Vizio update broke Plex? Aspect ratio, only allowing transcoding. Any word from Plex?

General Discussions
1

Hello, I’m wondering if anyone from Plex is seeing the stream of recent complaints about the Vizio app and might be able to provide some kind of statement?

Up until a few weeks ago, my Vizio Smart TV played every file in my collection (vast majority are MKV, some are MP4) without issue, with no video transcoding. I think there was an update on the Vizio side and everything turned to crap.
Two main issues:

  1. DirectPlay/DirectStream pretty much stopped working on nearly all MKV files, even movies that worked perfectly before.
  2. On the off chance I can get any movie to Direct Play or Direct Stream any more, the aspect ratio has a pretty high chance of being screwed up.

For me, transcoding isn’t a great option since I’m hosting my entire library on a fairly underpowered Linux NAS, and it has a hard time keeping up with 1080p streams. Remember…this worked perfectly until a few weeks ago.

I’m not alone in these complaints…there are numerous forum postings dedicated to both of these issues, but I’m wondering if, as a Plex Pass subscriber, we can get any kind of official response?? I have to imagine that Plex has some kind of ability to control the distribution of their application, even on a 3rd party platform like Vizio. Is there any solution forthcoming, or are we SOL?

Thanks
Kevin

2

Not an official response, but experience has taught that you’re not going to have a pleasant experience depending on the built-in apps in “smart” TVs. These things are lucky to be still supported and updated past 6 months of the specific model’s release. You’re far better off cutting your losses and getting something like a Roku that will continue to get updates and supports for years.

3

Yeah, I’ve been leaning toward a smarter client that probably gets some more love than the “Smart” TV’'s. Appreciate the response for sure…My post was pretty much a rant…just frustrated since it was working up until a few weeks ago.