Looking for a better Plex Experience, What is the best setup?

General Discussions
1

I am currently running Plex Media Server on my Qnap TS-251+. All of my media files are stored on the NAS. My library consist of music, home videos, and TV shows recorded through Plex DVR. I most often watch the recorded TV shows on my Vizio TV using the native Plex app. That app is not the best experience IMHO. It lacks some of the new features and is slow to fast forward or rewind when trying to skip commercials. I suspect that some of the problem lies with Qnap. When I first started using Plex I was using Open PHT and was happy with the features and the speed of fast forwarding through commercials, but had to update the Qnap and lost the ability to use Open PHT. I am looking into buying a device to run PMS on while keeping all my files on the Qnap NAS. I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to some of this tech stuff, so I am looking for a solution that would be mostly plug and play.

Question - What is the best way to run Plex? I was originally thinking of buying a mini windows computer to host PMS and leave all my files on the Qnap NAS. I also saw some good comments about PMS on NVIDIA Shield, but I don’t know much about that platform or how it works. I also have no experience with Apple products so I don’t think that would be an option.

Let me know if I need to provide more info.

Matt

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Shield wins, hands down. Partcularly if you’re into subtitles or high-quality surround sound.
Also great if you have a lot of media in lower resolution than your tv is, as it has a very decent upscaler.

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I bought the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro. I will be getting things setup this weekend, and after looking at some of the support articles I wanted to make sure I was doing the setup correctly. I am going to leave all of my media on the QNAP NAS and run the server on the Shield. It seems like I can start PMS on the Shield, point the directories to the existing directories on the NAS, and all of the media would be available using the Shield PMS. I think I would need to add the TV shows I record to the new PMS on the Shield. The other thing I was unsure of is how PMS on the Shield would treat My Podcasts. Am I headed in the right direction?

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I cannot recommend running the server on the Shield.
My recommendation is valid only for the use of the Shield as a client device.

5

We are using the Roku Ultra for client and have been happy with the results. We have a generic PC for running the Plex server on Linux.

I’m not an expert in anything, so take this for what it’s worth.

I would not be happy if a TV’s firmware was too old to update to the latest Plex client. I imagine it could happen with the Roku, too, but the cost to replace would be much less than buying a new TV, I imagine.

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Why not run server on the shield? If I leave server running on the QNAP NAS and use the shield as the client, doesn’t the transcoding still happen on the NAS? It seems the QNAP doesn’t have the hardware to handle the transcoding, at least that’s what I have read in some of the forums. Although maybe the less than stellar performance I am experiencing is more a problem with the Vizio app and not the transcoding done by the QNAP NAS. I also have not been updating the firmware on the QNAP like I should as I never know which update will make PMS unstable (as has happened in the past). I suppose I can try the client on the shield and see how thing work, although that doesn’t solve the firmware update problem on the NAS.

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I’m not sure I am following what you are trying to say. Do you mean that using the native Plex app on the Vizio is the problem?

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I would have thought it would be better to use the Plex app on your shield and leave PMS on your nas.

The shield can direct play pretty much everything, so your nas should not need to do any transcoding.

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Usage of the Shield as client will simply not require transcoding in most situations. HDR, 4K, HEVC, Dolby Vision, Surround Sound, Subtitles – everything is supported by the Shield to play natively.

Whether the server needs to transcode is determined by the abilities of the client.
If you use a client which supports a lot of different formats, transcoding is needed less often.
If you use a client which doesn’t support many formats (like, e.g. a web browser), your server has to transcode in more situations.

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I didn’t realize that the shield as a client didn’t need to transcode, I thought that was the case when shield was the server.

Thanks.

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I have not been following the QNAP threads in reference to server instability when updating firmware, so I need to do some research. If updating firmware on the QNAP is still a hit and miss problem with Plex, do you think that server on the QNAP is still a better solution? I apologize if I’m beating a dead horse here, but I don’t know how familiar you are with QNAP.

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I do have a QNAP NAS, but I don’t run Plex server on it.
I use it purely for storage. I like the greater flexibility and particularly the cost savings of a separate server device.

The firmware update always ran smoothly for me.

13

What do you run Plex server on? I would like to us the NAS as a storage device only as well. After looking at some of the QNAP server threads it seems that Plex server on the QNAP NAS is still hit or miss when upgrading the firmware.

Should I change where I have Plex Server installed
14

the experience of usage of the shield as a server is entirely dependent on the size of your library and the content you have.

if you have not already read it, please familiarize yourself with the limitations discussed @

keep in mind, the shield is basically a device of similar power as a newer phone, with a very capable gpu.

and while the gpu is great, the cpu, ram, and storage are all very limited, compared to an x86 based server (nas or pc or whatever).

it might be too late now, since you already purchased a shield (which is still currently the best client), but here are some other options:

  • if you need support of 4k and HD audio (like truehd/atmos/dts-hd), then the shield and the xbox x/seriesx are the only plex devices currently able to pass through HD audio (ie from blurary/4k).
  • apple tv 4k - can decode truehd to pcm, but lose atmos, but otherwise is often recommended for those heavily into apple eco system
  • roku - the higher end/more expensive roku 4k models work well for most people who do not need HD audio

things to avoid (IN MY OPINION ONLY)

  • anything with amazon fire
  • all cheap or generic or randomly named android boxes
  • legacy chromecasts
  • older/cheap 4k “smart” tvs with built in plex apps are very hit or miss, some are well supported by the manufacturer and kept up to date (ie system), but most will only get a few updates before being abandoned from feature/security updates.

I also have the chromecast with google tv, its ok, but I still would not recommend it, as it is much more limited than the shield (no hd audio, less compatible with video/audio files.

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Are the suggested options you give above just other options to use as a client? I don’t have a problem keeping the shield as the client only, since I don’t really care for the functionality of the app on the Vizio, I would also like to get PMS off of my QNAP.
I don’t have any movies in my library (but that might not always be the case)
I mostly use Plex to record live TV, store my photos, music, home videos and podcasts.
Thanks for the shield comparison to the phone, it makes sense why that would probably be a step backward to move PMS to the shield.

16

Yes.

If you want server recommendations, just read through the hundreds of other threads asking the same.

There is no “off the shelf” or “one size fits all” solution.

Just about any pc based system (or nas) with an intel 7000 cpu & 600 series gpu, or newer, will suffice for most people.

Or, you can just go big and be done.

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