THANKS, That’s a good theory but no love.
Everything is set up correctly. It’s a PLEX issue.
Interesting, seems strange that if the ROKU can accept an MPEG2 they wouldn’t enable that as it would be a huge benefit for them.
I set this option and the server still reports that is is transcoding. Maybe everything needs to be restarted after changing. I did exit and re-enter the PLEX app after changing the setting. I’ll play more this weekend but I’m suspect!
Which ROKU do you have. I’m testing on multiple 4660’s (latest ROKU Ultra).
Which ROKU do you have. I’m testing on multiple 4660’s (latest ROKU Ultra).
Its a 55" Insignia RokuTV. I think the Roku TVs have MPEG2 because they need to decode over-the-air ATSC. In any case, my TV plays it through both the built-in DLNA client and through Plex (but only if “force directplay” is selected in Plex)
It doesn’t appear to be documented anywhere – I actually found it by accident when I tried to play an MPEG2 from my NAS DLNA (which doesn’t transcode) thinking it was AVC and surprisingly it worked…
Regards,
Joe
Ya, more than likely they’ve got an ASIC handling the display, that makes more sense.
So how do we get someone from PLEX to look at these things and respond. Ever since this abortion of a “bulletin board” was thrust upon us I haven’t received any “debug support” on any issue. It’s very difficult to track and collate stuff but maybe that was the purpose.
Any PLEX developer out there on this???
My Roku is hooked up to my 52" TV, and I’ve watched both live Cubs games and DVR recorded Bears football games this pre-season, and both have been looking pretty nice without any noticeable motion blurring… I’m pretty sensitive to stuff like that. My other TV is an 82" Samsung, so it’s easy to see the imperfections there, and is a big reason I picked up the Nvidia Shield for that TV to direct stream everything, including some 4k content through Plex. I’ll be watching the Thursday Night Football game through LiveTV tonight and will report back how it looks on both.
For those of you who see it blurry, does the same thing happen when you DVR it and watch it back later, as it looks when watching it Live?
Everyone knows there’s no action in a Cubs game 
As I’ve already mentioned, there’s no similar problem while watching a game on BTN or other “broadcasts” via my YoutubeTV subscription and using the same TV’s and ROKU’s (65" and 70" with ROKU Ultra 4660). That firmly lays the problem at the feet of PLEX. and its inability to transcode the MPEG2 signal.
Any PLEX folks watching these threads?
Just noticed there is a PMS update available. I’ve installed it and will see if there are any changes. I refuse to watch the NFL so I’ll have to wait until this weekend to test it.
Also just saw a PLEX update for the ROKU. Unfortunately no Grid Guide nor Recording Control 
Sad that the market share leader lags in PLEX features…
From this post forward
Plex Media Server 1.13.7.5369
ROKU 5.3.9
Well, watched live part of the Eagles vs. Falcons game last night. I didn’t notice any significant degradation of image quality. Action shots looked just fine to me.
To be sure, it will not look the exact same as connecting the antenna directly to the TV. Of course it won’t. No DVR can achieve that. It can get real close if every step of the process is done in mpeg-2, but even then there will be some amount of loss (albeit a very small amount).
I watched on a 65" Samsung 8000 series. The player is a Roku Ultra and the server is a core i9 windows 2016 with a Hauppauge WinTV quadHD. Transcoding was done in software.
Here’s the SECRET to good TV Viewing of sports.
Purchase a Shield TV or use a computer (NUC) attached to the TV. (maybe another client or two).
Shield TV is basically a connect a go experience with a tweek or two in the settings.
You can set the box to de-interlace when needed and can set the method. So for example it can take a 1080i broadcast and “expand” this to 1080p 60 fps so you keep the temporal resolution.
It will look as good as if you connected the OTA signal directly to the TV itself.
The nutshell view is that you want a client that can de-interlace to 60 fps, can auto refresh the screen rate and handle mpeg2 video. Do that and Plex won’t transcode at all. You will get full timeshift (RW, FF, PAUSE) but no transcoding.
But besides this I still don’t care for using Plex for Sports due to it’s 90 minute buffer. On Saturday/Sundays I watch (flip flop) games. I’ll watch a 1/4 of each game round robin to be able to skip timeouts, commercials, half times etc and the 90 minute buffer of Plex is a killer.
