Which clients play MPEG2 well?

General Discussions
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I have a bunch of Transport Stream (TS) files on my HDD using Plex Media Server as a DVR. When I play them back in my bedroom, on my Roku 4K Ultra (1st edition) they play at 30 fps. Doesn’t look so great for live shows like The Tonight Show etc… Is there any streaming box that plays MPEG2 well? Or do I like need to buy an old Mac Mini to use as my TV streaming box in my bedroom? I get 60 fps no problem in Plex client on Mac or by playing the TS files w/ VLC.

2

When playing back on the Roku, is it transcoding? What’s the dashboard say?

I know that on (some) Roku TVs Plex has a setting to permit MPEG2. I don’t know if that exists on standalone units.

3

If you enable ‘Allow MPEG-2’ in your Roku App Settings, Plex will remux/do the magic required to Direct Stream that media. Plex will, at that point play exactly the content that is in the Video Stream without any conversion, so what you see is what you have.

If you allow Plex to transcode MPEG-2 - it’ll probably fail quite handily - and you’ll see the issues you’re seeing now.

If you don’t have a Chinese Cheapo TV (like I have) that ‘De-Interlaces’ anything that shows up Interlaced, on any input, automatically, you may have no other choice than to let Plex do it’s worst. It depends how badly your eyeballs bleed watching interlaced content. Most, if not all MPEG-2 streams are interlaced.

As for Devices that will work with MPEG-2 without transcoding:
Roku Ultra - providing you turn on the switch
Fire Stick 4K
Shield (so I’m told - no first hand experience)
Plex for Windows
Plex Media Player
… and there’s where my experience ends…

4

Thank you so much JuiceWSA! I found the “Allow MPEG-2” in the setup, for some reason I overlooked it last time, not knowing I could scroll down to see more options. I enabled that and set everything to original and force direct play etc. It’s passing the MPEG2 straight over without any transcoding and it shows as 60 fps fine on my 1st edition Roku Ultra 4k. Perfect. Looks like I am gonna go for the yearly subscription for Plex DVR.

1 Like
5

I wouldn’t.

I go month to month, that way I can rage quit any time they do something dumb - what time is it?..lol

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