When watching live TV, the image is letter boxed; but when playing back the same content after recording , the image is full screen (16:9). The same content using the same settings also displays full screen (16:9) on other Nvidia Shield TV apps (Android Live Channels, HDHomeRun) and in Windows Plex App when watching live.
My setup:
Nvidia Shield TV (2015) w/ latest FW (used as PMS)
Plex Media Server w/ latest FW
HDHomeRun Extend w/latest FW
HDHR Transcode Quality set to High Quality (30fps limit)
I’m no expert, but it seems to me that something his happening during the de-interlacing process. I know 1280x540 is still considered 720p, but I find it coincidental that the live tv image looks like its missing vertical line info (i.e. 540 lines instead of 720) and compressing the image resulting in the letter boxing. What I can’t figure out is why this would only present itself during live viewing but not during playback.
Because the issue doesn’t present itself anywhere but live tv viewing through the Nvidia Shield TV Plex App, I have to believe the root cause is coming from the app itself.
I have a similar issue with my Plex system as well. When I watch my HDHomeRun Connect through VLC or direct on my smart tv, standard definition channels fill up the whole screen. When I watch SD channels through Plex or through Plex DVR, there is a black box surrounding the video.
When watching live TV, the image is letter boxed; but when playing back the same content after recording , the image is full screen (16:9). The same content using the same settings also displays full screen (16:9) on other Nvidia Shield TV apps (Android Live Channels, HDHomeRun) and in Windows Plex App when watching live.
I have the same issue during Live TV playback on a FireTV Stick - so the issue isn’t limited to nVidia Shield.
When watching live TV, the image is stretched/letter boxed; but when playing back the same content after recording , the image is full screen (16:9). The same content using the same settings displays properly on the HDHomeRun FireTV app, and in Windows on both the Plex App and Web player when watching live.
To get the Live TV image to display properly in Windows, I had to disable the hardware acceleration checkbox on the Plex Server transcoder settings. However, this did not correct the problem for FireTV.
Digging into this a little further I found the UK channels are broadcast (by Freeview) using MPEG-4 DVB-T2, while the irish channels (by Soarview) are broadcast in DVB-T/MPEG-4 format
Did anyone find a fix to this issue? I’m experiencing the same squished letterbox view on some channels when viewing live tv through Plex with a HDHomeRun connect and android TV client (Sony TV). I haven’t worked out a way to get around it yet. I bought a lifetime Plex Pass specifically for live tv and haven’t had a wife friendly experience with it to date. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
I’ve noticed this issue also. Saw it on my nVidia Shield, LG Plex app, and now my Apple TV 4K unit. I just turned off the commercial removal setting (as it was pretty unreliable) and noticed during commercials it’s not there. But as soon as it goes back to the program it is. So obviously something is happening when Plex is recording the show. Super annoying, wish Plex wold fix this.
