice77 forks on newer ones); results can differ on stock firmware. "Proper TV-led FEL" does not separate EL contribution from reconstruction precision. Source S50.
25. 3D sources. AetherEngine docs/formats.md (commit f7bea86): an MVC remux plays its base (left-eye) view and "Real MVC 3D output is not offered on any path" (DEVELOPER). CroqueMr README, AMD HDMI 3D documents MVC ISO decoding with HDMI frame packing on AMD (DEVELOPER); for Intel, the register (note 24) reports 3D only from a native HDMI port. Checked 2026-11-06.
26. Measured output precision (Ugoos AM6B+ and Dune HD 8K). In DMDreview's test, 28 October 2026 (about 9:45–12:20), the author unpacks the TV-led Dolby Vision HDMI signal back into 12-bit values and compares them with synthetic reference images. On both boxes the FEL enhancement layer contributes to the picture. The Ugoos AM6B+ (CoreELEC) outputs 12-bit values, but some neighbouring steps are merged, so it came less close to the reference than the PC. The Dune HD Pro One 8K Plus (Amlogic S928X, R25 beta) composes the picture in a 10-bit pipeline and imitates the 12-bit steps with dither. These results do not qualify every configuration in the matrix: the Ugoos test does not identify the p3i T4c build, and Dune R25 beta is not the djnice77 CoreELEC configuration listed in the row. HT2 Tweak’s register establishes neither equivalent processing nor output precision across these builds. One test with still synthetic patterns, not films or moving pictures; whether the differences are visible was not assessed. See external tests and S50.
27. Shield: Dolby Vision metadata. The Shield passes the disc's RPU on without converting it; only an app that rewrites the RPU itself would change that, and none is documented here. For an FEL title this means the RPU's reconstruction curves, written for base plus enhancement layer, are applied to the base layer alone (an inference from the forum reports below). So Profile 7 MEL plays as Dolby Vision. For FEL the cell is red: with the enhancement layer gone, unmodified metadata can describe a brighter master than the base layer contains, and nothing guarantees that Dolby Vision then looks better than plain HDR10; it can look darker. Native Player's developer describes this mismatch on FEL discs that carry extra brightness (note 22). This row shows the best-supporting app. HT2 Tweak's register (note 24), which assumes Kodi, lists Profile 7 MEL as supported on the Shield TV Pro 2019. Forum reports describe the Shield playing Profile 7 as base layer plus RPU with the enhancement layer unused (MakeMKV forum, Lowyat forum). App and firmware versions are not consistently stated. Checked 2026-11-06.
28. Native Player: how Atmos and DTS:X objects are rendered. The app decodes the lossless track and renders the objects itself, on the Apple TV, to the speaker layout you pick in the app (for example 7.1.4). The receiver then gets finished speaker channels as multichannel PCM, not objects, so its own Atmos or DTS:X renderer is not used. Pick the layout that matches your room. Pro required for full TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X playback (free preview otherwise).
The developer describes the rendering and how it compares with a receiver's as follows:
"yes, “Lossless” means the track is decoded without any lossy step, with all objects and their movement intact, and sent to your AVR as multichannel PCM.
The objects are then rendered on the Apple TV to the speaker layout you choose in the app, instead of in the AVR. Rendering follows the published ETSI standard for object rendering (ETSI TS 103 448), and the output nearly matches it. The main difference is that the output uses a set of standard layouts, while an AVR renders for the exact layout it is set up for. Your AVR's distance, level and room correction settings still apply as usual."
The developer has also explained why a renderer specified for AC-4 applies to TrueHD Atmos, and where the result can differ from a receiver's:
"Good questions. TS 103 448 is published as the AC-4 renderer, but the object metadata it works on (OAMD) is the same format TrueHD Atmos tracks carry, so it applies directly. It is also the only object renderer with a public spec. Dolby’s own renderer is not available to apps: the one inside the Apple TV is used by tvOS for Dolby Digital Plus, and apps cannot feed TrueHD into it.
One correction to my comment above - I simplified the rendering step. I will cover it properly in an Under the Hood post soon.
On “nearly”: with both set to 7.1.4, the speaker count, the lossless source and the object positions driving the result are the same. The AVR additionally knows which height variant you installed (Front Height vs Top Front vs Top Middle), runs Dolby’s reference renderer with its extra hints such as object size and zones, and renders for your exact setup. We render to the nominal positions from the standard. For most material it is hard to tell apart. Your distances, levels and room correction apply the same either way."
