Context; So… Just bought a brand new TV and life is good, but I should have done more research before buying it. I primarily want to use PLEX for watching media on the TV. However, due to “smart TV’s” not being smart and being rather slow because most current TV operating systems are either bloated or just riddled with ads.
Question; So Plex is there, but it runs very poorly. What are the best options out there to get this running smoothly? Are the only options AppleTV and Amazon Firestick? Anyone been in this boat before that have any tips-n-tricks to share?
Ps. I hate ads, so the Firestick is of off the charts.
Much appreciated
So… People are saying apple tv, but if you hate ads, and also watch YouTube, then this is not the way. If you go with something androidTV based, you can side load smarttube plus, which not only will block ads without YouTube premium, but it also has sponsor block built in, which will skip sponsored sections in videos.
I use a nvidia shield since it supports the widest range of direct play standards (h265, Dolby atmos, hdr10 / Dolby vision, support for refresh rate and output resolution switching, so on)
There’s tons of other androidTV based boxes to go with, but thats what my research ~3 years ago brought me to get, and ive been pretty happy with them. The only con is that it doesn’t like Ethernet cables that dont have a metal shielding on the rj45 connector. Not sure why, but yeah
i love my rokus. they can run plex and jellyfin without a hitch
Second this, yes advertisements, but Roku doesn’t like auto play videos and shit, solid little devices.
If you have a XBox you could try Jellyfin as there are apps that run pretty well on it. There’s also an Android app so you could grab a $50 TV box from AliExpress and do it that way too. It’ll also work via a web browser.
Jellyfin is also open source with no subscription fees for advanced features nor all the bloat that’s tacked onto Plex as well. It’s got a clean interface that I quite like too. It can take a little more work to get running though.
Also, the reason it’s running poorly is likely because Plex has no hardware encoding at all unless you pay for it. When I tested it there was a huge difference for me in playback smoothness with it.
Rokus are cheap. So are Chromecasts. We have the same issue with our TV.
Hell, even an old laptop can be loaded up with Linux for a set top box experience via Kodi or Plex directly. You can use Kdeconnect to turn your phone into a mouse/keyboard input over your wifi.
Would Kodi be an option?
I might look into Kodi instead, seriously dissapointed with plex running so poorly
Kodi can run on a raspberry pi and has a Plex app. I use local media and jellyfin so I can’t testify how good it is
I recommend a Roku streaming stick or a Roku streambar if you need a decent sound bar too. That’s what we use on our “smart” TVs and I hate ads too. Full disclosure: they do put one ad on the homescreen off to the side, but none in the actual content apps. You’ll only see it while between apps.
I stopped using Plex a few years ago. Now I just cast the video to a Chromecast. VLC or cast via browser.
It’s not going to work for remote, but if all you want to do is cast movies to a TV, it’s a simple solutionAlso as a bonus, you can cast a lot a streaming media without commercials by using an adblocker.
How does not one bring up jellyfin? Plex but foss.
Can it do transcoding and subtitles?
Subtitles yes. Not sure about transcoding. VLC is a pretty robust application with decades of development.
Okay - googled and yes https://wiki.videolan.org/Transcode/ And I believe most modern browsers will support this and casting, so you can always just open the local media file with your preferred browser and cast it that way
Same situation, got a 4k Roku and it’s been an absolute godsend for 3rd party apps!
So yeah, my vote is for a 4k Roku, I think they’re a lot cheaper than an Nvidia Shield as well.
With a pihole you can block all ads and tracking on the Roku, too. I’ve got five of them and they’re all in a special group to limit tracking, and they all primarily run Plex
Do you have a games console? Xbox & PlayStation have Plex apps and are able to handle lots of file formats nativity. HDMI CEC is pretty neat too, you can use your tv remote to control media and navigate Plex on the console.
My experience with PS4/PS5 playback wasn’t great. They don’t have as many video codes as say, a simple streaming stick like Roku.
