Best client for NAS with no transcoding capabilities

General Discussions
1

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the plex world and must admit I love it ! I am setting up a NAS Synology DS216J with no transcoding capability wahtsoever et was wondering which client would be most appropriate so that it won’t need transcoding ? It needs to be wife approved so I am leaning toward Apple TV 4, Roku 4 or Nvidia Shield (ATV would be best for me !) Most of my movies are 1080P h264 AC3 or DTS.

Thanks !

2

An ATV4 is not the best partner for a non-transcoding server such as your little Syno.
Even the Roku has its little quirks which prevent it from Direct Playing a few files.
The best chances you’ll have with the nVidia Shield.

The absolute best client in terms of non-transcoding are the PC clients OpenPHT and PMP though.

3

Thanks for the quick reply ! Yeah I figured a PC client would be best, but not very easy to use for the wife/kids… Would my PS4 do the trick ? What are the Roku’s limitations comapred to the Nvidia Shield ?

4

@alioua_yassine@hotmail.com said:
Would my PS4 do the trick ?

Stay away from it. Way worse.

What are the Roku’s limitations comapred to the Nvidia Shield ?

it has a very weird restriction in regard to ‘reference frames’ even though your files is perfectly valid under the H.264 level 4.1 profile.
For more ‘peculiarities’ you better ask in the Roku subforum, as I personally don’t have one and there for am not the best source.

5

… if I may…

A quick read down the initial threads of The Nvidia Shield Forum may reveal a general feeling that the thing isn’t quite ready for Prime Time: https://forums.plex.tv/categories/nvidia-shield
I’d let the ‘Beta-Testers’ do their work for a while and keep checking in for better news.

A Roku is cheap. A Roku 3 is cheap and is user approved and highly recommended, but it - like everything else - has it’s quirks.
I have two of them. I also have a FireTV, I_Stuff, Android Phones and the usual suspects for Computers - OpenPHT, Plex app for Windows and the trusty Plexweb.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort on my part to create material that will direct play on a Roku and that miraculously trickles down to a direct play condition on all the other devices that may meld with my server and become one.

It’s just a matter of finding the correct recipe (video stream, audio stream and container) that everyone likes and stick with it. Sometimes this does require a little preemptive maintenance, but with the right software and even the odd recode it’s not difficult to do.

@OttoKerner said:
it has a very weird restriction in regard to ‘reference frames’ even though your files is perfectly valid under the H.264 level 4.1 profile.

Reference Frames are highly over-rated and IMO only used to excess by those who have no encoding skills to speak of. I use 4 for everything and everybody is happy.

6

Ok, so final word an openpht such as the raspberry pi would be best, but box wise the roku 4 is the choice to go with.

Thanks guys !

7

@alioua_yassine@hotmail.com said:
Ok, so final word an openpht such as the raspberry pi would be best, but box wise the roku 4 is the choice to go with.

Thanks guys !

Nobody said anything about the Roku 4. The Roku 4 is something to be avoided.
The Roku 3 is time tested and user approved.

8

@alioua_yassine@hotmail.com said:
Ok, so final word an openpht such as the raspberry pi would be best,

Although the Raspberry Pi runs a kind of OpenPHT, its hardware prevents it Direct Playing some formats a “full” OpenPHT on regular PC hardware will Direct Play.
Namely 10 bit (Hi-)color, HEVC, 4K, and Atmos

Don’t get me wrong, it is a fine Plex client, but you have to be aware of its limitations.