Hello all, looking for some upgrade advice from the great minds here.
I’ve been using Plex many years now, hosting a small library of ~1000 movies and ~500 tv shows for close family members. All has been well. However, I’ve recently purchased my first 4k HDR TV and now the issues are coming up as I begin to start adding some 4k HDR content to my Plex library.
What I’m trying to solve for:
- Avoid transcoding and/or having to mess around with re-encoding media for 4k HDR. I just want it to play! I was hoping to use the built-in Plex client on my new TV (Vizio E70-F3) for 4k HRD content, as my ATV and AVR are not 4k HDR compatible. This has proven to be an exhausting exercise, and I’m ready to give up. Vizio’s Plex client is horrible. I’ve spent countless hours playing with client and server settings, creating my own HTML TV App profiles and Handbraking a bunch of HEVC stuff. I cannot for the life of me get this to Direct Play… I’m having a bit of success with non-HDR 4k H264 content, but cannot get H265/HEVC with HDR to play. Netflix, Youtube and Amazon content is all fine using the built in TV apps. TV is hardwired and HDMI ARC to receiver.
What I’ve tried:
- Creating HTML TV App profile that supports 4k. The one in my plex folder (that the TV is using) seems to lack support for pretty much all 4k. This allowed me to Direct Stream some H264 content.
- All the settings in the Client (Direct Play/Stream settings, Max H264 level, AAC/EAAC, etc…)
- Ensuring audio selection of AC3 5.1 on the title in plex web on the server. (titles have several audio streams, TV client doensn’t allow me to select one…)
- Handbraking videos to remove all audio tracks but 5.1 (ARC) and convert from .mkv to .mp4
What I think I need:
- A real streaming box, and to stop using the garbage Vizio app. Leaning towards the Nvidia Shield as a client only. Seems to be the best, but is there anything else I should consider? Anything it cannot do? Anything new expected soon? I’ve always been an Apple TV guy (3 in the house currently).
- A new AVR. Currently have both an Onkyo TX-NR636 and Pioneer VSX-70. Both support 4k but I don’t “think” they support HDR? Any suggestions on something new? I’m happy to sell off some old hardware to help purchase some new hardware. Don’t need anything super fancy - main requirements are 4k HDR, able to deal with all the audio stream formats, and discrete inputs (I like using Harmony…)
My setup for context:
- PMS runs on a Windows 10 box with an Intel Core i5-8600k Coffee Lake cpu with lots of storage drives. No dedicated GPU.
- Network runs wired cat5e to needed components via an unmanaged switch in the basement. Routed by Orbi (wired backhaul).
- Clients run the gamet… 3x Apple TV, 6+ iOS devices, Roku, few Windows laptops, MacBooks, and a couple TV apps.
- 4k content is walled off in a separate library and shared users do not have access.
Appreciate the help and thoughts around this.