I am a long time Plex enthusiast. At the moment I use Samsung Tizen system and it works perfectly with a Mac Pro as a PMS. Now, I have to switch to a larger screen and there is no Samsung model in my price range to choose, so it seems I’ll have to switch to LG (webOS) or Sony with an Android system. What platform to choose, which Plex client is more reliable and polished?
Mostly, I use 1080p content with 5.1 or 7.1 sound that I pass through an optical out to 7.2 amplifier. I have some 4K content and it plays fine now on Tizen, should I expect any problems on LG or Sony?
Thank you very much for your experience and expertise!
Best,
Davor
I can’t imagine buying a TV based on its ability to be a PLEX client. Buy a great TV and if the PLEX client isn’t ok, get a firetick or Roku or AppleTV. It’s like basing your car purchase on the radio.
if HD audio (truehd/atmos) is important, you can’t use a smart tv plex client.
shield is currently the only mainstream device with HD audio passthrough support (you still need an 4k/atmos receiver).
if hd audio is not important, then IMO roku tv has the best/simplest interface (outside of plex), and is more likely to be kept up to date than an android tv.
within plex, they should all be very similar due to the plex UNO interface.
for dedicated streaming boxes, IMO it goes like this
nvidia shield (expensive but you get what you pay for)
roku 4k - cheap, easy to use
apple tv 4k - its an apple product (good or bad depends on you)
LG WebOS has had some bigger bugs with Plex recently, but the LG OLED line is the best (not outrageously) priced TV you can buy. Bugs can be squashed or you could get a dedicated streaming box, but you cannot replace picture quality.
Have a look at the number of views, frequency and recency of release, and so on in the Announcements category on this forum. I find it a useful indicator of which clients are most popular with end-users, and where Plex Inc is focussing its energies. It may give you an idea of where to spend your $$.
I was happy with Plex on my LG C8 but switched to ShieldTV 2019 because as pointed out here, its the only platform that supports EVERYTHING.
Theoretically the C9 and CX models should support HD audio over eARC (if your receiver is compatible) but then ShieldTV also has the AI upscaling which makes 1080p content much clearer than on the TVs native Plex app. I’ve tried going back to the TVs Plex app and the picture seems so much blurrier.
As others have stated, buy the TV based on the picture, not the audio/smartTV/etc options.
I’ve an LG B7 OLED. It has a great picture. It has a poor Plex client, due to LG & hardware limitations.
Example 1: Enabling PGS subtitles forces a video transcode. This makes 4K HDR movies unwatchable with subtitles enabled, since transcoding kills HDR. Also, Plex does not tone-map HDR -> SDR, so the colors are quite poor as well.
Example 2: Due to HDMI-ARC limitations, the LG Plex app cannot pass lossless audio such as TrueHD + Atmos or dts-HD MA. The availability of HDMI-eARC has not currently resolved this problem, as TV manufacturers seem to be limiting apps from passing lossless audio.
I use a Nvidia Shield as my Plex client, feeding a Denon receiver via HDMI. The Shield passes all necessary audio formats to the Denon (including TrueHD + Atmos & dts-HD), and the video passes through the Denon to the LG. As a result, everything direct plays. No transcoding.
So, to summarize, pick the TV based on picture quality, size, & budget. Use the Plex app if you can. However, don’t be surprised if you’re quickly shopping for a Shield/Roku/AppleTV 4K.
Thanks tramp78! I know what you mean, but the choice of large TVs is somehow limited in my area, and I need to replace 75" with 85"/86". There is no Samsung in that size that I can fit in my budget, but there are quite nice 86" LG 86UM7600 or 85" Sony KD85XG8596 that are affordable. Both have quite good picture, low latency and are fine for my standards. So, yes, I’ll admit that I’ll choose TV in that category just for the best Plex client. I love elegant solutions with minimal hussle and my current setup works great, so I’ll try avoid another external box if possible. Thanks for your point of view, I’ll see experience of other users and hopefully find some reassurement that I can still enjoy Plex without external box. On the end it’s funny that modern TVs have some much power and that it’s not used.
modern tvs probably have less power than you think, simply because tv manufactures have to make tvs as cheap as possible, and they want to make people upgrade tvs every couple years, like phones.
