Thanks for this. Great review and great tips on the proper settings. I just got a 4k TV and a new sound bar. The proper settings allow everything to direct play. No more transcoding.

Addendum on Apple TV & the scope of what we were looking at. First the Apple TV just had a new release this week and I tested the prior model. The new model is not any better as it still handles audio the same way. Scope: this video is focused on the Plex personal media server, the players can usually handle Atmos/Dolby Vision on streaming services but personal Plex media has different types of audio & HDR modes that's not supported even though it's called the same thing (yes it's confusing). Additionally all of these boxes can play back media streamed from Plex via their free streaming services without issue. And although I had an older Shield on the desk everything was tested on a 2019 Shield I have upstairs.

Something else I would have liked explored is direct play codec support, and since some of us tend to watch subtitled content which subtitle formats are supported without burning in (which would then require transcoding). While Plex servers that can transcode are not anything new, they can be slow to spin up, and depending on the container used in the format not play at all depending on the player with or without direct play, for example the PS5 surprisingly enough has really poor direct play support and even less subtitle format support. So if you were to play an MKV with a subtitle format of ASS or SSA, in place of the MP4 friendly SRT, you will get a video no matter what codec was used that will not play in direct play mode, and when transcoding will not feature subtitles unless you turn on burn-in. While Plex is quite flexible on the codecs it will work with and the devices it can work with, there are quite a few gotchas beyond just the audio codecs, HDR content depending on the player. Also a complete lack of AV1 Direct Play or transcoding from, but I'm sure that will happen at some point.

I have been waiting for another one of these!

You’re giving me a bunch of settings but no video comparisons to see which handles the 4K files best.

I've got two Nvidia Shields myself the 2017 model and the 2019 TV Pro...keep up the good work my man.

I am interested in the Apple TV 4K and I was disappointed to learn it doesn't do hi-res audio for movies with Plex (and I assume Emby) any chance you could do a video using the FireCore Infuse app? It is supposed to allow audio passtrough.

The Fire TV Cube 2nd gen has all the things you mentioned for the Fire TV Cube 3rd gen, so you can save some money by getting the previous gen Cube. About the only thing the 3rd gen has that the 2nd gen didn't is the ability to play AV1, but that's not very common at this point. Also, with the Cube, you can use a gigabit USB-to-ethernet adapter with an OTG adapter and get up to 480Mbps (the USB on the Cube is USB 2, which is why it can't do the full gigabit speed).

For Apple TV, you want to set the TV video settings to 4K SDR even if you have a 4K HDR TV. Apple TV will always automatically bump up to HDR based on content but you avoid issues with some (many?) apps including KZfaq which doesn’t play well into and out of ads when the Apple TV is not set to SDR.

Plex on Kodi on the Shield I'd assume will support everything you throw at it with the Shield doing all the transcoding, even DV if you have the correct version.

The newer shield can use nvidia’s AI to upscale content to 4k which I think is way better then the TVs upscaler. So if you get the newer one I definitely would not turn on automatic resolution switching and I’d let the shield do the scaling

LON ROCKS!!!!

Although it would be a more difficult plex video to make, it would be great a similar video but for those that don't have/want a TV and watch everything on their mobile devices, mainly tablets, but also computers. The best candidates would be the 12.9in iPad pro and the Tab S8 ultra, but also some Surface devices or even MacBooks...But of course not easy as you would need to have those device handy at the same time....

Suggestion as asked: please update the video with the subtitle capabilities of PLEX on the different systems. I see difficulties with subtitles not displaying in HDR media playback. Thanks!

Another thing to test is full sized 4K movies with HDR10+ and Dolby Vision layer don’t play correctly on FireTV in Plex but will in Kodi. I am curious how they play in Plex on other players?

Hi, I have a Firecube TV 4k 3rd gen with a home theatre set up of two echo studios. In the Firecube TV options i followed your guide to the audio surround sound and Dolby Digital Plus is selected and best available is greyed out. Does this means Dolby Atmos content is not availble on the Plex, Netflix & Prime Video applications for example?

