I have just performed some extensive testing side by side of the Plex client on the Apple TV 4 vs Android TV client on a Xiaomi Mi Box 3 and the results have stunned me. After owning the ATV4 since release and having innumerable issues with Plex and especially DVR I thought I’d buy the MUCH cheaper Xiaomi Mi Box 3 and try out how Plex performs on it.
Plex Media Server is running on a dedicated for Plex Mac mini 2011, i5, 8GB RAM. HD Home Run Connect. All other variables are the same and all running the latest versions of Plex server and client software and Mac OS. I am in Australia where most of our TV channels are transmitting HD signals as h264 Mpeg4 with AC3.
Android Tv Plex Client
-Feels much faster navigating around and more responsive
-Already been updated to include Live TV and Program Guide (no time shifting yet though)
-Changing channels while watching TV is a little slower than through normal TV but not tremendously slower so still very usable.
-According to the PMS status when Live TV was playing, the Mi Box was receiving a “Direct Stream”
-Watching DVR recordings was for the most part reliable and playback started quickly. I have my PMS set to “transcode” during the recording so playback was actually “Direct Play” on the Xiaomi Mi Box.
-Fast Forward/ Rewind is reasonably quick and reliable.
Apple TV Plex Client
-Slower to navigate and less responsive
-No Live TV yet. I suspect given the difference in how Android TV can ‘Direct Stream’ but Apple TV can’t, this is likely to be causing the Plex Engineers some serious difficulty.
-Playback of HD 1080p DVR recordings IS HORRIBLE! Many don’t play back and buffer indefinitely. Others start playing but attempting to skip or fast forward a couple of times quickly causes the server to hang and you need to restart the PMS and client.
-PMS status reports all DVR playback as “Transcoding x264 to X264 and Ac3 to Ac3” unlike Android which Direct Plays all the recordings. Apple TV SHOULD be able to play back these formats correct? So why is it transcoding h264 to h264 and AC3 to AC3?
The Apple TV is a great device and honestly I prefer tvOS to android. The device itself is also more polished all around than the android TV boxes. However the Plex Client experience and in particular the DVR aspect of it STINKS MASSIVELY. The constant need to transcode everything from the Live TV stream to even the DVR recordings means its prone to crashing the PMS transcoder or choking out the CPU. It is so bad that to be honest Plex DVR on the Apple TV just isn’t viable.
