Just got the tube shield and same issue, 4k hdr keeps lagging and crashing, when i try to fast forward, the plex apps crashes and restarts. Connected via wifi 5ghz. When i’m doing the exact same thing on my apple tv 4k, no issues. I’m returning the tube… what a shame…
Same here. I picked up my tube few days back as a part of home cinema upgrade project and 4K/HDR is broken. This doesn’t happen on my older 2017 Shield that lives in my bedroom. Anyway, for now as a workaround I just use Plex for Kodi plugin and everything works perfectly there. It sucks though, that the issue hasn’t been resolved for almost three months now. I hope Plex team will fix it ASAP.
less ram is definitely relevant.
android starts terminating processes when insufficient ram is available.
Sure but all that would mean is that the Plex player is not efficient. Since Kodi and VLC can play the same files without issue it’s not a limitation of the hardware but buggy software.
er, not if the plex client along with any other required libraries/processes/background apps start exceeding available ram.
see @ Release Announcements - Android TV beta which may (or may not) be related to these crashes.
FIXES:
- Player: improve playback performance on low memory devices.
I don’t want to get in an argument about what qualifies as ‘low ram’ in today’s devices.
Regardless if low cost/cheap mobile android devices, or something else.
Tube has 2 gig ram and 32bit based OS, pro has 3 gig ram and 64bit based os.
Those decisions are obviously going to have consequences (foreseen and unforeseen) and were no doubt chosen for cost/profit reasons and product segmentation.
I am pretty sure my TV has 2 GB RAM and the issues regarding performance are visible. So I would say 2 GB is not a lot of memory.
I don’t think anyone is arguing the processing/media power of the shield, certainly not me.
All I am saying, is programs take ram to run.
Programs tend to use more memory, the more features are continuously added.
When programs start using more ran than is available, things can go sideways.
Plex appears to be aware of the ram constraints and appear to be working on lowering memory usage, which is great.
Whether plex ram usage is the root cause, or a related issue to the problem, or whether ram is a problem at all, has not really been confirmed or explained.
My whole point in the original link, and in responses, is that there are differences between the 2 hardware devices, and it is to the benefit of the consumer to understand that and choose accordingly according to their own opinion and priorities.
TLDR;
Buyer beware.
I hope you are right, and I hope that whatever the issue, is resolved in a timely manner, so that both tube and pro can be considered equals as the premier plex clients.
I’d love to be able to recommend the tube or even give them as gifts to my family/friends, with confidence they would have a great experience with no crashes or other issues specific to the tube.
Firestick 4k has 1.5gb of ram and none of these issues with the Plex app.
Playing the same files through Plex for Kodi on the Shield Tube has no issues. And Plex add-on hasn’t been updated in forever.
So I wouldn’t blame nvidia for not putting enough RAM…
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The latest version in beta (v7.28) has improvements for the SHIELD Tube and allows 4K HDR and Dolby Vision content to successfully playback on the device.
Sadly the memory is the main issue, other devices like a FireStick have less but aren’t capable of the same 4K level of decoding (which requires a lot of resources to process). We are constantly improving our performance though, if you have a Tube be sure to install the latest beta.
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Latest Beta worked great, no more crashes.
Hi guys,
Could you please let me know how can I download the Plex app v7.28 beta version for my Nvidia Shield tube? From the main site I get the Plex Pass Downloads ON but when I select Shield app, I get redirected to Google Play store where the app version is 7.27.1.15203
BR,
Kostadin
The latest beta can be found here: Release Announcements - Android TV beta - #277 by marekszulik
Good to know the problem seems to be fixed in the latest beta. I was worried I would have to sell my tube for a shield pro. Looking forward for the release of the stable version!
Same here as well, just installed the beta and it seems to be working just fine - fast and smooth. Cant wait for the official release. Cheers!
Took me a while to figure it out but I’ve installed the latest beta version on my 2019 tube Shield and everything is working just fine now. 4K HDR would either judder or cause Plex to either crash or freeze. None of that now. Nice work!
The shield has a samba share, probably also the tube one.
Yes, Kodi and VLC work fine on the tube Shield with DLNA enabled on the Plex Server PC… Definitely a Plex bug and not a hardware issue at all… But, everyone thinking the tube Shield is worthless is driving the price down on them, so good chance for everyone not running Plex Server right on the Shield or 64 bit emulators to grab one, they perform just as good for everything else otherwise.
I’m running Plex for Android 7.29.0.15665-beta and the old player works fine, but the new player is still crashing. I’m content with the old player, but I thought I would give you lovely people at Plex a heads up.
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