Hello. I am desparate to get some straight answers because Googling for this stuff seems impossible.
My current setup is as follows:
Synology NAS 1513+ running Plex Server 1.13.4.5271
NVIDIA SHIELD TV running the Plex app on my TV
I recently bought the Hauppauge WinTV-DualHD 1595 because the Plex support page said it supported the NVIDIA SHIELD TV. I didn’t realize that meant the Plex SERVER on the NVIDIA SHIELD TV. I do not use the server on the SHIELD and I have no desire to do so. I don’t want to have my SHIELD on 24/7 to record shows–only my NAS should do that.
It looks like USB device support for my NAS is minimal, so I’m wondering if I should get one of the HDHomeRun devices instead? Does the NAS just act as a hard drive on the network for these devices, and as such there will be no compatability issues with it? Would one of these devices allow me to use the Plex Live TV feature in the Plex app to view the guide and watch/record TV?
Yes, generally you want to go with a networked tuner such as the HDHomeRun Connect or Extend. I recommend the Extend (more expensive but worth it, IMO) because it will do hardware encoding on the fly and be compatible with more clients.
However, if the Shield is your primary client, then I believe the Connect (no transcoding) will work fine.
You connect the tuner to your network, Plex server detects and it and uses whatever folder you specify (e.g. on your NAS) to store recordings that you specify.
I don’t like having more than one Plex server, because then you constantly have to switch between them and play mental gymnastics to remember which shows/movies are on which server.
In any case, I gave up on Live TV anyway because I did not get good reception and for the few shows I tried to record, the audio and video were out of sync. It’s not worth the headache.
