Context; So… Just bought a brand new TV and life is good, but I should have done more research before buying it. I primarily want to use PLEX for watching media on the TV. However, due to “smart TV’s” not being smart and being rather slow because most current TV operating systems are either bloated or just riddled with ads.
Question; So Plex is there, but it runs very poorly. What are the best options out there to get this running smoothly? Are the only options AppleTV and Amazon Firestick? Anyone been in this boat before that have any tips-n-tricks to share?
Ps. I hate ads, so the Firestick is of off the charts.
Much appreciated
Do you have a games console? Xbox & PlayStation have Plex apps and are able to handle lots of file formats nativity. HDMI CEC is pretty neat too, you can use your tv remote to control media and navigate Plex on the console.
My experience with PS4/PS5 playback wasn’t great. They don’t have as many video codes as say, a simple streaming stick like Roku.
You could try one of these.
onn. Google TV 4K Streaming Box (New, 2023), 4K UHD resolution https://www.walmart.com/ip/2835618394
Have the 4k one, works great light years faster than the TV os for everything
These are surprisingly decent. I have the non 4k one from a few years ago and even that is faster than smart tvs I’ve used.
No thanks: https://killedbygoogle.com
Buddy, I’ve still got an original Chromecast I use daily.
Ditto. Got the 1st gen usb style, the 2nd gen puck, and the last ultra that came out before they had a full on OS and remote controls and shit. All 3 of em in use daily to this day.
$20 for what seems to be a good streaming device ain’t bad, but I can understand where you’re coming from.
I have nvidia shields in basically every room of my house
Also has ads
I run an Apple TV, but jeep tire shield got the home theater
Those things are incredibly expensive, I don’t think I could even afford one of them.
What makes them worth the extra money compared to say, a raspberry pi? I’m assuming Nvidia shield runs some version of Linux and is just as compatible with all the various packages and services you might want to run on a media device (such as a Plex server for starters of course), but what can it do that the pi came, to justify it’s more than double the cost?
Ai upscaling, more ram, android so you can sideload apps, game streaming
Pi 4s come in 4 and 8gb ram varients (both being more than the shield), can run android, and are more than cabable of game streaming. Ai Upscaling is gross, imo. Additionally for the price of an nvidia shield you could get the new Pi 5 with a better cpu and more i/o
I love my shields 🤷, out of the box I don’t have to do really anything like install an os etc
Apple TV? No ads, works well with Plex, bypasses crappy TV “smart” features.
This is the way. The TV is the Cadillac of Plex players, and pretty affordable for the quality of the device, especially considering it is an Apple product.
Is “the Cadillac of ____” still a relevant reference? It’s been a minute since the Cadillac brand has been known for quality.
He mean Lexus, but he ain’t know it.
It’s been a long time since anyone actually used a rule of thumb too, but it is recognized enough as a colloquialism to still be used in a sentence and understood as a metaphor. That is how I was using Cadillac here—not to refer to an actual Cadillac, but rather the pop cultural conception of what a Cadillac is supposed to mean.
Great Point 👍
The song I’m listening to from 2022 literally just said “Woke up in a Cadillac” too. 😆
The idea of a Cadillac is strong, even if the Cadillac itself is not, lol.
I stopped using Plex a few years ago. Now I just cast the video to a Chromecast. VLC or cast via browser.
It’s not going to work for remote, but if all you want to do is cast movies to a TV, it’s a simple solutionAlso as a bonus, you can cast a lot a streaming media without commercials by using an adblocker.
How does not one bring up jellyfin? Plex but foss.
Can it do transcoding and subtitles?
Subtitles yes. Not sure about transcoding. VLC is a pretty robust application with decades of development.
Okay - googled and yes https://wiki.videolan.org/Transcode/ And I believe most modern browsers will support this and casting, so you can always just open the local media file with your preferred browser and cast it that way
If you have a XBox you could try Jellyfin as there are apps that run pretty well on it. There’s also an Android app so you could grab a $50 TV box from AliExpress and do it that way too. It’ll also work via a web browser.
Jellyfin is also open source with no subscription fees for advanced features nor all the bloat that’s tacked onto Plex as well. It’s got a clean interface that I quite like too. It can take a little more work to get running though.
