Device Profiles
Dubby automatically detects your device and chooses the best playback strategy. Here’s what each client supports natively.
Web (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
Section titled “Web (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)”| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| Video | H.264, VP9, AV1 (no HEVC) |
| Audio | AAC, Opus, FLAC — stereo only |
| Max resolution | 4K |
| HDR | Not supported |
| Transport | HTTP Range for MP4; HLS for everything else |
| Direct play | MP4/MOV containers only |
Browsers cannot decode HEVC via MediaSource Extensions, so HEVC content is always transcoded to H.264. Audio is limited to stereo.
Apple TV (tvOS)
Section titled “Apple TV (tvOS)”| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| Video | HEVC, H.264 |
| Audio | AAC, AC3, EAC3, FLAC — up to 7.1 channels |
| Max resolution | 4K |
| HDR | HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision P5 |
| Transport | HTTP Range for MP4/MOV; HLS for everything else |
| Direct play | MP4/MOV/M4V containers |
Apple TV uses fMP4 segments for HEVC content (MPEG-TS causes silent video). DTS and TrueHD audio are transcoded to AC3.
Android TV (generic)
Section titled “Android TV (generic)”| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| Video | HEVC, H.264, VP9 |
| Audio | AAC, AC3, EAC3, DTS, Opus, FLAC — up to 5.1 channels |
| Max resolution | 4K |
| HDR | HDR10, HLG (Dolby Vision disabled) |
| Transport | Always HLS |
| Audio passthrough | AC3/EAC3 via HDMI |
Generic Android TV devices always use HLS because ExoPlayer cannot detect container format from extensionless URLs. Dolby Vision is disabled due to ExoPlayer decoder compatibility issues.
NVIDIA Shield Pro
Section titled “NVIDIA Shield Pro”| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| Video | HEVC, H.264, VP9 |
| Audio | AAC, AC3, EAC3, DTS, TrueHD, Opus, FLAC — up to 7.1 channels |
| Max resolution | 4K |
| HDR | HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision P5/P7/P8 |
| Transport | HTTP Range for MP4/MOV/MKV/WebM; HLS for others |
| Direct play | MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM containers |
| Special | Full lossless audio passthrough, native Dolby Vision decode |
The Shield Pro is the most capable client — it supports MKV containers natively (no remuxing needed), lossless audio passthrough via HDMI, and native Dolby Vision decoding. If you want the best possible quality with zero transcoding, the Shield Pro is the recommended device.
Choosing the right device
Section titled “Choosing the right device”| Priority | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Best quality, zero transcoding | NVIDIA Shield Pro |
| Great quality, Apple ecosystem | Apple TV 4K |
| Good quality, affordable | Any Android TV device |
| Convenience, no extra hardware | Web browser |