I have been looking at the Asustor line of NAS boxes, one i am looking at has 2.5Gbps ethernet. Any advice on these boxes? I run Plex on my WD My Cloud box currently.

FWIW, DolbyVision (profile 5) files DirectPlay fine on my Xbox Series X connected to a LG OLED TV. This is with the latest client 5.49.0, so maybe a recent change?

With one thing we agree Lon. The Nvidia Shield Pro is still the best media player/server even today.:) I use mine for local playback and nothing else compares.

Time for next gen shield pro

I just purchased an Nvidia Shield Pro and connected it through my Marantz AVR to my Sony A95L TV. Do you know of a fix for the Dolby Vision issue where there is flashing of bright scenes with DV enabled? Turning off DV to fall back to HDR10 solves this problem.

Thinking of getting a Series S for casual gaming but would be interested in using Plex on it as a bonus. Can anyone confirm that it would play my 4K Blu ray rips with HDR10, HD Audio, Dolby Atmos and at the correct framerate? On my old Xbox One S even when I set "allow 24hz" it still stubbornly refused to switch away from 60hz when watching 25fps or 24fps content via Plex. I have an Apple TV 4K with the Infuse app which does everything I want except on the audio side (no DTS HD, DTHD, DTSX or Atmos output), it just converts everything to PCM.

I wish you would have tested Fast forwarding test... my nvidia shield would always crash plex when i do fast forward/rewind more than multiple clicks or press and hold. (

Been using a TCL Roku TV for a few years now. The 4 series was limited in its network speed keeping me from direct playing files above 70-80Mbps bitrates. Well, moved to a 5 series (TCL 65S555) and it’s a beast of a player. Handles all the newer formats, will passthrough audio to my sonos arc, they’ve upped the network capabilities and it now plays every file without a hiccup. All that to say that if you’re in the market for a Plex client, but need a new TV as well and like the roku OS (it’s my favorite) then definitely check out a TCL S555 series or higher end TCL.

Which if then if better? Faster with video quality, and colors? Sound?

I can't find the link to the mentioned video talking about streaming across town. Can anybody help?

My hopes for Xbox being the ultimate player was crushed when a lot of formats were not natively supported. Got a Shield and wow, what a neat media player. And the remote replaced my Harmony as it does everything I need to turn everything on and off

What platform is the plex server running on? Thanks Lon

The older Xbox One X from 2017 was a great streamer even though it didn't have HDMI 2.1. It literally played everything.

One thing to note regarding the tube Shield TV and playback. Mine was consistently becoming more and more unresponsive as I played files. Eventually, Plex would either crash on its own, or I would have to close the app and restart it. At first, I thought it was a memory leak with Plex, but it turns out that the memory leak is with the AI upscaler on the Shield TV itself. The lower the upscaler sharpening setting, the longer you can go without restarting Plex. Other users have noted it on reddit, so at least I know it's not just me.

Try it on a roku ultra and report back. Thanks

How about HDR 10+? Which of them supports it?

I have a question, I just got the Nvidia Shield pro a couple days ago and was wondering if using Plex server would I be able to download paid movies and save them on Plex or you can only transfer them from a PC or Nas or something similar?

Great roundup Lon! It still bugs me that besides the SHIELD TV Pro (2019) none of the big boys (Apple, Amazon, Google) support DTS, TrueHD audio. That knocks them out of the running for me using Plex. I did buy a Apple TV 4K (2021) for all the other apps and switch the the SHIELD when I use Plex and some other stuff. Doesn't look like those other boxes will support those audio formats anytime soon which is a bummer. Any guess when we might get a update on the SHIELD TV Pro? Not that I need much more out of it, great device!

Great video! I have mostly older SD movies on my Plex server. We are talking about older black and white films from the 40s and 50s. And I use Apple TV and the cigar Shield. Do you think these settings are good for them or anyone have tips to see and hear my older movies?

Love my NVIDIA Shield Pro to use with my WD NAS for my music and movie Plex server. Can't beat the NVIDIA Shield. Best bang for your buck that has all you need

Love your content. What LG OLED model do you have? Im a 55-inch LG kinda guy.

hope to see the walmart Onn 4k box get more recognition!

