Plex Settings to Change

If you are using my Plex server, then these settings need to be changed for smooth playback! Because I use High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC/x265) files, older devices will not have support for playback. It will convert them on the fly but that uses more energy and if you don't have consistent latency, it will be a very poor experience.

So lets break down the settings you need to change.

Roku

For Roku devices, open up the Plex up. Then navigate to your profile picture to go to Settings menu. From there, scroll down to "Video & Audio" menu. On the right side sub-menu make sure that "Local Quality" is set to Original. Below that, the "Quality Suggestion" tick box is unchecked. Underneath that, "Remote Quality" setting should be set to Original. Make sure to change "Direct Play" to Force and there's a check mark on the tick box for "Allow Direct Stream". Set the "Maximum H.264 Level" to Auto and do not check the tick box for "Allow MPEG2".

That is it! Enjoy the server!

Google TV/Chromecast

For Google TV/Chromecast devices, navigate to the settings on the Plex app. Then scroll down to "Video Quality" section. There first change "Adjust Automatically" to Off. Make sure that "Home Streaming" is set to Maximum, "Quality Suggestions" are Off, "Remote Streaming Quality" is set to Maximum and "Play Smaller videos at Original Quality" is set to On.

Then scroll down to Advanced Section. Here it would depend on what kind of TV you have and if it can do variable refresh rate, refresh rate switching, Dolby Profile 7 etc. If you do not know then you can match my settings, if it doesn't work well then turn all of them to off.

The settings I change for my TV here are as follows:
1. Refresh Rate Switching: OFF
2. Resolution Switching: ON
3. Refresh Rate Switching Delay: None
4. Force DoVi Profile 7: ON
5. H264 Maximum Level: recommended/auto is fine

On a side note, older Chromecast devices wont work. You would need the last Chromecast HD or Chromecast 4k for it to work. The hardware isn't capable of handling HEVC in the older versions, unfortunately.

That is it! Enjoy!