Best client for PGS subtitles support

General Discussions
1

Hi there,

I know there has been multiple discussions about the lack of support for PGS subtitles on certain Plex client - In my case, the Plex app on my Samsung TV - which causes PMS to transcode and max out the CPU. SRT subtitles are too much of a mixed bag.
Also, I found the performance of the Plex App on the Samsung TV unsatisfying - Buffering (Rare but still there) and Fast Forward & Chapter selection take forever.

All the above make me look for an alternative Plex Client and would be looking for some feedback on alternative clients - Nvidia Shield, Apple TV or Amazon Fire.

At this point, I have tested the PC Plex Client and it is pretty much spot on - Performance is perfect (No buffering and fast) and support for PGS subtitles. Only drawback is the need to switch on my PC and the noise of fans.

Is anyone here using Nvidia Shield, Apple TV or Amazon Fire and can share their experience on PGS support and performance?

Many thanks in advance!

2

My FireStick TV 4K does PGS just fine without transcoding, it even does .ass and a few others without triggering transcode. However, 99.9% of the users on this forum will tell you to pick up the 2019 NVIDIA Shield TV Pro, and I don’t disagree with them, it’s a stellar device, if it’s in your budget, I’d be looking towards that.

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3

@JasonNalley I just bought the Nvidia Shield, and indeed, I’m over the moon! It works perfectly:

  • Browsing is more responsive
  • 4k movies start after just 2s buffering
  • AI upscaling works a treat on 1080p content (Although I keep it on Medium/Low as High can introduce artifacts)
  • PGS works AS LONG AS it doesn’t need to transcode audio as well. For example, I will get the same issue with my Dolby-only receiver if I select the DTS soundtrack. Not an issue really, I add both DTS and Dolby soundtrack on MakeMKV. It is just annoying DTS is the default so I need to select Dolby on each movie.
  • Support HDMI-CEC so I can switch on & control all connected devices from the same remote.

It’s not cheap, but not excessively expensive. Tbh, I’m also not such a big fan of the Android interface, but overall, the device is superb! Really happy!

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4

So, I have the same issue with “HD Audio” HD Audio is almost always the default track on any BluRay or UHD BluRay, and I don’t have an HD Audio receiver in the primary space that I watch TV/Movies yet. I have one in the theater room, but we’re only in there a couple times a week, the majority of my watching happens in the living room or my bedroom, both of which have some older soundbars. Since this is the case, I went through my entire movie collection and moved either the 5.1 AC3 track into the first track position and set the default flag and removed the default flag from the other tracks, or, if it didn’t have a 5.1 AC3 track, I transcoded the HD Audio to 5.1 AC3 640kbps. This has stopped all transcoding of audio, which as a result also stops you from having to transcode the video/subtitles if you’re also transcoding audio.

I did this while I transcoded my entire library to x265 though… It’s a little bit more work if you’re just going to swap audio. You can use mkvtoolnix to do the audio change around.

5

With the old Nvidia Shield (2016 I believe), PGS subtitles are an issue causing lot of buffering time and messages such as network too slow. No problem when using SRT

6

Apart from the nVidia Shield, the best support for any type of subtitle is only available in Plex Media Player

7

I cannot confirm this. Whenever I tried pgs it worked.

8

Any reason to recommend the shield pro over the non-pro cylindrically shaped version? (For Plex/subtitle playback)

9

For subs specifically no. There seems to be a few threads with various issues on the tube version in general though.

10

The tube has less memory and is for some reason restricted to 32bit. Some high-bitrate 4k files can max that out.

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11

The Apple TV and iOS apps use the mpv player as default now; it can direct play most subtitle formats: Vobsub, PGS and live tv subtitles.

12

I have considered buying the Shield Pro 2019 for viewing my bluray (& coming UHD) MKV rips, which all have PGS subtitles.

I have read using PGS subtitles will in most cases trigger a transcoding, which i can confirm from using the Plex app on my LG C9 TV connected to my Synology DS216+ via gigabit ethernet. The rips will start transcoding, when the PGS subtitles are enabled and I get an error message stating that the synology is not powerful enough to handle the transcoding.

Have I understood the above correctly that the Shield Pro 2019 with Plex will be able to handle the PGS subtitles without the annoying buffering/transcoding, because my Denon receiver is capable of handling the audio/video codecs via passthrough from the Shield Pro?

All my mkv rips include danish subtitles. I am a bit lazy and I want the subtitles to get the full experience of the film.

Current setup:
LG C9 55"
Denon AVR X3500h (which is 4k, Dolby TrueHD, Atmos, DTS-X compliant)
Synology DS216+

Thanks in advance for your help

13

Totally missed this until now.
Yes. I have the same setup. Denon receiver and Shield Pro. Direct play heaven even with PGS subs.

14

Thanks - now I just need to be patient until it becomes available again :wink:

15

If you don’t need dolby vision you can also try to get your hands on a 2017 model.

16

On the other hand if you watch a lot of animation, you want to wait for the 2019 model. It’s own upsampling is really good.

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17

Not to mention the night and day remotes for the two.
To add though definitely wait for the pro version. Looking at this forum and reddit the tube version apparently has plenty of issues.

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