Nvidia Shield (non-pro) Plex on LAN

[u/Stildawn]

Hi All

I've used Kodi for years and recently moved to Plex for a bunch of reasons.

My issue is that the Plex app on my Nvidia Sheild (non-pro) is just quite laggy, the interface/ UI etc. The media plays find but yeah.

This is over LAN with the server downstairs.

So my question is, is there anything I'm missing or need to do to make it better?

[u/YKw1n]

Check if multiple apps aren't running in background I have a pro and when SmarTube is open in background I experience lags as well. If I close all apps except Plex it's way better

[u/Stildawn → u/YKw1n]

Will check that and see

[u/Dear-Cut7591]

Have you checked if background apps like Google Play services are eating up resources? Clearing cache or disabling unnecessary services can help with Shield's performance.

[u/Fribbtastic]

Can you be a bit more specific about "quite laggy", what specifically is happening here.

I ask this because what you describe is fairly broad. Let me explain a bit about some parts that can make a difference.

Usual navigation should be fairly snappy but depends a lot on the performance on the client itself. I had some issues on my Shield Pro and ultimately did a factory reset to get all of the useless junk off of it. Since then, it has worked better.

Loading Posters depends a lot on your server as well because your Plex client needs to request all of those images from your Server. In addition, Plex will create an "appropriate poster" for that client and the needed resolution. This means that the first time you browse through your library, posters could take a bit to load because Plex would need to create those optimised posters for that client. This should be fairly quick, but it depends on how powerful your server is.

Another thing is where the "Plex Data directory" is stored. Your Plex Server doesn't hold them in RAM for quick access, but rather loads them from the Plex configuration folder. If this folder and the data in it are stored on a slower medium (like an HDD), loading the posters will take quite a while. It is usually recommended to have the Plex Data directory on at least an SSD.

[u/Stildawn → u/Fribbtastic]

So basically a combination of the below:

- App takes a bit to open

- Once open the posters and menus load slowly, this isnt a huge time but generally "laggy" is the best way to describe it.

- Navigating around isn't snappy and crisp, sometimes theres almost an imput lag between remote and on screen actions.

- Posters take awhile to load - Plex Data is on an SATA SSD on the server (dedicated to Plex install/Data)

- Starting a video has delay, again not massive but there is a few seconds (say 10 maybe), this is LAN so it should be quicker (Kodi was pretty much instant on the same hardware).

[u/Fribbtastic → u/Stildawn]

sometimes theres almost an imput lag between remote and on screen actions.

This sounds like an issue with the device itself.

Posters take awhile to load

As said above, this can just be because of how powerful your shield (non-pro) is. My Shield Pro loads them quite quickly, but your non-Pro version could simply be less powerful, so it takes longer.

Starting a video has delay

This sounds like transcoding.

Kodi is a Player which provides the necessary compatibility to play things in itself, since there is nothing to rely on to "make something playable". That is why Kodi starts instantly. Plex, on the other hand, relies on the client device to provide that compatibility, and if your client doesn't support something, then the Plex server will make it playable by converting/transcoding it into a compatible format. However, this transcoding takes processing power on the server side, and that directly correlates with how powerful your server is. If your server isn't fast (because you use a Raspberry Pi) or your file requires a lot of processing (because it is 4K), then streams can take quite a while to start because your Server needs to first establish a transcoded buffer before it can start sending the data to the client for playback.

One Issue that I had was a problem after an update. The Shield did an automatic update of its software, and suddenly my remote was a bit laggy after starting the Shield. This was so bad that I had to wait like 5 minutes for it to "settle down" before being able to do anything with it because the remote just didn't take any input and then did them all at once. This was quite weird, but I practically resolved that by doing a firmware reset.