Dolby Vision should work on the series X and the series S as it does for games I haven’t checked through Plex yet but I can

bummed that you didn't go through the Plex settings on the X-Box..

Keep up the great work

Heres one some one may have run into or maybe not I am running my plex server now from an old gaming computer that I repurposed and its been running great however, The MCU playlist that I have created I seem to run into a bug and I am not sure if this apple specific or not but I have all the movies and the tv shows in a playlist in play order but when it comes to the tv shows it will take me to the specific tv show folder instead of actually playing each episode which is fine coz you can just press play and it will load episode from inside the folder but when you have shows like the arrowverse that cross over each episode it wont play in the order that you have set in the play list it will just go to each shows own folder and play in the order from that if that makes any sense. this is being streamed to the 2021 apple tv 4k and ipads and iphones and it does the same across all the formats. Really annoying issue to run into. Has anyone else found this problem?

Hi Lon, quick question. Does the Plex app on LG tvs(C2 specifically)support the audio that the Apple TV 4K doesn't?

Hey! I am getting a bit confused with Apple TV 4K, and I wonder if you can help me. Apple TV 4K comes with 1 single HDMI output. How do you use it for Plex streaming? Because 1 cable needs to go into the TV and 1 into the reciever for sound.

AFAIK Atmos is supported but only its compressed version. True HD from 4K remuxes is not supported since Apple TV doesn't support passthrough.

I am currently using the LG WebOS Pley app with ARC to the receiver. How does this combination compares to these players?

Hey Lon. Any updates to the Apple TV rundown around the audio capabilities? Can it now support Atmos, TrueHD and DTS?

A 2015 shield, and the old xbox one s ? I have to ask, given a new gen series s can be picked up for around £120, and there are 3 newer iterations of the shield, why would you use the older ones ?

Hi Lon. There is 3rd gen Apple TV out now which advertises compatibilty with all of audio standards you evaluated. Perhaps you can update the review soon?

Have had good luck with live tv and hdr with plex on the shield? I love the shield with plex for my media but can not get the live tv and dvr using my hd home run and a xteve source to play without buffering and crashing. But it works perfect on the Roku. Do you you have any input on this? I’m pulling my hair out. Thanks for the great content.

Can plex stream smooth remux videos in Apple tv and fire cube ?

Hoping someone can help me out... my cube won't open certain movies. I'm having problems with 4 (that I know of) The TV, Shield (server) and laptop will play them all. I've tried everything I can think of except reuploading the movie which I don't think I should have to do....any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Please do something like this with the Xbox Series S|X

Currently trying to build a Plex Media Library with 4K Movies. I have a Samsung 55 Inch RU7100 4K TV and I mainly use my Xbox One S to play my 4K Discs. I also have a JBL 5.1 Soundbar. JUST got my External 4K Disc Drive today and I've been playing around with it. Have yet to watch a movie all the way through. When I play a movie on the Plex App either on my Xbox and my TV, they both don't play well. Kind of stuttery and freezes a lot. My theory is that maybe the file size is too big to be played directly. I'm looking into getting an Nvidia Shield in the future.

Plex on the Shield doesn't show how many movies/TV shows you have? I prefer Kodi because Kodi doesn't transcode audio formats like Plex does if you don't have an AVR/Speaker setup to use the codecs. Also, Kodi handles subtitles better, Plex will transcode some of them.

Well firecube lover here so once i want to change it with nvidia sheodl pro 2021. Now my firecube is lying somewhere around .not using it.

Plex & Shield Love.

Are you going to follow this up with the new Apple TV coming out on November 4th?

