Hi, I’m wondering if someone with lots of knowledge of client players can help me with this. I’m looking to buy something like a Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV for my TV, and I’m wondering which will offer the best experience for Plex?
I currently have a Chromecast, and it’s fine for most things, except that it does suffer from slight stuttering which is something that I would like to avoid in a new player. Also, it doesn’t have a remote, and that is something that I would really prefer in a new player. I have been looking at the Amazon Fire TV box, and it seems to be fine.
Does anyone have any recommendations on a solid player? Thanks!
You will probably get a lot of different opinions. I have 2 Roku 3s and both suffer from a minor lip sync issue only with plex but beyond that they work great. My primary Plex player is the fire. It’s a very solid device with no issues for me.
@Craig9747 said:
You will probably get a lot of different opinions. I have 2 Roku 3s and both suffer from a minor lip sync issue only with plex but beyond that they work great. My primary Plex player is the fire. It’s a very solid device with no issues for me.
Probably yeah haha! And yeah that’s the kind of issue I currently have with my Chromecast. That’s also good to know with your Fire, is that the stick or Fire TV?
The stick didn’t work that well for me. I’m hard wired. The stick was too far from my wireless router to stream the higher bit rate show without stuttering sometimes.
@srewobwj said:
Roku (via ethernet). I rarely have an issue.
Agree. I would, for now at least, avoid the Ulrta and the Premier because of little but quite irritating issues at the top end of the newest Roku line.
I own a Fire TV, Shield TV, Raspberry PI (running PMP,), various computers (running OpenPHT and PMP), Chromecast and my Rokus. Of all those 95% of the time I use my Rokus for all my serious watching. The only real exception to that is when I am testing “PLex Cloud.” For some reason “Plex Cloud” just will not reliably play on any of my Rokus but will on my Fire and Shield. But “Plex Cloud” is still jus a VERY early beta (actually more of an alpha) and I believe that the Rokus will be properly supported before it reaches general release, if it ever does.
Your experience will depend as much, or more, on the server than on the client for everything except presentation. My recommendation is to get a great server and then choose you client based on what you find easiest and most friendly for YOU to use. What I like may not be what YOU like and you only have to please yourself.
I like Roku’s but I have a neighbor, who otherwise demonstrates good judgment, that prefers Apple TV and Fire TV. I’ll never understand those choices but that is why there is choice. Some people just make that wrong ones. :))
I have 2 Roku 4s.
The UI is beautiful, responsive, and intuitive.
Plays Flawlessly (Recommend Cat6 Connection).
I would stay away from any of those stick devices. WiFi just does not seem to cut it for Hi resolution/bitrate media and 4K… forget it!!! (A stick device Will work ok but at lower bitrates. This just causes your PMS to always transcode if your media is hi bitrate)
I also have Android, IOS, PS3/4, and Xbox clients running in different locations both locally and remote. The Rokus out perform them all in every respect.
My neighbor (Who I share with) was running an Apple TV. It was so bad I bought him a Roku 3 as a gift.
LOL… He thru the ATV into the trash!
Your experience will depend as much, or more, on the server than on the client for everything except presentation. My recommendation is to get a great server and then choose you client based on what you find easiest and most friendly for YOU to use. What I like may not be what YOU like and you only have to please yourself.
I know, that’s why my server and network were built for my demand. I really needed advice on what devices work the best from peoples experiences with them. I bought a Fire Stick ages ago because that would have worked best for me, but it didn’t perform well, stuttering issues that weren’t do to the server.
I did go out and buy a Fire TV tonight, because it was the best deal at the moment, and it works with my prime which is a bonus. And it works brilliantly. Thanks for yours and everyone help with this, I really appreciate it. I’m sure that the Roku would have work brilliantly too, so thanks for suggesting that.
The Roku is probably the easiest and most-polished turnkey solution. If I were to buy a Roku today, I’d get the Premiere+ for the RJ45 jack. I recently got wired ethernet to a switch in my AV stack.
That said, I run a Raspberry Pi 2 with OpenPHT primarily, although I do have a Roku 2 still and some users like to fire that up for Plex instead. I prefer the UI and options of OpenPHT though.
