Plex App on Hisense VIDAA – Can’t play local content

Plex Players Smart TVs
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1

Hi everyone,

I’m facing an issue with the Plex app on my Hisense TV (VIDAA OS) when trying to connect to my local Plex Media Server that runs in a Docker container on my home VM.

Setup:

  • Plex Media Server running via Docker on a home VM
  • Server properly claimed and visible in my Plex account
  • Accessible and working fine from:
    • Plex Web on other devices
    • Plex Web on the same Hisense TV (via browser)
  • Network: local only (no external access intended)
  • Relay disabled (main goal is LAN-only access)

My objective is to keep Plex fully within my home network (LAN), using the smart TV app, without using the Plex Relay service or exposing the server to the internet.

Attempts:

  1. With “Enable Relay” disabled

    The Plex app on VIDAA cannot connect to the server.
    It shows:

     [Service name] is currently unavailable. Please verify that the server is running and has a network connection… bla bla bla

  2. With “Enable Relay” enabled (Secure connections set to “Preferred” and GDM enabled)

    The TV connects to the server and loads the library.
    Playback never starts (only a spinning wheel).

  3. With “Enable Relay” enabled + force Custom server access URLs to the VM http://192.168.8.115:32400 (Secure connections set to “Preferred” and GDM enabled)

    Playback starts but stops after a few seconds and never resumes.

Observations:

On 2) and 3) the stream URI shows:

Location: LAN
URI: https://192-168-8-115-8bygj46jgyj4.....plex.direct:32400
So even though Plex reports “LAN”, it’s still going through a plex.direct HTTPS endpoint.

I have tried several combinations of settings, including uninstalling and reinstalling the Plex app on the TV, but the issue persists.

It seems the VIDAA Plex app does not support pure local (HTTP) playback and enforces HTTPS through plex.direct, which breaks local playback after a few seconds.

It is important to note that Plex works really well on the same TV in a web browser!

Questions

Is this a known limitation or bug with the VIDAA Plex app?

Is there any way to force true local connections (IP only, no plex.direct) when playing media from the Hisense TV?

Thanks in advance for any insight or workaround!

Server Version#: 1.42.2.10156
Client Version#: 5.93.2 (Plex for VIDAA)