What are your playback setups?

[B17NNS]

I keep my rips on a Synology NAS. Plex media server on a Mac Mini. My two LG TV's both have the Plex app in the WebOS.

[buffalo master]

Plex Server running on a Mac mini in the closet.

Playback on Apple TV 4K using Infuse app. Video and sound DirectPlay with no issues. Infuse decodes everything and sends to the receiver in lossless LPCM. Atmos and DTS-X are not yet supported, but all HD 7.1 format play fine. I don't do any compression, just the straight MakeMKV dump.

[fljoemon]

Plex Server running on my iMac. Now Infuse app 5.7 on my ATV 4K has native integration of Plex Server, so just pointing to my Plex Server on the Infuse app. Audio sent uncompressed LPCM to my Denon AVR-X2400H connected to my Vizio P65 display. So far things are working great. Hopefully ATV 4K will enhance support for Dolby ATMOS soon .. don't know when, but I am hoping soon.

[jriddle]

Plex Server running on my iMac. Now Infuse app 5.7 on my ATV 4K has native integration of Plex Server, so just pointing to my Plex Server on the Infuse app. Audio sent uncompressed LPCM to my Denon AVR-X2400H connected to my Vizio P65 display. So far things are working great. Hopefully ATV 4K will enhance support for Dolby ATMOS soon .. don't know when, but I am hoping soon.

Why do you need Plex Server? Why not use Infuse Pro 5.7 to stream files directly from your Mac?

John

[jonghotti]

I've been playing back these huge mkv files with the VLC player which will happily stream to my Sony TVs, Sound Bars, whatever Android device happens to be listening. Since I'm still quite new with the UHD blu ray ripping, well OK ripping of any media, I've not quite figured out the makemkv program but eventually will learn. Right now I'm stuck at the flac profile part, OK I'm not stuck, but my Sony "hi res" audio enabled devices tell me basically to fuck off when presented with the the 7.1 surround track, it's not that they can't play an mkv file, or a flac audio file but the combination of the two ain't working so far.

So I suppose my goal is to just park a hard drive next to the home theater system and play back mkv files and open a roadside stand selling used discs. My other goal of filling my bedroom with as many UHD friendly drives as I can put on the credit card is damn near close to being reached. It's like the one time I can remember that I've been glad Fry's default M/O is to buy pallet loads of years old components to save money.

[fljoemon]

Plex Server running on my iMac. Now Infuse app 5.7 on my ATV 4K has native integration of Plex Server, so just pointing to my Plex Server on the Infuse app. Audio sent uncompressed LPCM to my Denon AVR-X2400H connected to my Vizio P65 display. So far things are working great. Hopefully ATV 4K will enhance support for Dolby ATMOS soon .. don't know when, but I am hoping soon.

Why do you need Plex Server? Why not use Infuse Pro 5.7 to stream files directly from your Mac?

John

The Plex Library management is far superior than what Infuse has to offer .. try it and you will see what I am saying. This is the exact mediacenter I always wanted!

[LuekG]

I rip my discs to a 32TB WD MyCloud PR4100
Main Playback
Zappiti One 4K HDR - http://zappiti.com/zappiti-one-4k-hdr.html
135" Severson Screen
Sony VPL-VW720(885 in the USA)ES
Triad/Integra/Rel 7.2.4 Audio Setup.


Secondary Playback is on LG 55UH850T in the bedroom and 60UH950 w/ Onkyo LS7200 in the lounge

Quite impressed with the Zappiti, however it's customisation fetures could use a little improvement.

[sharpie00]

For 4K lossless playback on Plex with an AppleTV 4K, there was alot of trial and error to get it to work. I didn't want to install additional applications as I believed it should have worked as is. And I didn't want to convert using Handbrake or Plex. I wanted to play original quality regardless of bitrate.

My setup:
-Mac Pro Late 2013 (the cylinder) as my Plex Server
-Synology DS1815+ to store all my MKVs
-AppleTV 4Ks connected to all my televisions
-Everything that's wired is on a gigabit wired connection; otherwise it's on 802.11ac wireless

Transcoding will always be a problem, so you need to get it to Direct Stream. I found the issue is using the TrueHD 7.1 audio channel was forcing Plex to transcode instead of Direct Stream.

