Question Best method of playing video files from HDD to TV

graymattor

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Hi,

First of all i just want to say i am very new to all this sort of thing! recently I purchased a 4k TV (Samsung Q85R) and also an AVR Denon X3600H, plus speakers for 5.1, to upgrade to Atomos in the future, what an absolute adventure i appear to still be on!!

At the moment I stream everything, I watch no live TV, most of what i watch is though Plex (Elysium) then other content is through the likes of iPlayer.

I have some and growing 4k/UHD/HDR content on a stand-alone HDD, now i have set up my home PC as a plex server all set up to run local, not streaming and using the plex app on my TV or Plex app on Firestick (connected straight into the AVR which seems to be working better) and that works OK but i am having some quality issues (some times the picture appears grainy in the background) and some buffering, which is a pain, i do have access to 4k streaming through Elysium but my internet is nowhere near fast enough so i cannot stream it.

I guess what i am asking is what is my best and cost-effective way of viewing these video files on my TV?

Plugging the HDD direct into the TV works occasionally but i guess only if all the requirements align, i have also tried an OTG connector into the 4K fire stick but it doesn't appear to mount correctly

The plex route is the nicest and cleanest if I can get it to work, maybe it's my home PC that not good/fast enough or the portable HDD is not fast enough, unfortunately, i don't know enough about these things hence asking you guys the experts ;-)

Any thoughts about what my best route would be? i don't mind buying new equipment (within reason of course) but i don't really want to have to keep moving equipment around and disturbing thing, like the portable HDD, it was a pain unplugging and then moving up to my PC to transfer files to then plugin again!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.

Thank you in advance
 
The best, IMO, is probably the Nvidia shield Pro. It will allow you to install a plex server & client. NOTE, I said Pro, the cheaper 2019 shield will not allow plex server. But at £200 it is expensive, you could pick up the older 2017 shield, second hand.
You can plug in an external hard drive into the shield.
 
Thanks,

I will admit from looking at threads on here it looks as though the shield pro will be the best way forward, it looks as though it has some limitation but I don't think they will affect me enough to notice.

I have noticed quite a few for sale on the forum, I wonder why?

Thanks again, looks as though ill be waiting for the next round of sales!
 
I have the 2017 version, there are some people who have to have the latest tech.
 
That's very true, i have to say i am certainly not one of those! yes, i have upgraded my TV and treated myself to a cinema surround but its been 6 years since i bought my last one!

Would you suggest a NAS is a good way forward with the Sheild or would direct connection be better? i would prefer a NAS, the only real reason is i don't have to unplug and move things around all the time, but possibly an unnecessary expense? ive seen some NAS drives/media servers have plex server installed on them? i do need to upgrade my HDD its quite old now and only 2TB which is almost full!

I also like the idea of using the Homerun, i see you have one do you view it through plex? i don't have an aerial in the main room so DTV would be great, but most of what i do is streaming
 
You can run Plex on a NAS but generally speaking it has to be a higher spec, more expensive NAS than you really need, apart from running Plex on.

The Shield can run Plex server on it well, so there's no need to have it on the NAS, just use the NAS for streaming media and storing/transferring data.
Another option with The Shield is to run Kodi on it instead of Plex.
Many users, myself included prefer it. Others prefer Plex. Both have Pros and Cons.
 
Thanks, the last thing I want is overkill! (and the cost involved) I will only ever require the HDD in one room for viewing, then move it to the office where my PC is for transferring files (unless ii can do it through the shield, but maybe quicker to move it)

I will admit i have used Kodi on my fire stick for plex due to sound issues with the plex app, which they have now sorted out, i do agree i do see the pro's and cons with both methods, its been a while since i used Kodi, i may have to give it another go, i used MrMC for a bit but i struggled with it, maybe i didn't have it set up correctly but moved back to Kodi
 
A nas is a good way of storing & sharing media around the home. But as you say, they can be expensive. If you do decide on one, go for a two bay to start with, forget RAID. Use them as two separate drives. Just buy one hard disk at a time.
A lot of nas's do have the ability to run as a plex server, but the shield has it, so it's not really necessary.
I have a synology, but have been looking at the terramastor range, I think they offer good value. If it has plex server, you can try both.

Yes, I do have a HD Homerun, I don't use it very much, through plex, I find it breaks up, so I wouldn't use it with plex. I think there is an HD Homerun app, which you could run on the shield. You need a plex pass to use the dvr/tv

If you get a nas with plex server, you might as well get an amazon fire tv stick, a lot cheaper than a shield.
 
Thanks for the pointers, its all relatively new to me.

I think I will stick with a direct connection, I doubt my network equipment would be fast enough, I have a BT mesh system which is good but trying my PC as a Plex server and playing on the firestick I get buffering and sometimes it's grainy when direct playing a 4K UHD movie, I have tried powerline adaptors which I have kicking around but the TV room part of an extension and I'm not sure if that causes problems because it's faster over wifi!

I do have plex pass and often looked at the DVR/Live Tv side of things but never ventured any further than that.
 
ive also considered a HTPC, but i think a Nvidia Sheild Pro would be a lot cheaper
 

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