yes I am - currently running plex off of an old laptop… Ive returned the Nvidia shield pro to amazon - Ill buy it again when Plex fixes hw transcoding in Experience 9 (Android 11)
It’s been a while since this issue was raised, so what is PLEX doing? I’m really angry. If you partner with Shield TV, you have to take responsibility. Several media server updates have already been carried out. It’s not even mentioned in the latest beta. Are you kidding???
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Hey everyone, we have been working on this issue extensively. The lack of communication was due to us being so focused on getting a proper fix out. That being said, we do try
to communicate appropriately but realize we failed in this case. We’re working on improving this process along with making parts of our roadmap more widely available in the future.
As was mentioned earlier in this thread, some of the employees that were tracking and working on this issue were let go. This added some delay to getting a proper fix out while we adjusted priorities and ramped up knowledge sharing, but did not affect our attention on the issue.
The solution provided by tmm1 appears to have only been a partial solution and I have reached out to him in case he has any additional insight into the matter.
I have rolled back the PMS version available on the shield to 1.32.3.7507 (pending google review) in order to restore functionality while we continue to track down the issue.
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I’m not new to Plex as I’ve had it on a HP N54L Microserver for many years. I just bought a Shield Pro, specifically to get HW transcode and immediately ran into this problem.
From the sounds of it, I’ve been very lucky if a rollback is imminent! How long is it likely to take for Google review and availability?
Hello chris_decker08,
Thank you very much for your feedback.
I completely understand the situation and the difficulties encountered, and I’m pleased to finally receive an official response. I Hope this rollback to version 1.32.3.7507 will fix the issue, it could be an excellent alternative as it will give you the necessary time to address the bug in the new versions (is it possible to get the apk in the meantime 
).
Your dedication to improving the Shield, which is one of the best Android boxes available, especially thanks to Plex’s hardware transcoding, is truly commendable.
I encourage you to keep going and have the courage to overcome these challenges.
Your efforts are appreciated!
@Craigycham App review times may fluctuate, and may take 7 days or longer in exceptional cases
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A quick update on my tests:
I just downloaded the APK from the link above, and it seems that the HW transcode is not functional.
Since this is a version from July, and the first messages reporting this issue date back to May, the build may still be too recent.
Have you conducted any tests to validate this version?
@Altimeter you are absolutely correct, I was relying on the bug report to tell me the last working version. Turns out we need to roll all the way back to 1.32.1 which can be found here.
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I’ve just tested it, and the HW transcode is working correctly with this version.
Thank you very much for your feedback.
I’m looking forward to the issue being resolved in future versions.
Good luck.
Edit 1 :
It appears that the version mismatch between the Plex server, which has been downgraded to 1.32.1.6999, and the client (10.0.0.3954) is causing a bug on the Shield TV client.
When you press “More” in the general view, the client consistently crashes.
Therefore, it’s impossible to add new libraries in the general view. This bug is not present on the Mobile or Web client.
Should we consider rolling back the client version?
Edit 2 :
I just conducted thorough tests, and it seems that the Android TV Beta version of the Plex client is the source of the infamous “More” button bug.
Therefore, I exited the beta program and rolled back to version 9.31.0.3817.
In this version, I haven’t encountered any issues with the “More” button.
However, with Plex Server version 1.32.1.6999, the Plex server couldn’t start after a fresh install and a Shield restart.
So, I was forced to upgrade to version 1.32.5.7431.
Plex client version 9.31.0.3817 and Plex Server 1.32.5.7431 on SHIELD at least provide stable functionality, even if HW transcoding no longer works. This is a step back for me.
We have identified a fix and I wanted to make the apk available to anyone who is willing to kick the tires on it while it undergoes internal validation. Otherwise it should be available on our next release (1.32.8).
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Gave it a crack and it appears to be working for me .
Thanks @chris_decker08
(See retraction in my next message below)
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@StephenH How do I find and install this to my Nvidia shield pro please? delete reference - I worked it out
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Hello, I have just tested the APK, and on my side, with client version 10.0.0.4149, I do not have hardware decoding, only software. Regards.
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Actually @chris_decker08 , I think I’m mistaken - its hardware decoding but NOT hardware transcoding, correct?
Should have the (hw) after the Transcode line as well?
I also currently have “Use hardware-accelerated video encoding” turned OFF in server settings - if I turn it back ON then the same file via same path (remotely over 4G data) won’t play, just sits there “spinning wheels”.
Yes, you need “Use hardware-accelerated video encoding” turned on. With that enabled are you able to view the video on the shield itself? Its possible i fixed android playback but broke ios (i dont personally have an apple device to test with). I will try to get this cleared up and post another build.
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@chris_decker08 Yes, but I can’t find anything right now that forces it to transcode - they all either Direct Play or Direct Stream so not useful I’m guessing?
I’ll wait for your next build and try again …
Actually, found something to trigger it - a Live TV stream that I forced to 480p locally on the Shield itself …
Found a file that also forces a transcode, but not (hw) unfortunately.
Hello,
The test was conducted on my side with an H.264 and H.265 file and an Nvidia Shield Android client and the result is above tha same than StephenH. What I can say is that, unlike the bug that appeared in May 2023, we no longer have the infinite spinning circle, but rather a software transcoding that starts.
Keep up the good work, Plex team. The community believes in you.
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Sorry this has taken so long, I have been traveling and was unable to verify the fix on my own shield until last night. This apk should fix the issues we had with the last build. Assuming no issues are found the fix will be included in 1.32.8!
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Hi Chris, thanks very much for pursuing this - if I’m interpreting my results correctly this is looking very promising?
H.264 file:-
10-Bit HEVC file:
I’m playing them on my iPad via mobile data and crunching them down to SD resolution …
