My PMS is running on a Windows 10 box (AMD quad-core A8-6600K 3.9ghz). My tuner is an HDHR Connect. I primarily watch Plex through my Apple TV 4 and Xbox One and occasionally through Chromecast or my S7 phone. The problem that I have is that when I try to watch recordings from Plex DVR and I skip through commercials the playback will freeze. The ATV4 skips forward a miserly 10 seconds at a time and the freeze can sometimes take up to 1 minute. Most of the time I can successfully skip nearly instantaneously through the first set of commercials but the second set is where the issue usually shows itself. Sometimes the issue happens with the very first skip during playback.
One way to avoid the issue that I came up with is using a post processing script to call HandBrake and converting to the “Fast 720p30” preset. There are 2 issues with this. One, I definitely notice a decrease in quality (which is somewhat okay) and two, it takes 1 hour to convert 1 hour of video (I’d like to eliminate this step or speed it up). Funny thing is that, 2 hour DVD movies rip in 20 minutes or less using HandBrake.
So, any recommendations? I want to buy another tuner, should it be another HDHR Connect or would an HDHR Extend be wise or should I look at one of the other supported tuners? I’m okay about replacing the HDHR Connect and owning 2 Extends. I also want to have smooth playback with any future enhancements for the DVR such as Live TV and timeshifting.
I’m also considering buying an Nvidia Shield TV and moving my PMS to it. Which tuner works best for that? Will client devices like ATV4 have issues with skipping through commercials?
