Quest for the perfect Plex Client - what are the options ?

General Discussions
1

Hello plexverse. It is 2017 and here is my ideal client wishlist - I need your help to figure out how close I can get to this.

  1. Play 4k HEVC movies (direct play / directstream)
  2. Do audio passthrough - DTS / DD / TrueHD / Dolby Atmos… etc etc. Let the receiver handle it
  3. Play 3D movies (SBS or whatever the alternatives are)
  4. Preferably also do Netflix / Amazon Video

I have tried Roku 4 Ultra, Nvidia and looks like they do #1, #4 well. The deal breaker is Audio support - 5.1 just doesn’t cut it for me anymore, especially with all the super duper mega “117.5 channel” audio ( /s) that is available on the new movies.
Also, getting 3D is kinda great. Even though that ship appears to have sailed from a new stuff, there are still these cool 3D blu ray moviesover the past few years that Id like to enjoy again.

I have struggled with using a PC as a plex client since there is just unending maintenance -

  1. upgrades,
  2. audio breaks,
  3. video drivers bring updated ,
  4. remote control configs break,
  5. Remote keys remapping as plex client updates,
  6. Machine sleeps,
  7. Most importantly, insane power consumption compared to the Rokus / AppleTVs of the world.

What am I missing ? what are the options to get to my personal plex client holy grail ?

2

I have no experience with 3D, but what audio problems did you see with the Shield TV? Other than a bug with DTS 6.1 and 5.0, I pass all audio perfectly to my receiver.

3

@kegobeer-plex said:
Other than a bug with DTS 6.1 and 5.0, I pass all audio perfectly to my receiver.

I just read your linked documents - are you using NVIDIA shield as a plex client or as a PMS + attached HDDs ?

4

@piper5ul said:

@kegobeer-plex said:
Other than a bug with DTS 6.1 and 5.0, I pass all audio perfectly to my receiver.

I just read your linked documents - are you using NVIDIA shield as a plex client or as a PMS + attached HDDs ?

Look at my signature.

5

The NVIDIA Shield does everything but 3D (or will do in the next update – Amazon Video). The best device for 3D is a Raspberry Pi w/ LibreELEC and the Plex for Kodi addon; you don’t get Atmos/DTS:X but you still get 7.1.