Actually, several Roku devices support MPEG2. The Roku TVs, Roku Streaming Stick+ and the Roku Ultra I know of for sure.
Direct Play may not be the best solution, but they could surely be direct streaming on Roku. I started a thread here about it, but it doesn’t have any responses yet.
With Emby, I was able to direct stream the Falcons vs. Eagles game last night.
Please provide a link about MPEG2 and the ROKU support. What you posted contradicts what I find on the ROKU site/blogs and my experience. I have ROKU Ultras (4660) and Streaming Stick+ (3810) with respect to MPEG2. Also, if they support MPEG2, why is PLEX transcoding to 264?
Thanks!
Were you perhaps confused about this thread that indicated the MPEG2 patent expired and MPEG2 should no longer require a royalty?
https://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=114433
I don’t really watch sports at all. I just became curious about the low quality image @Smokindog reported.
I perceived very little to no difference vs. connecting the antenna to the TV set directly. This isn’t to say @Smokindog doesn’t have a genuine problem with his plex setup; it is just my own, personal, perception of what I saw with my own plex environment.
By the way, I see that one of the release notes for Plex Media Server version 1.13.7.5369 (Ubuntu) reads:
- (DVR) Keep the entire contents of programs currently being recorded or played in the live seek buffer (#8224)
I’m wondering, does this address the 90 minute buffer you referred to? Or is it something else entirely?
Just to clarify… I don’t have a problem with my Plex setup, Plex has a problem with their software. It’s any scene or scenes where the majority of the frame content changes over a sequenced period of time. Sports is typically what uncovers these issues but action movies and other things can as well. There are many factors that can emphasize the issue like size of display, …
I just wish we could get the the attention of one of the Plex developers to take a look at this.
Read through this post over on the Emby forums: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/62070-issue-with-watching-in-progress-recording-on-roku-tcl-tv/
I bring it up there and you can see some of the testing another user did. Also, if you read through that thread you posted, you’ll see MPEG2 support is brought up by a user. Roku kind of has a cryptic response, but I take it as it’s unofficial support.
Plex is transcoding because it doesn’t know any better. It hasn’t been told that certain Roku models can handle MPEG2 and the MPEG-TS container.
If your have an HDHR, install the Roku Media Player and play a few channels over DLNA. You’ll find your OTA channels play just fine.
I read that thread differently to be saying that ROKU-TV supports MPEG2 and now that MPEG2 no longer is under patent it should be “easily ported” to the rest of the ROKU devices. They even address the old adage of what “ASS-U-ME” means.
I’ll just defer to you on the DLNA stuff, even if you can sideload something that’s not what I’m looking for. I could have done everything for a lot less money if I wanted to build a hack-a-sphere
THANKS though for the info. What you referenced is a LONG way from “ROKU supports MPEG2”.
Okay, well, let me reword it. 
Roku does not officially support MPEG2 on any device but the Roku TV. However, even though it is not officially supported, Roku Ultras and Streaming Stick+ (these I know for sure) can play MPEG2.
I see how you arrive at that but I’m still not convinced! Anyway, if PLEX won’t send an MEG2 direct through it’s a moot discussion
AND just how do you do a message reply with quote in this abortion of a bulletin board 
It’s officially supported.
Keep in mind this is on post Roku3 hardware I believe.
All formats aren’t usable in all formats however. But for our purposes Mpeg2 would be supported for live and recorded TV which is all we really care about.
Install the Roku player and try playing an mpeg2 stream from your HDHomeRun.
Hmmmm, the ROKU link I provided above says no but again, I get your point.
What your highlighting is that there are potentially 2 large Plex issues going on here.
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Why doesn’t the Plex client properly leverage the SDK to implement and advertise an MPEG2 capability to the server and
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why is the Plex transcoder so weak.
UPDATE - I just did a cursory look through the SDK and I’m now more convinced that it include all devices including ROKU-TV and anything to do with MPEG2 may only be applicable to the ROKU-TV. That’s the same table referenced in one of the links I included above that makes the inference of “it’s support in ROKU-TV so the software should be easily ported to the other devices.”.
I don’t think this means MPEG2 is supported in the "non-TV’ based devices and that is consistent with the Supported Formats link I provided.
SDK’s are typically functional supersets and can’t be used to necessarily confirm functionality on all devices.
