Feature Presentation
Plex
Everything on here is the best copy available — usually pulled straight from a Blu-ray disc, so files run anywhere from 30GB to 150GB, and roughly half the library is in 4K.
Most Plex apps cap streaming quality at 1080p by default. Go into your remote quality setting and switch it to Maximum — your device might handle more than you'd expect. If it buffers after that, the bottleneck is your internet connection or your client's bandwidth, not the file itself.
Choosing a device
Not all TV apps are equal, and it comes down to which one your TV actually has. Open Plex on your TV and check Settings → About → App Name. A branded name like "Plex for LG" means you've got the fuller app. If it just says "Plex for Smart TVs", that's the generic fallback app — hard-capped at 4Mbps bitrate, 1080p, and H.264 only, no matter how fast your internet is. That cap, not your connection, is usually the real bottleneck.
- Sony / TCLBoth run Google TV, so they use the full Android/Google TV app rather than a limited smart-TV one. Best all-round support, including Dolby Vision and subtitles.
- LGDedicated app on 4K/UHD webOS models (3.0+). Solid Dolby Vision and subtitle support.
- SamsungDedicated app on Tizen models from 2016 on, but no Dolby Vision support and subtitle handling can be inconsistent.
- Hisense / VIZIOAlso get dedicated apps (VIDAA U4+, SmartCast 2018+) rather than the limited generic one.
- Anything elseOlder or less common sets are likely stuck on the generic "Plex for Smart TVs" app and its 4Mbps/1080p cap above.
You'll generally have a better experience with a dedicated streaming device than a smart TV's built-in app. Here's how the main options stack up, roughly cheapest to most capable:
- Fire TV Stick 4K Max~£50–60, or £35–45 in a sale. Wi-Fi 6E and Direct Play for most modern formats — the easiest low-cost pick, and doubles up for ad-free YouTube and IPTV.
- Google TV Streamer (4K)~£99. Adds 1Gb wired Ethernet for a stable connection, plus Dolby Vision and Atmos, ad-free YouTube, and IPTV.
- Roku Ultra / Streaming Stick 4K~£80–100. Comes up a lot, but it's not a great option next to the others — Roku OS is more restrictive with Plex and struggles with high-bitrate remuxes, lossless audio, and PGS subtitles.
- Apple TV 4K (3rd gen)£200. The pick if you're already in the Apple ecosystem — clean HDR/Dolby Vision switching and a very smooth interface.
- NVIDIA Shield TV Pro~£200. An older device (2019) but still a benchmark for Plex — one of the only mainstream boxes that passes through lossless TrueHD/DTS-HD MA without converting it, and handles Direct Play across the widest range of formats.
- Ugoos AM6B+The absolute best if you want everything, including Dolby Vision Profile 7 (FEL) and true lossless Atmos passthrough — it'll play anything without a transcode. The catch: getting there means flashing it to run CoreELEC/Kodi instead of its default Android software, which is a proper setup project, not plug-and-play. Only worth it if you enjoy tinkering — ask me first if you want to try it.
Game consoles
Already got a PlayStation or Xbox under the TV? Both run Plex, but neither matches a dedicated streaming box.
- PS5Decent all-rounder, but no Dolby Vision support (HDR10 only) and no lossless audio passthrough — those tracks get converted on the server first.
- Xbox Series X/SDoes support Dolby Vision, but also lacks lossless audio passthrough and has more limited subtitle support than a dedicated box.
Phones & tablets
The Plex app works fine on iPhone, iPad, and Android for casual viewing, but Dolby Vision is genuinely hit-or-miss on phones — even recent flagships can show a black screen or washed-out colours on a Dolby Vision file. If that happens, it's a compatibility quirk, not a problem with the file. For the full picture, cast to a TV or streaming device instead of watching directly on the phone screen — AirPlay on iPhone/iPad, or the Cast button on Android — which hands playback off to the TV and sidesteps the issue.
Downloading for offline
You can download anything to your phone or tablet for offline viewing — look for the download icon on a title's page. You'll be asked to pick a quality (Original, High, Medium, Low) — given the file sizes here, Original can easily use 20GB+ for a single movie, so a smaller preset is usually worth it unless you've got storage to spare. On a computer, downloads work through the Plex desktop app, not the web browser — the browser version doesn't have a download option.
Audio & subtitles
A couple of format quirks worth knowing: Blu-ray audio tracks (TrueHD, DTS-HD MA) and PGS subtitles don't play natively on most apps, so the server converts them on the fly — which is a common, invisible cause of buffering. If something's playing up, switching to a standard audio or subtitle track (below) is usually the quickest fix.
Technical Difficulties
Troubleshooting
If something's buffering, try these in order:
- Switch the audio track — if it's set to TrueHD or DTS-HD, change it to a standard 5.1 track instead. Lossless audio is a common hidden cause of transcoding, and dropping to compatibility 5.1 often clears up buffering on its own.
- Turn off subtitles, or pick a version marked External or SRT instead of PGS.
- Lower the quality — Plex will usually suggest this itself, but you can also set it manually.
- Still stuck on one particular file? Let me know and I'll get you a version that works.
Coming Soon
Requests
Add something to your Plex watchlist and it downloads automatically. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes it takes a while — it depends on availability, file size, and how many people are sharing it.
For a TV series, only the first season downloads to start. Once you're about 80% through it, the next season starts pulling in behind the scenes.
Setup — do this once
- Make your watchlist visible:
Settings → Privacy → Manage Profile Privacy → My Watchlist— set it to at least Friends Only. Without this, requests won't be picked up. - Get notified when something's ready: in the phone app,
Settings → Notifications → New Content Added to Library— turn that toggle on, and turn All Libraries off.
The Soundtrack
Music
My music library's on here too — might not be to your taste, but you're welcome to it. Grab Plexamp, log in with your Plex account, and stream away. There's no request system for music yet, unlike movies and TV.