There are so many threads and not enough solutions on this topic already…it’s a shame. Here is my experience.
Hello world! It’s Super Bowl Sunday here and I’m spending my lovely Sunday afternoon banging my head against the wall wasting time on the Plex Live TV feature — a feature that has never quite worked ever since its debut on the Nvidia Shield TV.
My setup:
Nvidia Shield TV (1st Gen.)
Plex Server version: 1.14.1.5488
Web Client version: 3.85.2
Plex app for Shield TV: Latest version as of this posting
HD Homerun Tuner firmware: 20180817
HD Homerun model: HDHR4-2US
All connections are hardwired gigabit ethernet on local network.
Tested on: Firefox & Safari; Plex on Shield TV
Problem:
Live TV takes a long time to load.
Live TV pauses frequently
Video + audio quickly becomes out of sync
Pixelation
Buffering issues
Because of playback issues, playback becomes severely delayed and is no longer “live television”
“The connection to the server was lost” when using the Plex app for playback on the Shield TV. (Retrying seems to be working now.)
Changing the quality to 720p @ 2 Mbps doesn’t resolve the issue; massive audio sync delays.
Other Notes:
Playback via HD Homerun software on the PC works great; very minor sync issue
Playback via HD Homerun is instantaneous
Using the native Live TV app that’s built into Android TV works flawlessly
Playback via the Plex app on Shield TV works better than web browser, but still suffers from stuttering, audio sync issues, and tuning issues when changing channels
My hope for this post is that the logs and information that I have provided will help the Plex developers fix the playback issues and further refine the Live TV & DVR experience.
If I am overlooking anything, let me know and I’ll do my best to update this post with the relevant information requested.
I have the very same setup and I have experienced no issues whatsoever with my setup. If you’re getting frequent pauses in playback I would take a look at your CPU/Transcode status and also make sure everything with your network is ok as well.
Almost same setup
Same problem, but without audio synch issues. Roku player Premiere+.
Live tv works and recorded tv works, but ALOT of stuttering and “glitchy” images. Works flawless with VLV streaming live tv from HRHomerun… SOmething in the Plextranscoder is too finicky with the live stream comming from HDHomerun.
I believe you can only disable transcoding for DVR Recordings. If your client app doesn’t natively support mpeg2, then it’s going to transcode all the time. Nothing you can do about that. I’m using Plex on the Apple TV App and have used it with the Samsung TV App. I have never experienced stuttering or buffering issues. The only drawback I have experienced using these apps is that the channels take quite a few seconds to load. But on the Apple TV 4K, Live Channels Via a Cable Card and a HDHomeRun Prime has been unbelievably rock solid. Just wish I could watch HBO and other premiere channels.
It happened again tonight. This time it wasn’t on a live tv viewing; I was viewing a show using the “live channels” app on my Shield, and tried to record something in the background on Plex; 10 minutes in the recording failed. Plex Media Server Logs_2019-02-08_20-26-05.zip (2.8 MB)
I have a MacMini Server edition with a 3.6GHz Quad Core processor and when watching Live TV CPU usage is ramped up! I don’t think the Shield’s processor can handle audio and videos transcoding and DVR Recording simultaneously. The Shield is a great player for Plex, but it is underpowered for Server use.
I worry that you might be right. I am having issues watching live tv from another device on plex (while it isn’t doing anything else) without it timing out quickly.
@majesty1418. I had a feeling you were running a PC Plex server from your responses previously despite stating you have the very same setup.
Just to clarify we who are posting here are reporting on issues with the Shield TV as a server and we want a solution; especially with all the marketing that went into the Shield TV + Plex + Plex is factory installed dealio.
If I understand you correctly, you only use the Shield TV as a client and thus, no live TV issues because of your PC Plex server correct?
Also, the Shield TV uses GPU for transcoding, something that the PC server builds don’t support yet. Apparently, we don’t have GPU acceleration if running Plex from a Docker. (My bad)
In most cases, the NVIDIA SHIELD will be able to support at least 2-3 simultaneous transcodes.
MPEG2 is hardware transcode supoored
Live TV using Plex on my smartphone in the past has typically given me the best experience, but I should have the same experience if not better when using the client app on the Shield TV especially since the server is on the Shield TV too. This is where my frustrations come from; wanted to watch the game on the big screen.
Nonetheless, it looks like I might just have to rely on the stock Android TV app for live viewing.
@ajanjiggy. The crash you experienced…I’ve noticed that using the Android TV stock app and Plex TV at the same time causes problems because both software programs are competing for the HD tuner. This happens rather easily when switching between the two apps trying to pinpoint and troubleshoot the problem.
I am also able to crash the Plex Server when trying to change channels too quickly for the same reason — overload.
I actually prefer the live channels app, especially since the USB flash drive I was recommended to buy for Plex as extra internal storage seemed to be a troublemaker.
Thank you for your help. I do experience the crash just watching live tv via plex, (only one tuner from the HDHRPrime).
Was there ever any resolution to this problem? I am having the same issue and essentially have the same setup as Zorg. When I try to view live TV from my Nvidia Shield PMS, I get frequent frame stuttering that is very annoying, but when I view live TV from the HD Homerun app on my Shield, I get perfect quality viewing. I also have a PC PMS server as well and when I switch to that, I no longer have issues with frame stuttering but sound does get out of sync. I haven’t found any PMS settings that resolve my problems, so was wondering if any real solution has been posted. While I can watch live TV on another app ok, the PMS problem also negatively impacts DVR functionality and quality which is why I bought Plex Pass in the first place. Thanks