In addition, PGS subtitles (the ones that are built into the disc), are images and not text. This also caused issues.

Here's how I resolved it:

1. Use MakeMKV to rip your 4K movie without the subtitles.
2. At minimum, make sure you select the 5.1 audio channel. You can have the 7.1 channel as well.

You can avoid steps 3 and 4 below if you don't need subtitles.
3. If subtitles are a requirement for you, download the SRT subtitles from your favorite website.
4. Once MakeMKV finishes, use MKVToolNix to add the SRT subtitle to your MKV container.

5. Move the MKV file to your library
6. On the AppleTV 4K, when you select the UHD movie, make sure you pick the 5.1 audio channel. Not the 7.1. Pick the SRT subtitle from steps 3 and 4 above if needed.

This will play perfectly on both wired and wireless connections. While it's playing, take a look at your Plex server and you'll see the video and audio streams will both be Direct Stream. Subtitles will still transcode on AppleTV 4K, but it doesn't have an impact on playback.

I have Ghost in the Shell 4K playing right now on my wireless AppleTV 4K and it's streaming at 68.8Mbps with no issues.

Hope this helps.

[TheShoe]

I rip everything to a custom built NAS running Snapraid 10 on Ubuntu 14LTS. Currently pushing 36TB of storage with 8 TB reserved for parity. Have space for another 12 TB (3 open drive bays; 4TB drives sitting idly by).

That is served to various devices:

The main Home Theater is:

JRiver Media Center v24
TV: LG 65" OLED C6P (2016 model), HDR10, Dolby Vision, 3D Full res-passive (advantage of 4K!)
Audio: Marantz AV7703 AVR
Speakers: Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 speakers (7.1 setup)
Sub: Rel R 328
2 Channel Amp: Conrad Johnson MF-2500
5 Channel Amp: McCormack DNA-HT5
Interconnects are all Shotgun S1

The HTPC is:
Quadcore i7, 16GB ram
nVidia GTX 1080Ti

I've wired various rooms with Cat 6/7 GigE and have a mesh network for 5Ghz wireless that covers the entire house and well into the back/front yards.

Plex Media Server also runs on the Ubuntu file server
Plex clients on an nVidia Shield TV and Apple TV 4K (used in other rooms)
Plex clients on all the iOS/Android phones/tablets

For spinning discs, it's Oppo BDP-203 (have a BDP-105 still around for SACD ripping)
For ripping - 2 Asus drives (BW-16D1HT) and an LG (WH16NS40). Also have a WH16NS60 - official UHD drive)

Reason I run JRiver+madVr is that it plays EVERYTHING perfectly. 4K+HDR, 3D MVC, Flac at any bit/sample rate, Full UHD and Bluray BD-J menus, DSD/DSF with no compromise. No other media software comes close to what JRiver can do. Plex has no MVC or DSF support, Kodi can't do multi-channel DSF or MVC (except special builds), Emby can't do MVC or DSF. Most of them can't support menus. About the closest I've seen to JRiver is the new Dune boxes.

It's a sweet setup, and I've been an MakeMKV paid subscriber for years. Mike's software has never let me down

[jmone]

+1 for JRiver as the clients get Full BD and UHD Structure Client Playback support with Menus (along with all the Other "goodies" @TheShoe mentions including a very good Server component.
-
Servers
Main PC & Media Server: JRiver Media Server. 60TB using DrivePool (Windows 10) : This is my daily use PC where I do the Admin, ripping etc.
Rack Mounded Backup Server: 60TB using DrivePool (Win Server 2012 R2 Essentials) - backs up all my PC's and holds a copy of my media in case of loss, theft, fire, etc of the Main PC & Media Server.

Both are connected to a central switch on 10Gbe for fast copy between the two.

