As I said, it’s a limitation of the MPV build for Windows. MPV itself cannot output HDR, although they are working on adding support. Once they do, it will work in Plex too.
It’s the HDR stuff and another good example is collections. You get things to a point and then it never progresses because it seems like Plex just moves on to something else. No one with a 4K HDR TV is going to want to use the Plex app to play their 4K HDR Movies and TV shows that they’re ripped when it can’t do HDR.
Collections are the same way. People want collections and Plex finally gives in and adds collection support. But we can’t exclude collections that have one item in it and it doesn’t pull down the artwork from TMDB. It hasn’t been changed or updated to meet the requests since it’s been out.
Now I say these things and on the other side the Plex server tied to other apps (like MrMC, Infuse, Kodi, etc) work fantastic, and I’m very happy to support both the Plex development and the app developers. I’d prefer to use one app across the board, but that’s the proverbial promised land that I don’t think we’ll really get to in the near term. I’m happy with Plex and I’m not running off to anything else for the server, but on the app side…
That’s only in the beta, so thanks for being a tester!
Ah cool.
I just love the Ariana skin. Kinda clean like tvOS, and I’m really a non Apple person.
That said I did have an ATV4K and i still consider it the best client I owned.
I actually loved the native Plex app (the first official Plex app I really took to)
Infuse… Well the openness just can’t be faulted. What’s coming in the next 3 or 4 releases is like a parallel universe to Plex.
Strangely MrMC on the ATV 4K just never worked out for me at all, so when Passthru went so the did the ATV 4K.
Generally though MrMC on the Shield is probably the most complete client I have used. Doesn’t care whether the subs are external srt or embedded pgs.
Doesn’t care if you want want to change those subs on the fly or indeed audio track.
Whatever you change during playback it’s seamless.
It took a while to figure out the support forums, but almost certainly the client I will stick with.
@vonkobalus
Just to tag you in.
Hopefully you read this AND then read further in this thread.
Officially, currently you are absolutely not getting HDR in Plex Media Player because it’s currently impossible.
As mentioned in our earlier posts it may look bright, but that’s nothing to do with HDR.
In the future, well, that’s different.
Thx @Xhaka … yes, I already checked this thread and it’s pretty much the same as everywhere … some says PMP supports HDR, some says it does not, some says it’s HDR->SDR conversion/mapping (so it supports it but not actually process and output proper HDR) … a mess 
(just ctrl+f hdr in this thread) … Anyway, I will just stop messing around with HDR at this time and just wait until things are more clear.
I would also like to comment in general regarding Plex players. In my point of view the biggest issue is not the interface or changing skins or the general user experience. Of course this is crucial and very important for a media player, but in the end by far the most important feature is how a player actually processes and outputs the media (video and/or audio).
When I play an audio stream which is recorded in 44kHz/16bit I also want to hear it this way! Not some downsample/convert/etc. When a movie is recorded in 4K with ATMOS 11.2 audio I want to see it and hear it the way it is recorded. Not some downsample/convert/etc.
Unfortunately in case of Plex this is a mess. Plex for Android / Plex for Xbox / Plex on PC / Plex on Apple / … they all behave differently on the same media and they simply enforce various limitations and conversions (even though hardware and underlying software platform supports all the needed features). The general standpoint from Plex developers is “don’t worry, we’ll make sure the media is played for you the best way possible” … well, that’s just not enough. We’re in 2019, hardware is extremely powerful (even phones can do 4K, HDR, Dolby, etc.) and the major flavors of Plex players (at least on PC/Xbox/Shield/Apple) would have to support the current state of technology that is used in media … because we’re not talking science fiction here, but something that is standard in cinemas for a couple of years and has hardware support for years (even HDR is now already an “old” technology).
The result is that you stream a 4K HDR Dolby Atmos movie and what you see on your display is actually something only close to it. Plex is not an open source community, but a company who’s charging for their subscriptions, therefore it is very reasonable from us to demand and expect a viewing experience, suitable for the time we live in.
@vonkubalos:
I would would like to have an option to disable all transcoding! Quite often Plex unexpectedly starts transcoding something that should be Direct Play or Direct Stream.
Reading the logs where they evaluate the file or stream and then decide what to do, doesn’t help me to understand what is going on.
Rather get the message ”Can’t play xxx due to yyyy” where the reason is clearly stated.
I have spent hours trying to play a movie I watched before until it turned out that my son had enabled subtitles from another platform and in PMP you can’t disable subtitles until you start watching… (at least it wasn’t possible then)
There are two things that make me crazy. The first one is a bug (theoretically a feature, I’m told) that automatically turns on subtitles if you change audio tracks (for example, stereo to surround).even though both audio tracks are in your preferred language, and you have specifically set your preferences to show subtitles with foreign audio only
And the other one is that Plex remembers forever and forever that you at some time selected a particular audio track or subtitle. At some point in time, Plex needs to forget that selection, but it never does. It’s written in stone, apparently. It is also classified as a “feature”
It’s inexcusable that the last official build of PMP for the Raspberry Pi is from October 26, 2017.
Seriously???
Thank goodness that some people are trying to make unofficial builds but they shouldn’t have to. This is an embarrassment for Plex. The Pi used to be the flagship Plex client by virtue of PHT, and then RasPlex. Now both are dead and we’re left with an ancient, outdated version of the client people like the least (but is the only one left working).
