Other than the Apple TV 4K, I can’t think of any player devices off the top of my head that support DV, and even that doesn’t support HDR10+ (Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD type situation?). The Shield is three years old, and I’m as hopeful as anyone that a new one will be released at some point, but we really just need to wait and see. Adding TrueHD and DTS-HD isn’t as simple as just turning it on, there’s a lot more involved in that. I was previously a PMP user as well, but with no HDR support on linux, I moved to a Shield, and it’s been a pretty good experience overall, particularly with HD video, audio, and 4K HDR support, and we’re always working to enhance the playback capabilities and experience on devices and platforms we support. 
Not the user you are talking to and this is probably somewhat off-topic, but my partner and I watch a lot of Japanese TV and anime, including many fansubs (which are often superior to what I get when I rip my retail BDs of the same series). Any subs in ASS format in particular, be they embedded or separate, that use any advanced features (if you call custom fonts and placement “advanced features”, and you can forget about karaoke etc) are mangled one way or another when playing through the Android app regardless of device. Either it reverts to just spitting out plain text when direct playing, which is often unreadable if there are multiple lines that are meant to be placed in different parts of the screen, or it requires the server to transcode the stream with a noticeable drop in quality (to the point of being unwatchable if the original file is already tightly compressed, regardless of how the sever is configured).
I actually had to stop using the Android app on Shield entirely because of this, as it is simply not fit for use if you watch a lot of subbed programs. There have been multiple topics in the forums here about this problem over a period of years at this point, but since the problem seems to be with the Google backend player, there’s never been a solution. In my house, we have to use Kodi for Android -> Plex plugin to get a half decent playback experience (which you guys also won’t maintain, so who knows how long Plex will remain a viable solution for us at all at this point).
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I can’t agree more. Killing an elegant and simple direct-play interface seems like a major step backwards. Is PL.EX downsizing and getting rid of coders? Moves like this and eliminating the Plugins a short while ago looks like storm clouds are on the horizon to me.
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The Plex Smart-TV app on new Samsung TV’s is hot garbage. I can’t believe our household weathered the storm while Plex moved from the XMBC/Kodi based Plex app through the development of the current Windows app.
No more than a month ago, my wife and I were talking about how well it was working and how few problems we had. It was a pleasure to use it.
Every single TV in our house has a dedicated HTPC running Plex. Now the answer is: “Go buy a dedicated streaming device because we refuse to support Windows”? Seriously?
I’m not even sure what I’m going to do about this. It’s disappointing beyond belief. Keep your pictures of your dogs and your sarcastic blog posts. Just give us back our Windows app.
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Can you point me towards a separate topic on this, or create a new one? 
Please share… what other HTPC solutions are you looking at? I know Kodi… EMBY maybe?
Here, here! Well said.
I will say this. I use a shield and for the most part enjoy the Plex app on it. I don’t have separate audio so my rips with 5.1 etc are pointless for the most part and I don’t often watch 4K super deluxe mega rips, or any other “power” user feature. I will say though the app is already here. Plex for Windows is there. Is adding a TV mode and ensuring it supports playback of everything a challenge? I suppose my thought process is ensure all players support the best playback they can, obviously iOS doesn’t need 4K 7.2 playback support, but giving Android TV, Windows, Mac, Linux and whatever im missing the best playback makes sense? I understand Plex is not stupid, their metrics most show there is a small user base running HTPCs and other specific set ups, however I would be curious to see how many of those users are also running servers. I can guarantee at least 30% of their users are not running a server. At the end of the day this change is an upgrade for me UWP sucked and I am hoping this will fix it’s issues, but I think throwing the OG and power users under the bus is a poor choice.
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I think you’re right about the metrics, but what they may have missed in the numbers is that their oldest most devoted users have been around for many years, starting back when a HTPC was the only way to use OSXMBC/Plex, and they’re spurning the OG evangelists.
So while continuing to support a 10 foot UI may not be strictly worthwhile from a cost/revenue stance, the goodwill lost makes it a winner. I guess we’ll see.
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I almost bit the bullet last month and got the lifetime pass. Seems pretty crappy to have a big sale then remove such a great feature. I guess we will all be jumping to Kodi.