What ETSI TS 103 448 is. A public technical specification, AC-4 Object Audio Renderer for Consumer Use (V1.1.1, September 2016), published by the joint broadcast committee of the EBU, CENELEC and ETSI and free to download from ETSI. It describes, step by step, how a home device turns audio objects and their position metadata into speaker feeds, and lists the speaker layouts it supports: 2.0/2.1, 5.1, 7.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2, 7.1.4 and two larger broadcast layouts (10.2 and 22.2). It is a published specification rather than open-source code, and it was written for the object metadata of AC-4, Dolby's broadcast and streaming codec (ETSI TS 103 190-2), not for TrueHD or DTS:X.
Height speaker positions. TS 103 448 selects one of a fixed set of layouts and gives each speaker one fixed position: 5.1.4 and 7.1.4 assume top front and top back speakers, 5.1.2 and 7.1.2 top middle speakers. It has no setting for other height positions, such as front height, which a receiver lets you choose. A renderer that follows the specification therefore renders to those positions, whatever is installed. Offering such a setting would mean departing from the specification. That is possible in principle, but Native Player does not offer it at the time of writing.
What this does not establish: the specification does not say that a receiver's Dolby Atmos or DTS:X renderer produces the same result, and the developer's answers do not describe DTS:X. That TrueHD Atmos carries the same object metadata format as AC-4, and that differences are "hard to tell apart" for most material, are the developer's statements; no independent comparison with a receiver's render is known. The specification itself lists object size and zone metadata among its inputs; whether Native Player's renderer uses them is not stated. The developer describes the first explanation as simplified and has announced a fuller one. Why this matters for where sounds end up: spatial fidelity.
Sources: Native Player developer (lexqqq) in the Native Player 2.0.1 thread on r/NativePlayer: reply of 7 November 2026 (screenshot) and reply of 8 November 2026 · ETSI TS 103 448 V1.1.1, scope (clause 1), input metadata (table 2), playback parameters (table 3), layouts and speaker positions (Annex A, tables A.1 and A.5–A.8) · Dolby on AC-4 and TS 103 190 · S52.
29. 3D on Apple TV. The Apple TV cannot send frame-packed 3D to a TV, which is the form a 3D Blu-ray's MVC second view needs. Firecore, the maker of Infuse, says that MVC files therefore play in 2D in Infuse and that "No app can play 3D MVC as 3D on apple hardware". Side-by-side and top-and-bottom 3D files need no special signalling and play in Infuse; the TV must then be switched to the matching 3D mode. Native Player does not list 3D support, and the Apple TV limit applies to every app.
Sources: Firecore forum, 3D MVC files, replies of 3–4 December 2022, and 3D video support, reply of 27 September 2017.
30. Precision without the enhancement layer. Profile 7's HEVC base layer is 10-bit. Discarding FEL loses its residual contribution; a higher-bit-depth HDMI carrier cannot recreate that missing source information. However, reshaping, colour conversion and display mapping can operate at higher precision, so source bit depth alone does not establish output sample precision. The Shield and Zidoo cells describe their source path, not an HDMI precision measurement. MEL has no active FEL residual, but still requires appropriate metadata handling.
Sources: Dolby Vision bitstream profiles, table 1: Profile 7 base layer is 10-bit HEVC · Shield note 27 · HT2 Tweak's register, note 24.
31. Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd generation): reported Dolby Vision spatial dithering. DMDreview's S905X5M video reports a fixed grid/stripe pattern in low-order output bits under CoreELEC (0:37–1:40), and similar Dolby Vision behaviour in Kodi on stock Google TV (1:41–1:56). Stock Google TV FEL reconstruction is not demonstrated; that test must not be read as equivalent FEL support.
The author interprets the pattern as spatial/ordered dithering consistent with a lower-precision processing stage feeding a 12-bit Dolby Vision signal. The exact internal bit depth and a permanent silicon limitation are interpretations, not established by output texture alone. The table records the reported pattern rather than a measured internal 10-bit pipeline. Exact CoreELEC build, firmware and capture chain remain to be documented; this does not qualify every SamuriHL build.
The report describes the pattern across tested DV profiles 5, 7 and 8, but not ordinary HDR playback. It suggests possible close-up visibility; no controlled viewing result establishes a normal-distance quality penalty. Do not generalise to S905X5, S905X5-J/AM9 Pro or every new Amlogic chip. FEL contribution and reconstruction precision remain separate properties.
Evidence: preliminary video report; full audiovisual/method audit pending. Video, 0:37 · Test summary · S63.