Server Version#: 1.19.4.2902-69560ce1e
Player Version#: Android TV 9, latest Shield app (7.23.0.13018 f9b0a0fb)
Rewinding and fast-forwarding on the Shield app is very confusing. On Roku, the left and right buttons advance by several seconds and show a thumbnail. With the Shield app, fast-forwarding or rewinding seems to be happening differently depending on how you press the left/right buttons or the fast-forward/rewind buttons. There’s no real rhyme or reason to how these work. And without a thumbnail preview like on the Roku, you’re flying completely blind.
Honestly, the Shield is at the top of several lists for the best Plex clients of this year and I’m scratching my head as to why. Between the audio sync issues, frozen frames while the audio continues playing, rewinding/fast-forwarding problems, and lack of cast credits (even after it’s been reported for 3 years)…it’s odd that it gets high praise. The only benefit I can see over the Roku app that I’ve been using is a slight bump in quality.
I see. My Shield came with Plex as an option to download. I assumed that since it was a fresh install, it would have downloaded the latest and continuing to update automatically.
While the new player is okay, it still doesn’t have the previews like Roku. Those are very useful. Not sure why there would be a difference in features when it’s the same product.
Still seeing frozen video while audio continues to play when resuming playing after fast-forwarding and rewinding.
And still no cast. I saw that it was reported back in 2017.
The Plex app is pre-loaded on the Shield (at least it used to be), so the “fresh out of the box” version will always be out of date. I unboxed my Shield years ago (2015 Shield Pro), so can’t speak to what updates are or are not loaded during initial setup of the 2019 models.
For ongoing updates, Plex is updated via the Google Play store, like any other Android TV app. You can set the store to auto-update apps if desired. The setting auto-updates all apps. There is no per-app setting.
There is a lag between when updates are released and when they will be downloaded to the Shield. Plex usually does a staged rollout, so some people will get an update before others. I’ve never tried to time it, but updates have always been available within 24 - 48 hours of their release. I’m in the USA. The timeline may vary for other locations.
You can subscribe to the announcement thread (see prior post) to be notified when updates are available. Scroll to the bottom of the thread and change “Normal” to “Watching.”
Preview pictures would be nice.
There are differences between platforms. On Android devices, Plex uses ExoPlayer, the video player that is part of Android. The desktop apps, Plex for Windows/Mac and Plex Media Player, use mpv.io. I’m not sure what is used on Roku devices.
The lack of preview pics may have something to do with the different players used on different platforms. ← I’m not a developer & have no insight into inner workings of Plex, so just speculation on my part.
I’ve experienced the frozen video problem on two different Shields (one had extreme audio sync issues so I exchanged).
I’m just going to return the Shield. The Hulu app is terrible and there are sync issues 50% of the time (at best). Then the shortcomings in the Plex Shield app aren’t helping. Throwing in the towel on it.
