Roku Ultra not good enough for 4k media server stuff? Anyone with experience?

[sfsuphysics]

So one of the things that got me on the Roku Ultra was the fact it was 4k capable, at the time of purchase I didn't have a 4k TV (still rocking a 10 year old Samsung LCD) but I knew 4k was in the future (super soon now). Well I was kind of high on spending time upgrading my video collection to 4k HDR content (haven't done anything yet), and then I was kind of gut punched back to reality when I read some articles that a 100Mbps probably is not enough bandwidth for media server 4k content, some might work but others might stutter/buffer. So why is this a problem? The ethernet on the Roku is 10/100, and while it's been a while since I've tested the wireless on it I seem to recall it was in the 40 Mbps range. Seems that it is 4k ready, but for services like Netflix, etc that don't need anywhere near as much bandwidth.

So did I screw myself out of being able to just push video without transcoding (something I doubt my PC could do it)?

 

[Verge]

Return Roku, buy a shield or ATV4k.

Unless you have raw rips of UHD discs, you won't ever hit 100mbs. If you do though, yes it will stutter on high bitrate scenes.

 

[kirbyrj]

Why don't you try a couple and see how it works.

 

[defaultluser]

Unless you have raw rips of UHD discs, you won't ever hit 100mbs. If you do though, yes it will stutter on high bitrate scenes.

Agree with second half - nobody in their right mind is going to exceed 50 mbps for any re-ncoded move in their library

Also, you might be surprised by how much better your 1080p content looks on a newer higher contrast screen (like OLed), while the upscaler on all these tvs is impressive!

 

[robijito123]

Yeah run plex on my roku ultra fine 9ver wifi even, prime, netflix, disney have yet to have trouble with speed. Now time to time there does appear to have audio picture sync issues but that is a well documented issue.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Return Roku, buy a shield or ATV4k.

Unless you have raw rips of UHD discs, you won't ever hit 100mbs. If you do though, yes it will stutter on high bitrate scenes.

Roku is pushing I want to say 4 years old now. Return window decidedly closed.

Good to know on the rips, didn't know if

Why don't you try a couple and see how it works.

TV comes Saturday, feel it's kind of silly to try right now with the 1080p TV

But yeah, I'll see what I can get to compare against. I feel like my Comcast data cap might be in danger soon.

Agree with second half - nobody in their right mind is going to exceed 50 mbps for any re-ncoded move in their library

Also, you might be surprised by how much better your 1080p content looks on a newer higher contrast screen (like OLed), while the upscaler on all these tvs is impressive!

Well OLED is out of my budget unfortunately, I was going to go on the cheap side with a ~$600 budget for a 55" TV, but I've pushed that up to $1k, with a 65" TV but I really wanted to stop there. Because 1) I figure that I'm coming from an ancient 10year old TV, so even the cheapest TV is going to seem like a huge upgrade and 2) I have a 5 year old, who knows how to use the TV/Roku, last thing I fucking need is Peppa Pig or something burned into the screen... which may be a bit of an overreaction but still, would upset me if it did.

Yeah run plex on my roku ultra fine 9ver wifi even, prime, netflix, disney have yet to have trouble with speed. Now time to time there does appear to have audio picture sync issues but that is a well documented issue.

Alright, seems overreaction Monday for me then.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Ok well TV is here, tested it out and yeah it seems to run fine. A little annoying that occasionally (often) Plex will transcode when trying to play, which completely destroys any color (looks really washed out), but if I force Direct Play it works fine and I get all my HDR goodness. Just wish there was an option to always do Direct Play, or at the very least set it as the default for any particular movie/show, it's quite annoying when I resume a movie to have it transcode because by default Direct Play is set to auto, not even sure what it's problem is.

 

[TheSlySyl]

Ok well TV is here, tested it out and yeah it seems to run fine. A little annoying that occasionally (often) Plex will transcode when trying to play, which completely destroys any color (looks really washed out), but if I force Direct Play it works fine and I get all my HDR goodness. Just wish there was an option to always do Direct Play, or at the very least set it as the default for any particular movie/show, it's quite annoying when I resume a movie to have it transcode because by default Direct Play is set to auto, not even sure what it's problem is.

On the server side of things, you can try to force it, at least for local devices.
It also pretty much always transcodes if you use subtitles, annoyingly.
Also always tell plex your bandwidth is double what it actually is, it tries to only use half of what you tell it your upload is for whatever reason.
Plex works fine with my Roku Ultra equivalent baked into my TV, but it's WAY smoother on my shield.

 

[Verge]

 

[sfsuphysics]

On the server side of things, you can try to force it, at least for local devices.
It also pretty much always transcodes if you use subtitles, annoyingly.
Also always tell plex your bandwidth is double what it actually is, it tries to only use half of what you tell it your upload is for whatever reason.
Plex works fine with my Roku Ultra equivalent baked into my TV, but it's WAY smoother on my shield.

Yeah I wonder if it not the bandwidth (which I could not find how to change that setting) because it would say "Server has decided this cannot direct play Video bitrate is greater than allowed quality settings" which confused me because I never did change any settings when installed it, it would be upsetting if it defaulted to "crap tier". Anyways, installed Plex directly on the TV, and it plays fine, don't have to force direct play, it even handles the various audio formats that plex on the roku doesn't... works great without me needing to fiddle with anything. And if there was a setting that "nerfed" my bitrate max it sure hasn't affected the TV from doing it directly.

And it's super fucking odd too because this is all on a home network, I'm not getting this from outside.