Nvidia Shield absolutely the best Plex box..... I actually just decided to do a factory reset on my shield and start all over again simply because I've had it since 2017 and my streamlined lean and mean operation day to day has evolved so much from the wild apks and Kodi add ons of several years ago. Also I just got a sweet new 2 terabyte SanDisk extreme portable SSD which is the perfect SSD drive for the Nvidia Shield since you can run off USB power only. No power adapter needed, fast silent storage. This is actually my second one so I basically transferred all of the contents of my first drive onto the second drive because during a factory reset means the encrypted drive will become unusable. After I transferred all that data to the new drive, mostly video of course. Did a factory reset, adopted the drive again which encrypted it again and now I have two 2 terabyte SanDisk extreme ssds connected to it. Still have a couple of USB sticks connected to a hub as well but they are very small around 200 gigs each and all of that is already backed up because any day now those little USB sticks will probably fail due to heat or something. My Shield Plex set up basically includes a small list of extremely useful apps like ADM (sideloaded), FX File Explorer, Send Files to TV, BiglyBT, Bulk Rename (sideloaded), and a handful of others. Have the setup optimized now and I'm down to only two essential apks for those random moments where you might need an APK for streaming now and then but mostly it's all about BiglyBT which can be managed remotely from my Android tablet. All of the additions to that application for file transfers I add from my tablet very easily and that client is fantastic on the shield and works great with the remote. Obviously netflix, disney, amazon, Hulu, the usual suspects for the majority of the content but for the rest of those things that we use Plex for, well my setup is extremely optimized specifically for that now. BiglyBT has entirely become my primary app of choice for that sort of thing. It is such a smooth and beautifully working app on the shield it's quite impressive. All you really need is some quality storage like the ssds that have been connected and you're in business. Nvidia shield with Plex is a fantastic low key slim and optimized setup that is top-notch. All you really need is a couple SSD drives and you're in business. With FX file explorer I can easily transfer files to and from my Windows PC, tablet, etc. Several extra terabytes accessible on the Windows machine when needed but a lot of that is honestly for backup or things I haven't yet got to but will someday. Roughly four and a half terabytes of storage accessible immediately on the shield with access to up to 10 terabytes of external hard drives connected to the Windows machine etc on my network. It's small and humble. There are many like it, but it is mine.

Hi! can I passthrou Dolby Atmos / TrueHD and DTS-X audio to my reciver I have a Denon X2700H AVR using Apple TV 4K 3rd gen 2022. both my tv & avr have a hdmi 2.1 hdcp 2.3. if yes does passthrough compessed or uncompressed to my avr.

As a suggestion for another box to look at…the Google TV Walmart ONN 4k Pro with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and WiFi 6.

I don’t think the Apple TV section is quite right. Apple TV will only play profile 5 Dolby Vision (commonly found on streaming services) and not profile 7/8 (commonly found on Blurays). Apple TV on Plex also supports DD+ Atmos but not TrueHD Atmos. Also I believe Plex can convert TrueHD and DTS-HD to LPCM before sending to your receiver.

Very obvious but the Xbox One S being able to play physical media such as 4K HDR Blu-Rays and also being a full fledge gaming console while being very cheap puts it in a interesting place, not to mention you can use a media controller with the integrated IR sensor it has or the official remote which idk if they're available.

My Shield 🛡️ Server stop working few months ago, no matter what I do I just can't seems to get it up an going again any pointers Anyone....

You didn't mention the Shield AI upsampling. Do yoou use it, and is it better than your TV's upsampling?

Homatics box R 4k plus!!!!!! try that

Q: I have a 4K Apple tv on my 4 k tv I have a hdmi splitter can I use that to hook up to my living room tv 55” can I use it for 2 TV’s will it work split the signal ?

Please check the Xiaomi Mi Box S

What Apple TV gen are you using because I thought it did Dolby Atmos?

The Roku Ultra was noticeably missing.

I've tried using the One X and Series X with Plex but for me Blu-ray content at 1080p is always out of sync. Don't know why that happens as the same content on the Shield TV plays back perfectly. I gave up on using the Xbox over this.

Would love to see the PS5 comparison.

It is disappointing the Apple TV doesn't play all Atmos .... But it seem the Shield is the only box to do that. Correct? I have been using Channels for my TV DVR as Plex doesn't work on my (non-DRM) ATSC 3.0 channels and Channels support is being discontinued for the Shield so I have the Apple TV. I have a LG C3 OLED and a Sonos Arc/Era 300 system with sub so it's important to get Atmos as well as Dolby Vision and Nextgen TV.

