Looking for a Plex DirectPlay capable board

    Hi, I've used rPi B in the past (yes, gen 1!) and am playing with Plex again. My current big issue is transcoding, the system doing the plex serving has CPU pains even with transcoding 720p content and my Fire TV Stick 4K does not seem to have DirectPlay features for MKV with AVC/AC-3. I read on Reddit that my options may include the Roku Ultra but also RasPlex on a RPi 3B (non plus). There are a _lot_ of options as far as RockChip boxes listed in the downloads section and no comparison guide that I have found, and the wiki article on rockchip is empty. I'm already interested in the new hotness of the RK3588 but that's not supported and probably won't be for some time.

    Is LibrELEC on a RockChip a good option for DirectPlay or at least DirectStream from Plex? If so which option is the best bang for your buck, as in, you can actually buy the board not 4x MSRP.

    usually the transcoding is either the TV or media player cant handle the audio or video that is being sent to it, as in an unsupported format

    usually the fire stick handles way more content directly than the tv, so if that and your pi are struggling id be looking into the actual media or plex server

    but i have personally used Libreelec on the pi 1, 2, and 3 for 720 + 1080 playback and only on very rare occasions will it transcode anything, I was always impressed with the direct play on the pi1 and 2 (Ethernet Connection + Ethernet on server) even on the AC3 streams with std tv speakers it always just worked using LE with Embycon - which is decent for such a small board

    Pi1 ran rasplex originally as it just worked smoother than the openeelec version at that time, then went to Emby instead of Plex and LE is just rock solid so no need to use anything else - the menus get faster the higher up the pi models you go

    being realistic, unless you have a semi decent soundbar or stereo then you really dont need the AC3, If its only happening on a handful of movies maybe converting your media and using your current hardware might be the easiest solution but defo worth looking into the plex server settings just to make sure its setup to deliver it.

    Good Luck