I want to use my Raspberry Pi again. Using the Roku remote to type in a search via cursoring through a single line alphabetic keyboard is about as fun as getting a root canal. At least on the RasPi I can flip over my airmouse and voila, I have a QWERTY keyboard.
Yes, RasPi is my favourite too! Cheap and small well performing hardware, easy installation and easy to add remotes with LIRC or Flirc or a keyboard.
It can’t do 4k, which I could be one reason for the lack of love. As we don’t have a 4K AVR and too slow internet for streaming 4K it doesn’t bother me right now. We have a 4K TV but no HDR which I think has a bigger impact than going from HD to 4K.
We run the version 2.27 RasPi without any problems!
Available here: https://nightlies.plex.tv/public-test/plexmediaplayer/embedded-testing/
I have no idea why Plex hasn’t released this as an official version.
As far as Im aware there hasn’t even ever been an official build for embedded PMP since v1
Unofficial builds of official clients, or indeed 3rd party clients as you say just shouldn’t be needed. I’m just grateful they are.
In my case the issue I mentioned earlier in MrMC is fixed. Other than that I tend to use the smart tv Plex app for convenience if I’m just watching a couple of episodes when home from work.
Considered to be one of the lowest/slowest denominators in clients the Plex Smart TV app ( on an LG OLED) definitely fits the slow category. Meanwhile I have the Emby app on the same TV and its blazingly fast and easy to navigate. If that’s down to the Emby client being built better or the fact that Emby server is faster and therefore talks to the client faster (or a combination of the two) I have no idea.
But i have often read on here how Smart TV apps are a poor choice and they are but only in Plex.
Lastly as mentioned I have Emby installed yet again. I don’t use it but it is incredibly fast (V4). As we stand now the only thing that keeps me with Plex is Tautulli (Ain’t it cool that something 3rd party is the only reason I still have PMS installed.)
But time will tell. Either Plex will deliver on Elans promises and I will be happy enough or they don’t and Emby is already there and updated for use.
RasPlex is only of interest to nerds & geeks. Likewise for PMP. Most won’t want to use a HTPC when there are such great, cheap clients as Amazon Fire TV 4K, Apple TV 4K, & Nvidia Shield. You only have to see all the screaming from Roku users about the new UI that amazingly seems to have forced an unprecedented U-turn by Plex. It’s clear that dedicated client boxes are the way forward. Plex really should concentrate their funds on development & support of a limited set of mainstream clients & forget about niche products.
Really?
You don’t need a dedicated PC for PMP.
Chances are most people already have one running as the server.
Niche product? .
I’m fairly sure more people in the world own that niche (be it PC or Mac) product than Roku, ATV, Shield, Fire TV combined.
If Plex would promote the Apple TV as their main platform and if it would be a plan to support it for the next few years I would go an buy an Apple TV 4K today.
After running Plex HT and the PMP on Mac for a while I bought a Raspberry Pi when Plex released their prime product PMP on RPi. Finally, I thought, now I have a long term solution, but it turned out not…
Well, the RPi is perhaps outdated, and ATV4 means I can run Netflix and Plex on the same box so I might upgrade, but if Plex abandon the ATV I have to look for something else again.
The ATV 4K is still the best device I have used.
Sadly Apple seem to have abandoned HD Audio.
It’s hardly like Plex will abandon the ATV 4K with all the current devopment of the new player for it.
@elan I hope you can see the frustration that your customers face with the way that plex operates.
How about a feature freeze and bug jam? Make some real headway on issues that people are having to live with day in/day out with Plex that seemingly go ignored/unfixed.
It’s all very well adding the next great thing, but if the last great thing and the thing before that are broken then it’s just a mess off your own creation.
I and others have reported a bug many times with the shield (and possibly other Android TV players) using remote settings when playing over the LAN, this is an annoying bug and has been outstanding for a long time. Luckily I now have a member of staff asking for logs which show the problem in action, so hopefully something will come out of this, but there’s something fundamentally broken with the way that you guys deal with bug reports from customers, many of us paying.
I’m fairly sure that the overwhelming majority of PC & Mac owners don’t have them connected to their TV & don’t want them connected to the TV.
I have been playing about with Home Theatre since laserdisc days & have been through a whole series of HTPCs with remotes & varying degrees of complexity in setup. No PC or Mac has been the perfect Home Theatre client & I really appreciate today’s simplicity of using £100-150 client with a decent remote & UI.
nvidia shield
perhaps it aint perfect, but it direct plays pretty much anything, and it has all the apps available to android including all the big streaming players.
The ATV 4K is the best Plex client that I have used too with either MrMC or the official Plex client beta.
I also occasionally use the ATV 4K for BBC iPlayer & Amazon Prime Video & it works well. A longstanding omission among streaming services on tvOS here in the UK was the All4 (Channel 4) app even though oddly there was always an iOS app but that finally appeared a month or two ago after being promised for over a year.
I own both.
And still the ATV 4K is Still the best I have used. Sadly crippled by Apple themselves.
The Shield certainly the best alround device especially for anyone with an AV receiver.
Fortunately MrMC or flinging means I don’t endure the hideous UI, or ever suffer from the “your server is not fast enough…” message.