To be clear, are you saying that the Apple TV doesn't support Atmos in Plex only? I know it supports it in streaming apps.

How does using a windows computer for a Plex server compare to using a Nvidea Shield? That way I have more storage room and (I assume) more power to drive Plex.

Can I ask... if my Hard Drive is plugged into the Shield , Can that Hard Drive/Shield act as a Plex Server and can run Plex without the internet? I ask because my mum has the worst case scenario , that being , she has no internet and no Smart TV. Just a regular TV with USB ports & HDMI. So I want her to watch all the movies etc on her hard drive in that beautiful PLEX display catalogue. If it needs the internet for an initial set up then I can do that by hot spotting to my phone temporarily.

Stiil waiting for the conclusion...

Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 ver. 11+T7 NVME SSD FTW 🛡

What year Apple TV 4K? Doesn’t the new 2022 support Dolby Atmos?

Are you related to Stewart Cheifet? Because you really have the same vibe, and a bunch of retro gear behind you that kind of makes me think of Stewart.

Was this 2022 version of Apple TV 4K?

I always found that Plex on the Xbox is a little stuttery... It just doesn't seem to play smoothly, whereas my Shield TV Pro (2019+) works amazing.

Hey, I have been a daily Nvidia Shield TV (2015) user since launch.inhabe a beefy unRAID Plex server that can transcode. I'm itching for an analog Plex Client.. I have managed to use Nvidia Shield and Windows via HDMI by using a one truck pony HDMI to Component scaler that "just works" (with 16:9 to 4:3 issues) but I desperately want native 240p or 480i component or even S-Video out in 2022 for my collection of CRT Tube TVs pls, you are the authority and I know I am not alone.. is there a better way to go back in time here and now?

It makes no sense to review and commemt on Nvidia shield using an old 2015 model. The latest 4 year old 2019 model has AI upscaling (among other new features) which sets it apart from any other streaming box, especially for using Plex.

Surprised you haven't tested the Chromecast with Google TV. That's what I've used for 4K HDR playback. I prefer it over the Xbox Series X.

Hi Lon, just wanted to see how PS5 stacks up against these boxes, can you please add that. Many of the people who use PS5, use it as a media device too, so wanted to know how it performs

I was so close buying Apple TV until you mention it does not support Dolby Atom! I have Sonos Beam (gen 2) so I guess netflix app won't play Dolby Atom via Apple TV

On Xbox Series X|S, Dolby Vision is available for streaming media apps and playing games. On Xbox One X and Xbox One S, Dolby Vision is available for streaming media apps only. Dolby Vision is not supported on the original Xbox One. Dolby Vision is not available for media playback via Blu-ray.

Hello from Mexico! could you do a tutorial on how to start from scratch with plex?

What is the difference between Dolby Vision and HDR?

So Xbox or Shield?

I want to see the real OG Xbox go up against these! 🤣 /teasing That and XBMC were my first in home streaming experience. I had a "massive" 2TB NAS back then. 🤯

Apple TV 2022?

Would have been nice to add a PC in the mix.

Is this the new Apple TV that came out some days ago?

I wonder how a $100 Windows PC would compare to an AndroidTV box and a Raspberry Pi?

I can’t believe you couldn’t wait a few more days to make this video so you could have the Apple TV 4K 3rd generation to work with. I mean I’m leaving this comment on the day that it gets released. So you would be released your video next week at the latest.

ATV4K handles Atmos just fine.

I'm surprised that Apple TV 4K (my 2021 model) does not support Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and Dolby TrueHD format. (sigh) Seems like I should go back to NVIDIA Shield 2015 model even though I prefer to de-Googlefy my life. And I don't really care for Amazon or XBOX anyway. So, at the end of the day, the highest-end streaming box would be NVIDIA Shield with all the latest formats supported and that is about it. Would be nice if LPCM could support Atmos/DTS:X speakers in addition to 7.1...

Plex Media Server on Android is not that great and is very buggy compared with Windows and Linux versions. My Nvidia Shield PMS would go offline every few days and need restarting.