Nvidia Tube Shield TV 2019 Non-Pro Stutters & Crashes on 4K UHD MKVs (nVidia officially blames Plex app)

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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Played with Sneakypie’s fix last night. My symptoms are, sometimes 4k HDR files play fine in Plex, other times it stutters. Other times, trying to play the file results in a crash, it just goes back to Plex’s main menu. Sometimes, after some stuttering it will still be trying to play the file, but the remote becomes completely unresponsive.

So I tried this fix. Got developer access, but disappointingly, Proactively kill processes was already toggled on. So that was kinda out as a fix, since I’ve been having the issues apparently while it’s been on this whole time. I did set background processes to no background processes.

Results were initially promising. A 4k HDR film played alright for about 45 minutes, with only some microstutters here and there. I thought, it worked! But then the issues reared their ugly head. Stutters became worse and worse, then the remote was unresponsive. That behavior does seems to corroborate what Nvidia said about the Plex app exhibiting excessive memory usage. Hopefully there’s a fix soon.

Also, when I activated Dolby Vision @ 60 hz…I lost audio. Weird. Also had seemingly HDMI connection issues, got visual “white noise” onscreen. Tv definitely supports DV and my Sony soundbar supposedly can pass it. Turned off DV, problems vanished. I dunno. Dolby Vision may not be worth the hassle as I can never seem to get it working right and the differences compared to regular HDR are fairly subtle.

Of course, no such issues at all with my Pro Shield. Both Shields are connected via gigabit Ethernet. when I bought the first Shield, why, oh why didn’t I just spring for the Pro? If I’d have known the Tube was only 32 bit, I probably would have. Damn it. So I guess the options are wait for Plex to provide a fix (a long, lonely road I’ve been down before), avoid playing certain films in my BR where the Tube is, or try to sell the Tube and get another Pro. None of those options are very appealing. smh…

Come on, Plex! You blithely told us all to get a Shield when you tried to kill off PMP for Windows HTPCs. We did…and now this. I mean, seriously.

Maybe I’ll try Plexkodiconnect or something. But, of course that’d mean I’d have to use Kodi :frowning:

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I fixed my Dolby Vision issues by buying good quality HDMI cables (like premium certified or something). Before that I had amazon basics, really good value for money, no problem with HDR, but as soon as you turn on DV, artefacts, white noise etc.
No issue since I bought the premium cables.
As for the memory issue, I did like many others, bought a Pro…

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I use amazonbasics cable with DV on xbox/apple tv/shield with no issue.

gonna try this fix posted by sneakypie…I gave up months ago but worth a shot to see if this can finally work as intended

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For me it’s definitely not the cables. I’ve swapped setups w/ my Shield Pro and the Tube, leaving everything else in place including the cables. The Pro works correctly in both setups while the Tube had the same issues in both setups.

I’ve set up PlexKodiConnect as a workaround on the Tube. If a 4k film starts having the stuttering or crashing issues (for me, some play fine while probably 70% are problematic), I can just switch to Kodi and watch the movie. So far, it tests out good using PlexKodiconnect. But, I haven’t sat down and watched a whole film yet from start to finish, and sometimes with the Plex app on the tube it plays fine for up to 45 minutes - so we’ll see. Also, I’d generally watch 4k films in my LR anyway, where the Pro is. I generally watch TV, sports, or old B&W films in my BR where the Tube is, so it’s not much of an issue anyway. But it’s good to have a backup option to be able to watch 4k movies. One could probably also use the VLC app which has a file browser, you’d probably have to set the folder permissions where the films are to be shareable, or something.

Also someone shared a fix for a Windows Plex server where you access the file in file explorer and change some file properties. Haven’t tried it, won’t vouch for it, but here it is if anyone wants to take a look: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/comments/emg1ii/found_a_true_fix_for_the_2019_nonprotube_model/

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Tried every method described here and none fixed the stutters.
I’ve also tried playing content through VLC / Kodi (with and without PKC) / Plex app on the Shield Tube, nothing work and stutters still happen

Shield TV is ethernet plugged, Cat6 and 1gbps speed here.

I’ve tested the same stuff on a Windows PC / FireTV 4K and a Nvidia Shield PRO (both 2017 and 2019), they play flawless, no stutters, no freezes

The 2gb ram isn’t what’s do this antics to the Shield because while playing a 4K remux, whole Shield’s RAM usage is somewhat around 600mb out of the 2gb available

My guess is, Nvidia are aware of this intended issue so everyone purchase the more expensive Shield Pro. They are intentionally limiting the Shield tube.

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It’s the Shield. We gotta wait for a hot fix.

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Mine was working flawlessly until Nvidia force installed the 8.2.1 firmware on my device.

I put the blame squarely on Nvidia - it was their update that rendered my device useless.

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Same problem here, I’m taking mine back tomorrow since I’m still within the return window. Getting a Pro instead and hoping it’s better.

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Hi everyone. I have had this issue for a while on my tube and i think i have come up with a little hotfix.
Install the backround and processes app from the store. It allows you to shutdown apps and clear the cache.

I always clear the cache of plex and make sure its the only app running. After that i force stop it.

This allows to play the 4k blueray files without stutters etc. Bad thing is though you need to do it everytime you want to watch a 4k blueray movie… but for now it is better then nothing i guess.

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The only hotfix is to return the tube version and buy the pro.

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Just to note I had no issues until the second season of Mandalorian came out, and the last update to the shield. 4k Studdering and Shield Freezes, have to hard reboot. I blame both parties on this… lol

Monitoring for fixes :slight_smile:

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For some of us returning is not an option. Im only sharing a way to make the thing work unlike all the other people who just come here to complain.

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Anyone can sell their gimped tube on ebay… after waiting >1 year for a fix, i’ve given up.

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I don’t know if I just got lucky, but I disabled the new player on the Shield tube, and I found 4K to play flawlessly after doing so.

I just watched 2 hours at about 80 mbps and had zero issues whatsoever

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What do you mean with the new player? The plex app?

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Yes. In the Plex app, disable the new player in settings. I’ve again watched about 1.5 hrs of content with no issues.

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I gave in and bought a Pro. Plex for Kodi worked fine but I had started ripping Dolby Vision and Kodi does not support that yet. At this point its obvious Plex has no interest in fixing the issue, if you can afford it I would buy the Pro if not just run Plex for Kodi.

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For those suggesting kodi; the stuttering is there too for high bitrate content. Since the suttering starts comming after about 30min for me, i suspected heat. i tried setting fan to ”cool” along with ”kill background processes”. Has worked for me this far. Would be good if someone more tried it.

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i bought the tube yesterday and i was so excited to finally get a shield tv, since my sony a9f wouldnt play DV files, and now i see i gotta return the tube and go with the pro, smh… it was working fine when i first set it up, but now its lags, stutters and crashes the app. it got worse when i decided to skip to a certain chapter in LOTR, now its rare if a movie plays and will constantly get, server is not powerful enough. which is weird since it was working fine before… anyway already placed my order for the pro and will be returning the tube when i pick up from best buy.

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Yeah that didn’t help me. No change