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[StreetDisciple]

Does anyone know the official reason why Sony didn't provide a dedicated media player like the PS3 and PS4? I'm literally hanging on to my Pro just for the DLNA capabilities. I use Universal Media Player to stream movies pictures and content through my PS4 to my TV all the time. I DO NOT want to use Plex. I have tried it several times and it just seems too much for what I need.

Tried replacing the PS4 with the Nvidia Shield Pro. Works like a charm with VLC, way snappier but will not play several file types. I have tried Jellyfin and Kodi paired with it as well. Hit or miss results. Same with both my Samsung TV's (2018, 2024 don't know the models but were top of the line at the time of purchase) certain file types it just struggles with. PS4 seems to transcode damn near everything, although it is struggling with some 4k videos of late which is the main reason I'm bringing this up.

Strange not a bigger deal was made about this or maybe it has and I'm just unaware. Whenever we talk about firmware updates this never seems to be something anyone wants. Have we all moved on and I'm just living in the past? I'm hanging on to this thing like a relic. Does XBOX Series X have a good media player that plays all media? Really don't want to go this route either as I don't play games as much as I used to and nothing over there really excites me to justify that kind of purchase just for a media machine.

 

[SScorpio]

If VLC isn't playing things, you might want to look into converting the format to something modern and supported.

No one can give you advice without knowing what your odd ball requirements are. But Plex does expose a DLNA server, and with transcode damn near anything. You still have a just over a week before the Plex Pass price increase. The alternatives just aren't as easy to use.

 

[Antwix]

You had hit or miss results with jellyfin? I was running the built-in windows wmp dlna server for years until like a year or so ago when it started randomly breaking from time to time. I switched to jellyfin and never looked back. I just use it thru fire stick 4Ks and it's been perfect.

 

[Loomy]

What formats are you trying to stream?

 

[StreetDisciple]

If VLC isn't playing things, you might want to look into converting the format to something modern and supported.

No one can give you advice without knowing what your odd ball requirements are. But Plex does expose a DLNA server, and with transcode damn near anything. You still have a just over a week before the Plex Pass price increase. The alternatives just aren't as easy to use.

Yea...I just found the culprit after reading your post and deciding whether to keep the shield or not. I transcoded my Audio into AAC format instead of MP3. I used Avidemux and saved one of the files that didn't work into MP3 and it worked like a charm. Same video AAC failed. Problem is I have been doing this for a very long time. No way I'm redoing all this stuff. Its a minor inconvenience. If I have to use Plex eventually...I will. Just going to keep this PS4 around until it bites the dust.

 

[StreetDisciple]

What formats are you trying to stream?

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280x720 53.659fps 11242kbps [V: English [eng] (h264 constrained baseline L5.2, yuv420p, 1280x720, 11242 kb/s)]
Audio: AAC 48000Hz stereo 192kbps [A: English [eng] (aac lc, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s)]

Most are as above 720,1080 and 4k

AAC seems to be the problem, at least with VLC Android on the shield. VLC is the closest I can find to the PS4 experience but with a better layout.. Jellyfin works great too, the layout bothers me though. Small problems.

 

[NormalGamer]

Plex isn't that difficult. You can even ask Chatgpt or Claude to help you set it up and feed it screenshots to help you get the proper settings.

 

[A.Romero]

I haven't come across any kind of valid video file that VLC can't play, not even with AAC. I used to have a Shield many years ago and remember it to be pretty competent in all accounts except for durability (it broke at the 14 months mark).

Plex is my go to as well. Super easy to set up, transcodes everything, pulls down metadata and subs as long as they are available... I've been using the free version for probably more than a decade. The only thing I'd like to have is GPU transcoding but it's not worth the licensing as I'm not running parallel streams and my CPU is competent.

The only drawback is that I need to have my PC on and running but if you install the server on the Shield you should be fine (although probably a bit more complex).

 

[TGO]

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280x720 53.659fps 11242kbps [V: English [eng] (h264 constrained baseline L5.2, yuv420p, 1280x720, 11242 kb/s)]
Audio: AAC 48000Hz stereo 192kbps [A: English [eng] (aac lc, 48000 Hz, stereo, 192 kb/s)]

Most are as above 720,1080 and 4k

AAC seems to be the problem, at least with VLC Android on the shield. VLC is the closest I can find to the PS4 experience but with a better layout.. Jellyfin works great too, the layout bothers me though. Small problems.

53.659fps?
Your file is encoded using H.264 Constrained Baseline Profile at Level 5.2. While VLC supports H.264 generally, Level 5.2 is quite high for standard desktop playback and may exceed the processing overhead intended for the default decoder settings, especially at a non-standard frame rate of ~53.6 fps.
AAC is generally supported in VLC, but as I don't know how that was encoded...
Is this a screen recording?

 

[CamHostage]

Yeah, not sure what happened to the media player on console concept?

It's funny that PS4 is the topic here because i think that gen was the beginning of the end after the crest of PS3 and PSP and Wii and 360. There was a backlash to "games not being the priority" when Xbox One went whole hog with the TV passthrough* and Kinect at its E3 unveiling in 2013 (the same E3 that some further shamed Xbox with its demonstration if how to borrow games for its less-restrictive new console...)

In hindsight, it's tough to tell if we were right to be so worried? (Streaming came for gamers' time anyway, and we never got any great crossover feature which might have really used the exclusive console features.) The PS4 and Vita had some media apps and kept up with the times in formats for a bit, but that wasn't the selling point and the features were downstream extras. Now PS5, I had to look up what it's even capable of, and I'm not shocked that you're hitting on format issues.

The craze came and went, even though the practically still exists now.

(*HDMI passthrough is a sweet feature rarely found elsewhere, and it might be worth tracking down a used Xbox One to replace your PS4 since a cracked One has some enviable features.)

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Run Kodi on your shield.
Codecs out the wazzu and SMB storage support is great.

Plex, but 15 years ago.