Also, the reason it’s running poorly is likely because Plex has no hardware encoding at all unless you pay for it. When I tested it there was a huge difference for me in playback smoothness with it.
i love my rokus. they can run plex and jellyfin without a hitch
Second this, yes advertisements, but Roku doesn’t like auto play videos and shit, solid little devices.
Rokus are cheap. So are Chromecasts. We have the same issue with our TV.
Hell, even an old laptop can be loaded up with Linux for a set top box experience via Kodi or Plex directly. You can use Kdeconnect to turn your phone into a mouse/keyboard input over your wifi.
Google TV with Chromecast seems to work and it’s relatively cheap. I do get occasional stutters every now and then. Honestly, if you want the most flawless solution, running Plex from a computer and plugging that into your TV will outperform everything else.
So… People are saying apple tv, but if you hate ads, and also watch YouTube, then this is not the way. If you go with something androidTV based, you can side load smarttube plus, which not only will block ads without YouTube premium, but it also has sponsor block built in, which will skip sponsored sections in videos.
I use a nvidia shield since it supports the widest range of direct play standards (h265, Dolby atmos, hdr10 / Dolby vision, support for refresh rate and output resolution switching, so on)
There’s tons of other androidTV based boxes to go with, but thats what my research ~3 years ago brought me to get, and ive been pretty happy with them. The only con is that it doesn’t like Ethernet cables that dont have a metal shielding on the rj45 connector. Not sure why, but yeah
Same situation, got a 4k Roku and it’s been an absolute godsend for 3rd party apps!
So yeah, my vote is for a 4k Roku, I think they’re a lot cheaper than an Nvidia Shield as well.
With a pihole you can block all ads and tracking on the Roku, too. I’ve got five of them and they’re all in a special group to limit tracking, and they all primarily run Plex
I will always recommend buying or building a small home theater PC (htpc). Then you get a wireless keyboard with a connected track pad and you are set.
If you are more tech savvy, you can save money and recycle by simply installing Linux on an old laptop/pc that you are not using and plugging it into your monitor.
I assume you are talking about the Plex client or the server too? Client wise, the shield is still excellent as other folks have mentioned but I have been using Apple TVs lately, the client is snappy and works well. I have one of the first gen 4k ones and it plays everything I have tried to play. I got tired of the adds on the android devices and the Rokus have even gotten annoying lately so that’s what prompted me to switch.
ETA: in case someone is wondering, I also use the Home Assistant integration with my Apple TVs and it is superb.
I recommend a Roku streaming stick or a Roku streambar if you need a decent sound bar too. That’s what we use on our “smart” TVs and I hate ads too. Full disclosure: they do put one ad on the homescreen off to the side, but none in the actual content apps. You’ll only see it while between apps.
I have a streaming stick in the bedroom, and it’s much slower than my LG C8. I’d say the C8 is double the performance. Acceptable, but not good.
I completely believe that, assuming it’s one of the non-4K sticks. The older generation models are rather wimpy and slow (we had one that we replaced for exactly this reason), but any of the newer 4K-capable devices have been snappy and responsive.
Personally, I like having a full fledged PC connected to my TV. Currently I’m using a Beelink T4 running Ubuntu. The PC is under my direct administrative control, so no surprises with ads or other things.
Power consumption may be slightly higher than an NVIDIA Shield or Roku, but at 24w at full tilt for the Beelink it cannot be that much more.
The same Beelink machine comes with Windows 10 as well, if you’d rather have Windows.
What do you run in Ubuntu for your content display? I currently run Rokus to access my Jellyfin server but have plenty of unused PC hardware which could replace the Roku.
I haven’t found any family friendly (read: idiot proof) way to make the PC as easy to use as the Roku.
Not who you asked but I rub my jellyfin server in the browser on my media box. If yiy cab click on the link saved on the desktop you cab access the server
I do the same as averyfalken, just run everything in the browser.
No you won’t get 4k, but it does work for 1080P. You can run the Plex client on PC for 4k media.
That would work for plex. But if one also wants Disney Plus, Netflix or Prime, that wont work (or with really limited quality)
If you need 4k, then I can see your point. My TV is 1080P, so the browser works just fine.
None of these services provide 1080P through a browser. Netflix can be hacked todo so with a different use agent and does play up to 4k on MS Edge on some windows Laptops, but other then that its 480p or 720p, depending on service.
