Hi all, just wondering what you all think the best tablet for watching movies and tv series and youtube is? Currently have an iPad Air 2 but was thinking of upgrading due to the backlight bleed and low-ish ppi. Looking for a good resolution, possibly an oled screen, decent speakers, and nothing overly expensive.
Best Tablet for Watching Videos?
LdotMonkey on 20/01/2020 - 10:16
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Yeah the idea came to me after seeing the Samsung Galaxy A deal today, was wondering if any other brands are worth looking at too
There's a pretty big gap between iPads and alternatives user experience/app ecosystem wise. That said, watching videos isn't exactly difficult to do on any of them. If you like the user experience of a Samsung tablet (play with one before purchase), then go with that.
That said, I have an iPad Air 2. It has 264 ppi (with a res of 1536x2048). The top of the range (from my <1 minute of googling I did) Samsung (Galaxy Tab S5e) is not that much higher at 290ppi, and if you are only watching Youtube or other videos, I'm not sure how much that matters (unless it is all 4K?) But, on that point, if you ARE looking for 4K Youtube, you will need a tablet that supports it. I'm not too sure about Samsungs, but iPads definitely do not (they don't support the same codec that Youtube uses, but I presume Androids would).
Still rocking the iPadAir2 myself. Screen quality and responsiveness still feels far superior to entry level (or even mid-level) Android devices.
Yeah I'm not too fussed on the operating system since it'll be just for videos. I've also used Android tablets before and own an Android phone so it wouldn't be a problem.
I've also got high quality videos in my Plex library, won't be just Youtube. Looks like I'll just have to play with some in store
Reason I specify Youtube is because Youtube on iOS CANNOT play in 4k. Apple hasn't supported the codec because it is so inferior to HEVC, and Google are too stubborn to make the switch.
Any other video can be played regardless of OS.
But, just to be clear, when you say "high quality" do you mean 4K?
Even the iPad mini has a res of 2,048 x 1,536. The only videos that would benefit from more than that resolution are 4K, thus making PPI a moot factor when deciding. For any other res, the only differences would be colour reproduction and black levels, (ghosting as well if we are scraping the bottom of the tablet barrel), but, dare I say, iPads would only face a fight against the top range of Samsung.
By high quality I mean bluray 1080p and 4k movies and shows.
If getting an upgrade over the Air 2 in movie experience won't be cheap (e.g. the top range Samsung tablets you mentioned), I'll probably just hold out until I upgrade my iPad (intending to get the Pro with the Pencil for uni). Only thing is I can't help thinking the LCD panel will be inferior to a good OLED one.
@dotMonkey: Check some comparison videos to see the quality of the OLEDs. May still be worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcQojLSeIDc for example. Haven't watched it, but it's recent.
@dotMonkey: if you don't want to transcode your mkvs, stay away from iPad. It's not a natively supported format. There are hacks you can use to get them on, but if they're not part of your itunes library, they're not visible to all apps.
If you get an AMOLED tablet (which Apple do not make) they support HDR with Netflix and Youtube.
The resolution on a Tab S6 is higher, and aspect is wider. You'll get huge borders on a 4:3 screen.
@lostn: I don't know why I didn't consider the aspect ratio, thanks!
And that mkv issue might be a dealbreaker, most (maybe all) of my videos are mkvs. Will have a think
Definitely not a sleeping tablet.
I always like the Samsung Tablets - the high end ones have quite nice speakers and fantastic screen, even the lower end ones are quite good. You do get what you pay for with tablets - worth paying a little extra for a good one.