Thanks SE56, if you are LG user, any comment how does Plex client on webOS works for you? Yes, bigger is better of course, I am switching from 75" to 85/86" and there is no much choice in lower price range, so that LG and Sony are now my favorites but I am affraid of buggy Plex client. Maybe I worry for nothing?
The reason I like PLEX as a box is because you can 1) take it with you somewhere else if you want to go on the road or to a friend’s house or 2) upgrade it for a lot less money than it would cost to upgrade the TV.
Thanks TeknoJunky! I don’t use any soundbars, I have an external 7.2 amplifier with standard optical connection to TV. I don’t care about HD, I just need channel separation, so that I can use 5.1 and 7.1 media properly. I use them now on Samsung with no problem, so I just need to keep that functionality. At the moment I don’t care much about Atmos. Thanks for the streaming boxes info! Are any of this output 5.1/71. audio on optical out for an external amplifier? I don’t want to use ARC for other reasons, I just need plain and simple multichannel over optical out.
Thank you rg9400! As far as I tested in shops in my area, they all have more than ok picture quality for my stadnards, I am not that spoiled! My need is such that I choose screen size over quality. So I just want the lagrest size for minimum budget that have decent Plex client so that I don’t have to go along the way of getting an external steraming box. What is your experience with Plex client on LG?
The LG webOS Plex app has not been great to be honest. As others have mentioned, there have been bugs and limitations recently, and the fixes have been a bit slow in my honest opinion. Right now, there is a major bug where audio and video stutters upon resuming/seeking on media that is transcoding. I have an old LG B6 TV, so it might not be present in newer versions; however, this is a major bug in my opinion.
All of that said, even if you say you do not care about picture quality, the LG OLED line is still the best TV you can buy (unless you want to really splurge for a Sony OLED, but they use the LG panels). You will notice it once you start using it and try to watch on another TV, even my very old dad cannot go back. The newest versions have most of the bells and whistles a TV can have (DV support, eARC, Alexa/Google Assistant, you name it).
Basically, if you ONLY care about the Plex client, the LG TVs are probably not the greatest option compared to something running the Android app I think, though I have no experience with an Android TV. However, in my opinion, that would be a mistake since you would be missing out on an excellent TV
Thanks rg9400, I love OLED panels but as I need really large size display, I’ll choose size over quality for now, so all I am concerned is quality of Plex client. I am quite happy with the current Plex client on Samsung Tizen platform, I don’t need anything better.
No problem,
I find the LG WebOS the most intuitive of TV OS’s. With it’s Magic Remote/Pointer very desktop like.
The only Prerequisite would be the Processor the Alpha 9 Gen 2 and to be soon Gen 3 being the best possible. Saying that the Alpha 7 Gen 2 is no slough. These Processors are found in 2019 and 2020 OLED or Super UHD
So If you set up your Network correctly and with some advanced settings I find it a pleasure. It may not snap to your instructions like a powerful desktop but is very functional. Some network delay can occur if your Storage Directory Drive is asleep, but not unrealistic. Also there a short delay if trans coding is required, which is rare for me. The Plex Client’s UI and UX is straight forward and great eye candy, which is now very customizable. The only big missing Features being Themes and Grid EPG. As I don’t mind Orange I find Plex choice suitable, the later I believe it’s coming. Work around at present is a companion app or use the server for scheduled recordings for the DVR.
To sum up the OS it is very wife friendly, one remote can do almost all. Turn on & off and do most basic tasks for your Pay TV, Blu Ray, AC Receiver, Game Consul etc. The important component is the processor. Please note : the above mentioned bugs strangely never affected my set up and it has been trouble free.
This is of great help! LG that I am peeking at uses Alpha 7 Gen 2, so I guess it’ll be good enough. My media server is complete overkill (12-core Xeon) so even if some transcoding is needed, that’s not a problem. Thank you very much!
My need is such that I choose screen size over quality. So I just want the lagrest size for minimum budget that have decent Plex client so that I don’t have to go along the way of getting an external steraming box. What is your experience with Plex client on LG?