Looking for advice on a new Plex player device.

General Discussions
1

Doing some upgrades at home (finally) and getting a new TV that has an HDMI connector (still rocking a 1st gen plasma with DVI). Currently using an old Xbox360 as a Plex/netflix player… its ok but the lack of menu options/viewable thumbnails vs the web browser version on PC drives me nuts.

Shopping for a new TV and am wondering are smart TV’s Plex app up to snuff for Plex? Looking for advice on a hard wired player (not interested in anything wireless) that can hopefully do direct play without trans-coding, has a decent remote or can use with a Logitech Harmony. I’m just looking for the player, server side is all good. And if current gen consoles are good enough is one better or have advantages over the other, ex PS4 vs Xbox1?

2

If you are looking for a player that does more than Plex, like Netflix, Amazon Prime and such than I would look at a Roku.

For a strictly a Plex only device, then take a look at the Odroid-C2 running Open-PHT

3

I cannot speak to Logitech Harmony or game consoles but the Samsungs are good. 65" Samsung 3D 4K (the curved one). You stated you’re not interested in Wifi but I can stream 4K Wifi to it (58 Mbps) Direct Play from a little Synology DS1813+ (dual core Intel D2700).

I also just got a smaller Samsung (2015 model) for my mother to use with my Plex. It’s solid

4

@errrrrl said:
Doing some upgrades at home (finally) and getting a new TV that has an HDMI connector (still rocking a 1st gen plasma with DVI). Currently using an old Xbox360 as a Plex/netflix player… its ok but the lack of menu options/viewable thumbnails vs the web browser version on PC drives me nuts.

Shopping for a new TV and am wondering are smart TV’s Plex app up to snuff for Plex? Looking for advice on a hard wired player (not interested in anything wireless) that can hopefully do direct play without trans-coding, has a decent remote or can use with a Logitech Harmony. I’m just looking for the player, server side is all good. And if current gen consoles are good enough is one better or have advantages over the other, ex PS4 vs Xbox1?

Awesome! Got your money’s worth out of that TV!
I would go with a Roku, easiest to use and has the Netflix app.
I would stay away from the Smart TVs. I have one and while the app is ok, it is not the best. As far as direct play, what format are your videos in? Not sure the TVs can direct play that many formats. Also, what is your server?
Get a Roku and optimize/convert your videos and the Roku will rock.

5

Haven’t tried a Roku … but the 5th generation Amazon Fire TV (not the Fire Stick) works very well with Plex, Netflix, Hulu, etc.

6

@rsava said:

Awesome! Got your money’s worth out of that TV!
I would go with a Roku, easiest to use and has the Netflix app.
I would stay away from the Smart TVs. I have one and while the app is ok, it is not the best. As far as direct play, what format are your videos in? Not sure the TVs can direct play that many formats. Also, what is your server?
Get a Roku and optimize/convert your videos and the Roku will rock.

TV’s i’m eyeing out are all Samsung’s which happen to be smart tv’s as well. Video formats are mainly mkv and mp4. My primary server is an old i7-3770k @3.5ghz 16g ram running Win2012R2. Movies are all on headless 4bay Win2012R2 boxes on a gigabit LAN.

I’m going to take a look at Roku’s… are they pretty quick in terms of clicking thru menu’s and scrolling?

7

@ChuckPa said:
I cannot speak to Logitech Harmony or game consoles but the Samsungs are good. 65" Samsung 3D 4K (the curved one). You stated you’re not interested in Wifi but I can stream 4K Wifi to it (58 Mbps) Direct Play from a little Synology DS1813+ (dual core Intel D2700).

I also just got a smaller Samsung (2015 model) for my mother to use with my Plex. It’s solid

This is good to know about the Samsung TV’s, thank you!

8

I think the 3s are, and the Stick (3600 model) is pretty snappy. I have not bought a 4 yet, I got 2 ATV4s instead.