re: shield 8 - which UI are you referring, android tv or plex ?
in 8, the android tv ui hasn’t really changed (that I have noticed), while plex now has uno has default/only ui.
yes in uno you can clear out any unwanted ‘hubs’ and add only the ones you want.
as far as the ‘network’ issue or playback controls, not sure that I have experienced either issue, at least that I am aware of enough to make notice of.
one thing I do find annoying is often lack of chapters selection on the pause screen.
Yeah I’m actually talking about the Shield UI.
I watched a you tube video showing how basically everything on the home screen can be removed.
The network not fast enough has just been reported as still happening elsewhere in the forum.
The playback controls thing that I’m referring to is evident to all.
Plex insist on truly oversized controls. They insist on you needing to have 40% of the screen taken over by both those controls and all the info on the media you’re watching.
But worst of all when resuming from pause that 40% of the screen is covered for just a fraction under three seconds after playback resumes. So best to hope nothing major happens in those 3 seconds. There really is no need.
Not at home right now but I will try and grab a screenshot when I can to better explain what I mean.
Either way one of the devs confirmed its bad and confirmed it probably won’t change because if the player controls were smaller, apparently users wouldn’t be able to see them.
So if the fact that navigation controls are mostly just a simple bar that pops up and takes no more than 10-15% right at the very bottom of the screen…and close immediately on resume… on every other Plex client I have used, implies that the Shield is designed for the partially sighted I couldn’t say.
On the plus side they did however also say they were looking at a more silent method for a simple pause/resume command. If/When that day comes I may start to consider the Shield seriously again. 
re- the pause delay
yeah I have seen the player controls stay up for a few seconds when paused/unpaused, but you can simply press ‘back’ and they slide down.
the android tv UI itself doesn’t bother me, I couldn’t care as long as I can easily get to the apps I want, and I have been able to arrange the top app shortcut row in whatever order I wanted for a long time.
plex is the first icon, all I have to do is switch to shield input and press enter/select on the remote and I’m in plex without even trying to read or see the rest of the android ui unless I want to watch netflix/amazon/etc.
I wish Plex could get 4k HDR working properly again on the Xbox version, they fixed it a few months ago and now after some more updates it;s broke again. I can direct play fine and after 20 mins it goes into a buffer loop.
Mid way though 2019 these by laws for 4k should be put to rest. 4k is quickly becoming more the norm and the Plex program should be more adaptable to deal with different scenarios where 4k streaming is used.
Anyone wanting a cool 4K client.
I purchased an Odroid N2, and put Kodi on it with the plex app.
I’m able to do 4K 60fps HDR video direct play (including all h.264 stuff as well).
I’m also finally able to do full passthrough of all audio (TrueHD and DTS etc…).
I have found video files approaching 120mbps start to have issues… but most my files are WAY below that.
Seams to be the best 4k client I have tested thus far, does correct color mapping and can switch between HDR/SDR (even has features to upscale/downscale stuff).
I’m still waiting on my Vero 4K+ to show up so I can do some more testing with that.
the rules are a reflection of reality.
until if/when 4k becomes as easy and as plug and play as 1080/720, the ‘rules’ will still be there, whether anyone likes (or agrees with) it or not.
the root of the problem is not so much 4k, but HDR and x265 (and HD audio).
they are not backwards compatible, and require extensive processing to convert and/or dedicated hardware to decode/encode the data.
E-ARC will help a lot for the HD audio issues, but will still take time for both hardware and software to filter out to the masses and become closer to plug and play.
The updated plex transcoder, whenever it gets released, will certainly help on the transcoding front, but isn’t gonna help non-plex pass people.
other than laziness there is still no reason to transcode 4k even once the above is resolved.
It is so ironic that everyone is all up in arms about transcoding 4k, when the whole point of 4k is to have higher quality media experience, which transcoding of any kind is a direct loss of quality.
In the mean time, everyone can keep giving themselves headaches and bellyaching about 4k problems and plex lack of progress, while simultaneously refusing to avoid the issue entirely by not trying to use 4k media on non-4k compliant client and server systems.
Just read the entire post and comments. Learned a lot. Thanks!
At this point I’d just like 4k HDR Direct play to work correctly on the Xbox One X without random infinite buffering. About 2 months ago it was working perfectly now the same videos I played before go into infinite buffer loops for now reason. Hit the back button and resume and it start playing again fine for 5-20 min until the next buffer loop.
It took a year to fix this before and I only got a few months of smooth playback before they broke it again
@TeknoJunky Can I humbly suggest a 9th rule of 4K ?
Being… do you even need 4K ?
As I type there are less than a handful of movies that were shot in 4K in its entirety almost all of the others not even partly.
The only one I know of for sure that I personally own is Dunkirk. (Chris Nolan insisted).
More than 99% of 4K blurays out there are shot at a maximum of 1440p and are still mostly filmed in 1080p. They are simply upscaled when mastered and lets face it most recent TV’s do a crash hot job of upscaling in their own right nowadays.
