Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?
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I have non-smart TV and I am tired of using the keyboard on my lap with a windows pc running the plex media player to watch shows. My Apple TV is too old to install the Plex app on it.
I am wondering what you might suggest as a dedicated plex media player with HDMI out. Preferably a TV style remote control rather than a keyboard.
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Not a Plex player,but I have a TV style remote that has a USB dongle, replaces keyboard and mouse pretty well. I'll try to find the link, it wasn't too pricey.
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@RojoLoco Thanks. I have an app on my phone called Unified Remote. https://www.facebook.com/UnifiedRemote/
that I really like, but it is still a drag to move around a windows desktop with anything other than a mouse.I move through apps and menus really easy with all my remotes: XFinity, Samsung, Apple TV, etc.
Also, When it comes to my wife and kids, I think a dedicated Plex player that just appears when they change the HDMI input is a better choice in my house.
I look forward to seeing what you have.
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Plugging it in to the HDMI input in the car is appealing too. So that means I would need a Plex Media Player that can play media on internal and usb storage. Sadly, this rules out the Apple TV 4K which I nearly bought 5 minutes ago....
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I picked up an Amazon TV 4K Stick for $20 2 weeks ago.. it works great!
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@Dashrender said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
I picked up an Amazon TV 4K Stick for $20 2 weeks ago.. it works great!
@pchiodo got one for Christmas and is watching stuff on it now.
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@scottalanmiller said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
@Dashrender said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
I picked up an Amazon TV 4K Stick for $20 2 weeks ago.. it works great!
@pchiodo got one for Christmas and is watching stuff on it now.
the new remote they have is fantastic! I'm down to just one remote as long as I stick to the Amazon TV. The new remote controls my receiver and powers on/off the TV - it's awesome!
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I've always loved Roku for this. In fact, I own 3 of them. They are powerful enough that my Plex server doesn't have to do any transcoding at all so the server doesn't need to choke on my 4k HDR10 movies.
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@NashBrydges I looked at these. The Rokus do not present themselves as a mobile device, so this means I cannot use the Plex SYNC feature. This wouldn't really be that bad if it had internal storage it can play from. Managing everything from Plex would be nice, but I wouldn't mind copying stuff to an SD card or USB stick if I needed to.
Do you know if any of the Rokus can play from local storage while offline?
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@JasGot said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
@NashBrydges I looked at these. The Rokus do not present themselves as a mobile device, so this means I cannot use the Plex SYNC feature. This wouldn't really be that bad if it had internal storage it can play from. Managing everything from Plex would be nice, but I wouldn't mind copying stuff to an SD card or USB stick if I needed to.
Do you know if any of the Rokus can play from local storage while offline?
did you find that as an option for the Amazon?
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I wonder if an Amazon Fire Tablet would be good for ya? A true mobile device with local storage (though probably not a whole lot) - also no clue if they have HDMI out.
Perhaps a setup of a Amazon Fire Tablet and a Google Chromecast? though I don't know if you can make a direct connection between the Chromecast and the tablet? or if you must use a WiFi AP...
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I wouldn't go for an all-in-one solution. For home, I'd just get a Roku or Amazon Fire - unless you're really into the Apple ecosystem and want Apple TV, then you're forced into an Apple TV.
Then for mobile - one or more Amazon Fire tablets - one per person, then everyone can watch their own content - sync their own content.
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Why don't you just get a Roku and install the Plex channel?
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@Obsolesce said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
Why don't you just get a Roku and install the Plex channel?
That's what we use now.
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@Dashrender said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
For home, I'd just get a Roku or Amazon Fire - unless you're really into the Apple ecosystem and want Apple TV, then you're forced into an Apple TV.
We have both and prefer the Roku a lot.
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@JasGot said in Best Plex player to use with a non smart tv or as a portable HDMI player?:
@NashBrydges I looked at these. The Rokus do not present themselves as a mobile device, so this means I cannot use the Plex SYNC feature. This wouldn't really be that bad if it had internal storage it can play from. Managing everything from Plex would be nice, but I wouldn't mind copying stuff to an SD card or USB stick if I needed to.
Do you know if any of the Rokus can play from local storage while offline?
No, you're correct. While I haven't tried, they are supposed to be able to play content from a USB connected drive. That being sai, if you're looking at Plex, I'm assuming you have a Plex server installed. I have my Plex server in the datacenter and I can play content from that server from anywhere in the world using my Roku device. No transcoding required from the Plex server since the Roku handles all of that heavy lifting. The only thing required is to make sure your outbound bandwidth would allow full feed of your video files via internet from your Plex server. If you want this to run like this, you'll need to expose port 32400 (or other custom port you designate) to the internet otherwise all playback is handled through the Plex.tv servers and your playback will be throttled to 2Mbps max. I've been able to play a 70Mbps 4k HDR10 video from a remote location at full bandwidth this way.