Clients
Main TV Room: OLED 65" TV feed from HTPC with JRiver as a Client / Yami A3060 / 5.1 Axiom Audio Speakers
Main PJ Room: JVC X7500 125" PJ feed from HTPC with JRiver as a Client / Yami A3060 + Power Amp / 7.2.4 Axiom Audio Speakers
Rec Room: Older Setup - Epson 100" PJ feed from HTPC with JRiver as a Client / Yami A3000 / 5.1 Axiom Audio
Tablets / TV / Etc: All pulling content using DLNA Clients from JRiver Media Center (server)
Laptops: All running JRiver Media Center as a Client

[TheShoe]

+1 for JRiver as the clients get Full BD and UHD Structure Client Playback support with Menus (along with all the Other "goodies" @TheShoe mentions including a very good Server component.
-
Servers
Main PC & Media Server: JRiver Media Server. 60TB using DrivePool (Windows 10) : This is my daily use PC where I do the Admin, ripping etc.
Rack Mounded Backup Server: 60TB using DrivePool (Win Server 2012 R2 Essentials) - backs up all my PC's and holds a copy of my media in case of loss, theft, fire, etc of the Main PC & Media Server.

Both are connected to a central switch on 10Gbe for fast copy between the two.

Clients
Main TV Room: OLED 65" TV feed from HTPC with JRiver as a Client / Yami A3060 / 5.1 Axiom Audio Speakers
Main PJ Room: JVC X7500 125" PJ feed from HTPC with JRiver as a Client / Yami A3060 + Power Amp / 7.2.4 Axiom Audio Speakers
Rec Room: Older Setup - Epson 100" PJ feed from HTPC with JRiver as a Client / Yami A3000 / 5.1 Axiom Audio
Tablets / TV / Etc: All pulling content using DLNA Clients from JRiver Media Center (server)
Laptops: All running JRiver Media Center as a Client

Those server specs are wild!

I've been thinking about a PJ. Know very little about them and the screens they should use. Ideally I would want something that does 4K+HDR and supports 3D. Usually if one can get at least that far, then everything else should work.

I have a perfect room for this - 22' long, 12' wide, 10' high.

[B17NNS]

For 4K lossless playback on Plex with an AppleTV 4K, there was alot of trial and error to get it to work.

Apple 4K TV doesn't do HD audio or Atmos. What you're getting is the lossy 5.1.

[sharpie00]

For 4K lossless playback on Plex with an AppleTV 4K, there was alot of trial and error to get it to work.

Apple 4K TV doesn't do HD audio or Atmos. What you're getting is the lossy 5.1.

I didn't say it supported HD audio or Atmos which is why I rip the 5.1 DTS track from the disc. How is this "lossy" when the track itself is 5.1?

If it was being transcoded, it would show as transcoded and not direct stream.

[Woodstock]

"Lossy" means that you cannot reconstruct the original waveforms from it, just a "really good copy".

On DVD and BD, "loss less" tracks consist of a lossy core, and additional information to make up for the information lost in the creation of the core. Not every player can deal with the "loss less" track, which is why the core is still there.

[Optical10]

Nvidia Shield
Oppo 203
Denon 4300
Sony 770DH (to power rear Atmos/DTS-X speakers)
Pioneer Andrew Jones 7.2.4 Speakers
LG OLED 65B7A

Guys I really need your help. I'm trying to decide between going for the:

#1. Oppo 203 so that I can bypass the non-Atmos from my LG OLED C6 have the gigabit ethernet connectivity to my DS 418 NAS , can the 203 transcode the large 4K HDR MKV (25-98GB) with its own media server software?

#2. Upgrading to the DS 418 play version with Intel CPU that is supposed to be able to handle 4K MKV is over their network better using something like Plex which I currently don't use?

The ironic thing is at the moment the LG TV has no issues playing back content in MKV HDR 4K 7.1 DTS X, some just missing the Atmos /True HD due to TVs limitations.

#3. The third option is using the zidoo x9s suggested here and in other forums but I'm having a hard time believing that a android 6 device, even though it's just using the passthrough, would cope with 4K HDR DV/D Atmos files of 30 GB + over a network, do they even support HDR?

I know I can play 4K HDR on my 1080 TI/PowerDVD 17 PC but as it is a gaming PC it feels like overkill running that, plus PowerDVD doesn't look a patch on the LG's Image playback or support Dolby vision.

It's the gigabit network with the Dolby Atmos accessibility with accurate Dolby vision/HDR visuals that the PowerDVD 17 or MPC-HC I'm currently missing in a less power hungry package than the gaming PC I'm after so any experience thoughts would be much appreciated to help me make my mind up.