[guide] - best plex media players - aka what should I buy?

General Discussions
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(THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS)

Lets work together to compile an extensive list of all the common plex players, what codecs and features they support and don’t support, pros/cons/good/bad/ugly, known issues, etc

name brand streaming devices

“smart” TV’s with available plex client
note: there are no known tv’s that will support HD audio through plex. Even with E-ARC, which appears thus far to only work via HDMI, not software/apps.

plex for windows/mac (newer plex desktop app) - https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/#plex-app

plex media player (for HTPC/TV mode) - Plex Media Player

other - random/offbrand/android or custom os based devices with potentially questionable support

any other popular devices/clients I missed ?

OK, pick a client, preferably one YOU already own and/or have direct experience with, and post what you know, and what you think everyone else should know about it.

this top post will be updated over time based on comments from you.

please keep in mind, this is not a support or rant thread, but to provide helpful info and feedback for the benefit of all.

If you need help or support or want to rant, please create your own thread and try to provide all much details as possible including specific plex versions (latest is NOT a version), what the problem(s) is, how to reproduce, and logs and screenshots etc.

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My primary plex client is Shield 2017 500g.
pros

  • supports pretty much everything other than dolby vision (single layer DV supported on 2019 model)
  • video - 4k/hdr/uhd/hevc/x265/x264/avc/mpeg2
  • audio - dolby digital/plus/truehd+atmos, dts/hd/ma, pcm/flac
  • subtitles - srt/pgs (can’t remember if it will direct play ass subtitles)
  • can run as plex server, includes 500g drive
  • very well supported by nvidia and plex

cons

  • expensive
  • crappy remote (better remote on 2019 model)

other

  • uses android tv (for better or worse)

known issues

  • new/experimental plex player still has many problems (can be disabled in the plex settings)
    – videos do not get marked as watched correctly
    – random crashes or other interruptions to playback
    – subtitles more difficult to access/enable/disable (UI)
    – player stopping at specific time intervals related to server settings > network > “Terminate Sessions Paused for Longer Than” (set to zero to prevent playback interruption)
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