It got me to wondering how many people are thinking 4K and HDR are exclusive.
I for one was ashamedly, but today it opened my eyes (literally).
My love of 4K HDR remuxes is well documented and even at 40-80Gb a movie I have over 200 of them. but no more.
A 1080p HDR encode saves between 50 and 75% storage space generally and (to quote my favourite saying) “to my eyes” looks no different to the 4K remux at a proper viewing distance.
I repeat again for the less technical (like me) users who read this post…If the film wasn’t shot in 4K the only thing 4K about it is that 4K banner on the Bluray case. Its simply ‘Placebo’. You’re told its better so you simply believe it’s better.
Each to their own I guess and I’m sure there are many who will believe that despite the fact the movie was shot in 1080p it suddenly becomes 4K because that blue and white banner on the case says so.
Personally I’m happy enough that my 12-15TB of storage is heading more in the region of a single 8TB drive with plenty of room for more.
Once again every ones eyes are different and YMMV and maybe I’m missing something?
I have a few samples available if anyone want to compare.
Interesting idea.
I always thought that the question ‘do you need 4k?’ is implied by rule 3… if you can’t direct play 4k, then why are you even bothering?
None of us need 4k. or HDR for that matter. We won’t need 8k either.
And I agree with pretty much of all your post, and that 4k (resolution) improvement is for the most part minimal if not placebo.
What grabs folks attention is actually the HDR part.
What sucks most about 4k/hdr, is a combination of the computational difficulty of h265/hevc (the video codec), and the fact that HDR is not directly backwards compatible with SDR.
HEVC necessitates the shift to gpu transcoding, and without HDR > SDR color mapping (or even with), HDR is pointless, you might as well stick with an original 1080p bluray.
That’s assuming they’re shot digitally. You also have films shot on 35mm or 70mm, which can then be scanned at 4K, so I don’t know if you’d count those as “Real 4K” or not 
I think 99% is probably a bit too high if you’re considering the films that were scanned, rather than filmed digitally, but you can see lists that show the “real” and “fake” 4K films. There appear to be at least 200-300 “real” 4K films, if you include the ones shot on film, then scanned at 4K. I personally think they look amazing on my TV 
There used to be a good ‘real or fake 4k’ website, but I guess it shut down (or got shut down).
this is a great FAQ for those learning about 4k, and they also have a real/fake list @ https://4kmedia.org/faq/
Yeah I guess it just reads to me on these forums that HDR and 4K are exclusive and it really isn’t.
Personally I REALLY need HDR. I happily wait several months if something is a staggered release between a regular Bluray and a 4K with HDR but only for the HDR part.
I’m so glad I said I’m not technical and so obviously I’m clearly over simplifying things. I just tend to let my (admittedly aging) eyes be the judge.
I see no loss in quality but I do see my 130TB server suddenly free up a whole lot of space.
The reviews on Blu-ray.com will tell you if it is “real” 4K or upscaled.
Also, here’s an interesting video from Engadget discussing how movies are shot, processed, and projected. They go into a lot of detail about camera resolution, intermediate resolution (where graphics are added, etc), and such. In the last 3 or 4 minutes they discuss whether or not you should bother with 4K - is it better than letting your TV upscale a HD version, etc. They don’t give a definitive yes or no, but they do discuss some interesting points.
yes this is a question that one often comes to;
both have their advantages/disadvantages, and every media collector must decide from themselves.
and this is nothing new. Music collectors have been making the same choice about audio, and whether to collect mp3 or flac/lossless, for decades now.
That’s something for me to read in the morning.
Don’t get me wrong I will never touch any regular non HDR 1080p less than remux quality.
I guess I must be hitting that mid life crisis as I’m stuck between the two.
I have several favouritre shows that I hoard in Bluray remux. Despite the fact that I originally watched them as WEB-DL quality quite happily and will probably mostly never watch them again.
For me movies are different. There are 30 or 40 movies that I can watch repeatedly depending on my mood.
But yeah my whole mindset makes no sense now I think about it. Close on to 100GB per season of The Blacklist that I may never watch again. Meanwhile try to save 30GB on a movie that I will watch repeatedly: 
I have everything in the highest quality I can buy, and I also store my music in ALAC and FLAC (aside from the iTunes bought AAC files). Although I’m nowhere near 100TB (yet 
).
Agreed music has to be FLAC.
However my 4K Remuxes I have my locally stored ones that amount to about 18TB.
I also have including Kids animated around 400 of them ranging between 30 and 80GB Im easily hitting 30 or 40TB on Gdrive just with that 4K stuff.
It’s sad really and I think I’m a little OCD. Worst movie ever but I cant bring myself to delete anything ever.
All in all I’m now around 130TB on Gdrive.
Locally I have 60TB of media and 60TB free.
Hell my PMS folder is at around 200GB now thanks to the awesome experience of VP thumbnails on the ATV 4K.
I was thinking of adding a “TLDR” section to the OP–
Stop! do not pass go, do not collect $200
thoughts?
