The Shield is also one of the only Android TV devices that passes on HD audio codecs, so if you stream any Blu-ray rips with DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD and you want passthrough to work correctly, you probably want a Shield.
What's your budget? The Walmart ones might be all you need. Do you really need it to be Android TV? I have both Roku and Google TV clients. I like the Roku one, but not a fan of the closed ecosystem (can't side load or adb).
You shouldn't need anything crazy to play your media, but if you go with Google/Android please replace the default launcher. You will very happy then lol.
You can sideload Roku devices. Hit a button combo on the remote and it enables developer mode and a web page you can upload the package to. It's been a long while since I've messed with it so I don't remember many specifics
The Walmart "onn." has been perfect in my household. Dirt cheap at $20, degooglable, good remote (you can use an app to rebind the streaming service buttons to apps you actually use). Supports the Google cast protocol and also SmartTubeNext. No ads of any kind on the home screen, because I'm using a custom FOSS launcher.
Me too. Especially because it supports h.265 10 bit and AV1.
With jellyfin you can watch 4K HDR content without transcoding. To be honest, I was a bit impressed.
As far as I'm aware, the Chromecast 4K does not support AV1. The newer Chromecast TV does but does not support 4K. So atm you have to pick between 4K or AV1.
I've used Chromecast, Roku, Amazon fire, and most recently the jellyfin app on my Google tv. My order of preference would be: Android/Google tv app, tie between Roku and fire stick, Chromecast
To my knowledge Android TV isn't any more proprietary than standard Android. The only really proprietary code are the Google Play Services (and Widevine).