I’ve been using Plex since it practically started. I’ve used apps on a lot of devices (Gen 1 Roku, Apple TV, nVidia Shield TV 2017 & 2019, iOS, PC, Vizio, and now 2019 Roku) (the app on the Shield TV is my favorite). I recently bought a 2019 TCL Roku Series 6 TV. It’s basically a TV with a built-in Roku interface. The Roku app really pales in comparison to most of the other OS apps. It reminds me of the plex apps of years ago with a slightly modernized interface. This is my list of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the app. Thought it might help anybody thinking about buying a TCL Roku TV or a Roku device.
I have the 55" version but I don’t see why the app would be any different in any other sizes besides maybe some brightness/contrast differences.
THE GOOD
- Um, there is a Plex app on the Roku TV.
- 1080p and below play fine. Haven’t found any show stopping issues. Picture quality is what you would expect.
THE BAD
I’ve tested these same things through the Plex app on the nVidia Shield and using other apps on the TCL (Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV). None of them exhibit any of these problems.
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4K HDR10 films stream fine as far as consistency and bitrate is concerned (I have both the plex server and the TV on the same 1 gigabit router plus the files on fast hard drives). The first problem is the picture is has too much contrast. The whites and the blacks are crushed, despite fiddling with the TV’s default picture settings… Granted this might not be a Plex problem but a TV problem. TCL TVs are notorious for not looking great out of the box. It’s actually impressive with how many expert settings the TV has. The problem being that without special equipment, these tweaks are pretty much useless…and it’s kinda dumb to pay an ISF technician $250+ for a TV that cost $600.
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4K HDR10 films are always slightly out of sync, using either the HD audio tracks or the standard lossless tracks. Neither the TV or the app offer any kind of sound timing adjustment so you’re pretty much stuck with what you have. It’s not terribly out of sync, but enough to notice, especially when people are shooting a gun or slamming a door or yelling.
3, The Dolby Vision picture is unwatchable. The image is too dark and contains too much contrast. I believe it’s because while the TV recognizes the content as Dolby Vision (the symbol pops up on the TV), it doesn’t give you the Dolby Vision picture settings that are available. Don’t know if that’s a Plex or TV issue. When playing HDR10 the HDR settings are available.
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Dolby Vision films play for about 30 seconds or a minute until they freeze indefinitely. Before I get posts about settings, yes, Direct Play is on, yes the files are in the MP4 format using DVDFab, yes, my connection and hard drive are fast enough, yes, these same files work beautifully using the Plex app on the Shield.
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The TV/Films do not offer the same level of Tidal integration that they do on the Shield. On the shield. Below the TV episode or film description there is a list from Tidal of the playable songs from the soundtrack. It’s actually really cool and one of the main reasons I subscribe to Tidal. If the Roku app offers this, I haven’t found it.
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There’s no ability to delete files. I love being able to select a TV show in the plex app on the Shield and delete the whole thing. It’s great for stuff I don’t want to watch again. Maybe the Roku OS doesn’t allow this?
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The settings are minimal. In fact they’re kind of useless. The usual one with image quality and direct play. Also the theme music and such are there. BUT no sound options. No other picture options. Kind of like the Plex of old, which brings me to…
THE UGLY
I’m not sure if Plex hasn’t bothered to visually upgrade this app or if it’s a limitation of the ROKU OS, but essentially this app is visually similar to Plex app on the Gen 1 Roku devices.
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Many things involve side scrolling. TV episodes, albums, artists. TV Shows and Films are tiled so it is apparently possible. However, once you dig down to TV seasons everything is horizontal again. There is no way to access each episode into it’s own screen, but rather they’re integrated into the Season screen. You might be wondering why that makes a difference, because if you have the information on a separate screen you’re often offered further controls such as Tidal integration and file deletion.
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It still uses all of the old fashion buttons as opposed to some other newer plex apps that offer plain words with more robust menus. With that it doesn’t offer even close to the amount of sorting options than the Shield app offers. It just all feels, again, old.
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When you want to change audio or subtitle settings while playing, it literally stops the film and goes to a whole new screen. It definitely is not the newer player that Plex now offers, which is significantly more stream lined.
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When you are watching something and push the right arrow it stops what you’re watching, pops up the time slider and just starts moving forward until you stop it and hit play. I was really surprised because on the Shield if you push the right button it automatically jumps ahead 30 seconds. If you push the left button, it jumps back 10. If you hold either it goes as far as you want then automatically starts playing. In fact, on the Shield it rarely stops playing for anything. You can select audio and subtitles through a transparent overly so you can keep watching. The only time it pauses, not stops, is when it’s actually switching to a newly chosen audio track or subtitle.
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There’s so much more about the ugliness of the app, but it’s all mostly superficial.
What it’s come down to is me plugging in my old 2017 Shield and using that instead of the builtin in Roku Plex app. Unfortunately that doesn’t support Dolby Vision but what’s the use of Dolby Vision if it won’t play anyway?
I just don’t understand. Is Plex really that far behind with their Roku app, or is Roku really that far behind with their OS? Maybe a combination? Either way, the Plex app on the TCL Roku Series 6 TV is a travesty when you compare it to the more robust ones found on the Shield TV, iOS and the PC.
If you made it through this, congrats, and if I’ve missed anything, I’d love to hear.
EDIT: I just discovered there’s a channel for Plex app betas. I’ll give it a go and see what happens.