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Very true but to add, metrics can easily be manipulated to suit needs.
Take something popular that works.
Slowly decrease development until it more or less becomes all but abandonware.
When it finally breaks users have no choice but to look for an alternative.
6-12 months later read about the official sunsetting…
The reason given “Our metrics say barely anyone uses it.”
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Has there been any answer to how the new desktop app is going to handle anime subs? This is main reason I need PMP, transcending anime subs kills quality.
…and the guy you quoted. Well let me say I thought I was the only one who owns and think the Shield sucks.
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It’s… ok. The interface is really wasteful and Google-specific, and the remote is an abomination. After so much raving from people, I had higher expectations. It’s not so much the least of all evils, but the only.
I wish Roku would release the Ultra with gigabit ethernet and support for all audio codecs. It’s disappointing that the Shield is basically the only option to replace PMP.
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Well for me as mentioned the Shield UI is awful. The Shield UX is awful.
The Plex UI is improving thanks to UNO.
Hopefully the Plex UX will as promised improve from its current “worst Plex client” state.
As for the remote yeah… if there was ever a reason to buy a Harmony remote… that reason is the Shield.
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just wrote a long reply on a thread that was just deleted (i guess) : ) : (
the gist of it was…
there is a whole audience this is throwing out with the bathwater…
namely dorm/school situations and people like me with limited money/SPACE that have all turned to using the same giant monitor as a tv (in my case a 43")… a lot of people i know would/will never buy another tv… simply use their monitors from now on… dual purpose space/money saving perfection.
WHY should i have to drop TWO HUNDRED more dollars on something i had for free yesterday (PMP) and will have for free tomorrow (Emby Theater) and get a shield…
even IF the shield direct played EVERYTHING PMP did, and CORRECTLY auto refresh rate switched the way PMP did/does (the shield is iffy at best at this, as great a device as it is)
it baffles me why REMOVING features that are working flawlessly is an ‘upgrade’ !?
it’s like you take your car to the shop and they remove a few gears “there ya go, it’s simpler to use now!” : ) : (
i’ve already tested out some ultra high bitrate 4k hdr films that PMP with its 500mb buffer played flawlessly with no buffering during the first few min… and the new player hiccups…
also the UI of PMP was darn near perfect… navigating round with just a wireless keyboard was/is the best experience i’ve ever had in a player… much better/faster than a shield remote…
they had darn near perfection… and are intent on ripping out wires and parts… all in some apple inspired idea of simplicity via a dumbing down of everything that made the product GREAT to begin with…
it’s not like anyone was forcing the average user to dig deep into advanced menus and mess with buffers and auto refresh switching… : (
sigh…
at least we still have Emby Theater, which arguably direct plays everything even smoother… but the UI had/has nothing on PMP… it was/is just about perfect. : (
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I use a variety of devices, and it was actually nice seeing same interface on all my devices. It’s beyond disappointing that they are removing their HTPC support, it’s something I use to have smooth quality playback because some of their apps are still buggy or have playback issues.
Is usually recommend Plex to others looking for easy powerful media serving setups, but without HTPC support, I will have to reconsider who I recommend Plex to, but I may need to invest in another solution for myself.
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I’ve seen many reports of the (now discontinued) Oppo 203 playing Dolby Vision from ripped discs on network drives. I’ve also heard of a separate player on LG TV’s that play back DV, though that removes the ability for lossless audio unless you have a newer 2019-2020 AV equipment that support the new HDMI standard with Lossless ARC. That also does not provide a solution for the Sony OLED, TCL, or Vizio TV’s.
Since this is about the discontinuation of HTPCs, I can also point out that macOS 10.15 Catalina is bringing support for HDR (including DV.)
I understand that, and have commented on it before in this thread:
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Hey dude, I just tried the new app on my windows desktop machine and while the interface is weirdly sluggish, it direct plays my most problematic anime with complex ASS subs (the ones the Android app is incapable of dealing with) just fine. No transcoding, no screwed up subs. So assuming you can live with the UI - ie. you don’t need to see it on a TV or operate it with a remote - you should be OK.
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I think you’re confusing the UI with the “playback engine”.
The new player for desktop uses mpv which is not the same as the browser experience (playback).
