Hello I am new to this 4K world as I am planning to buy new 4K TV. I wanna know that will I need some special equipment to play 4K HDR Bluray rip .mkv file or can I directly play from my external HDD.
Plex does not read from an external hard drive connected to your TV if that is what you are trying to do.
If the drive is connected to a computer that is running Plex Media Server, then you can stream from that server to your TV. I suggest getting a recently released LG or Samsung TV so they can run the 3.0 version of the Plex app which is needed if you want to watch 4K.
for full 4k hdr direct play, you will want an nvidia shield & 4k hdr atmos receiver & 4k tv
some smart tvs apps can play 4k video, but will not play HD audio without causing transcoding, which of course leads to a whole other set of problems.
if you want to keep your sanity and have things just work, refer to my first sentence.
as far as playing the rip from an external drive, as long as the external drive is connected to, or accessible to your plex server so it can be added to your library, then plex should be able to stream it to any compatible devices.
I plan on buying SONY X950G when launched as it is the best LED TV launching this year. OLED is not suitable for me as I expect to use the TV over very long period of time.
Do I need a dedicated computer to stream 4K HDR Bluray rip. Is it not possible to directly plug and play it from HDD to TV. If it is not what are minimum requirements of the PC.
How does the NVIDIA Shield setup work. Can I directly play the content if I connect my HDD to NVIDIA Shield. Do I need to get the HDR Atmos receiver. Initially I don’t plan on buying HT system or speakers. Later if I feel like upgrading I will at most add in Soundbar+woofer.
That TV apparently isn’t coming with the new hdmi 2.1, so you won’t have e-arc or any of the other hdmi 2.1 specific features. google hdmi 2.1 if you don’t know what that entails. I would not pay that much for any tv in 2019 without hdmi 2.1 but that entirely up to you.
If you want full direct play of 4k, then yes the entire pipeline needs to be compatible with 4k content that includes the HD audio. Otherwise you will need a server that is powerful enough to convert the audio to a compatible format. Or you will have to manually convert your media outside of plex so the audio is compatible with your system.
The shield works as both a client and server. If you do not already understand how plex works, then basically there are 2 separate parts.
- the server is generally a server or computer or nas device that has sufficient processing power and access to storage for your media, that is scanned into the media library and served out to multiple plex clients (tvs/roku/android/ios/etc). Pretty much all of the heavy work is done by the server.
- the plex client app runs on a wide range of devices and is typically a very lightweight/thin client that connects to the plex server and requests and displays your selected content. Plex clients are often limited by the type and power and features/functionality that the device maker allows or provides for.
Ok so with all that said, a usb 3 drive of applicable size and speed could have content on it, could be plugged into to the shield, the shield plex SERVER could scan it, and the shield plex APP could play it.
The normal and best way for 4k is shield > 4k/atmos receiver > 4k tv
If you plug the shield directly into the tv, then the shield audio will be limited to whatever the tv is compatible with.
I do not know if the shield server is powerful enough to convert the audio and playback 4k on the same device. I doubt it, but you could try it I suppose.
Final words, IMO if you are going to be spending big money on an expensive â– â– â– â– tv for 4k content and NOT get a proper surround system, you might as well not even bother with 4k.
But that is just me and opinions vary.
Either way, without an atmos receiver to support it, 4k is just going to give you headaches.
Thanks for the info. To some extent I am getting the point that it is not simple plug and play for 4K HDR movies. I thought 4K HDR TV do support direct playing of media content from storage drive through USB. Is the problem with the audio of the movies that causes it to not play properly. Please can you explain a bit more about the problem with the audio.
Plex client apps are not designed to play content from HDD directly, Plex has Server/Client model.
Please Clients request content and Plex Server provides content in the format that Client requested. If Plex Client is incapable of plating content in the original format then Server transcodes it on the fly to the format that works on the client.
Can I play 4K HDR rip directly on TV without additional software support like PLEX etc.
that entirely depends on the tv and what apps it includes or has available in an app store.
my roku 4k tv has a native media player that can play from usb drive. It can do audio video or pictures.
but Ive never used it to see what limits it has.
some tvs don’t allow local media and only use streaming services like netflix etc.
any plex app on a tv is going to be client only, plex on tv won’t read directly from an attached drive.
as explained above, it is the server (wherever it is located) that controls access and streams the media to the clients.
if you want plug and play 4k, then get a 4k bluray player and plug it into your tv.
You are not going to get plug and play 4k for any ripped content.
Hmmm don’t know what media player SONY uses. So if I buy NVIDIA Shield which is $400 in my country(I doubt that I will) can I directly plug and play using the shield.
please re-read the last 2 sentences of my last post.
Looks like a “play everything” tv with a quick look at the specs. Since its an Android TV, you should be able to download VLC from the Google store if the native player doesn’t work. VLC plays virtually anything. It has 2 or 3 USB ports, why not load a short 4K video on a thumbdrive and take it with you to the retailer. Tell them you will consider buying if it plays the video.
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That gives me hope of simplicity, and making life easy. Thank you very much. I did try playing 4K trailer downloaded from Youtube on previous years model(That worked perfectly). But I don’t think it is HDR and did not carry entire movie to test. Probably this time I need to bring along entire movie stored on HDD.
You can make a shorter clip from the full rip with MKVToolnix GUI that will fit on a thumb-drive. You really only need a minute or two to test if it works. The HDD is a little more complicated to connect if it needs power cords, etc, but you and the tv store can decide. 
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Thank you very much you showed me a way to be sure even before deciding on the purchase. If I really get time I will test it first with previous year model before the new one launches.
I did test playing 4k HDR Dolby surround Bluray rip .mkv directly from HDD connected to TV through USB port, it worked even without the requirement of VLC app installed on any TV. I tested it with 2018 models SONY OLED and LED as well as SAMSUNG QLED. It worked perfectly and was readable as HDR content and supported Dolby Surround.
There is no need of additional hardware or software to run ripped 4K HDR Bluray .mkv files. They can be played directly no problem.
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