The Nvidia Shield TV just gets a major upgrade that includes Plex Media Server. With Plex Media Server built-in, SHIELD Pro is the perfect way to enjoy all your media whether at home or on the move. Have some MKV files and wish to stream them to Nvidia Shiled TV Pro via Plex, the following show you a simple workflow to get MKV streamed to Nvidia Shield TV via Plex.
The MKV file can be encoded with various different compression codec such as MPEG-4, H.264, H.265, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV/VC-1, MVC, etc, when the MKV files don’t compatible with the app or devices that you try to streaming from Nvidia Shiled TV Pro via Plex, Plex will transcode the video to H.264. The good news is that the Nvidia Shield supports hardware accelerated H.264/H.265/MPEG-2 encoding. It also means that if your MKV files are encoded with one of the above three codec, the Nvidia Shiled Pro will be able to make full use of hardware acceleration for transcoding. If your MKV content is encoded with other codec (e.g. VC-1, Xvid, VP9, etc.) then the SHIELD will have reduced performance in cases where transcoding is necessary.
When in that condition, your Plex Media Server will transcode the MKV files for you. However, it is well known that the media transcoding process is very CPU intensive, if the Plex Media Server runs on a computer with lowered CPU, then you can easily suffer video playback lagging or stuttering issues when you view the MKV files with the Plex app on certain devices or apps.
Best tool to transcode MKV for Nvidia Shield TV Streaming via Plex
To fix the video playback lagging or stuttering issues caused by Plex transcoding, it is ideal for you to utilize a third-party application to complete the video conversion job. Here, we highly recommend Pavtube Video Converter to you. The program has full support for all 4K/2K/HD/SD MKV files encoded with various compression codec including H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VC-1/WMV, MVC, etc. You can easily produce your apps or devices compatible digital file formats and preset profile formats with best conversion speed and splendid output file quality.
Just like Nividia Shield Pro, the program also supports hardware accelerate H.264 or H.265 codec encoding. You can get up to 6x H.264 codec encoding speed if your computer run on a Graphic card that supports Nvidia CUDA or AMD App technology and up to 30x H.265 codec encoding speed if your computer run on a Graphic card that supports Nvidia NVENC technology.
To get better output video and audio quality, click “Settings” on the main interface to open “Profile Settings” window, here, you can flexibly choose or specify exactly the profile parameters including video codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate, channels, etc as you like.
Related article: Blu-ray to Nvidia Shiled TV | DVD to Nvidia Shield TV 2017
Pavtube Video Converter is available on Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7, it is also accompanied by an up-to-date Mac version – Pavtube Video Converter for Mac for macOS Sierra and its previous version. The program is quite simple to use, anyone can learn to use it in minutes. Moreover, the program produces high-quality results, you can’t tell the difference between the converted video and the original source MKV files.
Step by Step to Convert MKV Files for Nvidia Shield TV Streaming via Plex
Step 1: Load MKV files.
Download the free trial version of the program. Launch it on your computer. Click “File” menu and select “Add Video/Audio” or click the “Add Video” button on the top tool bar to import source video MKV files into the program.
Tips: The program supports batch conversion mode, you can load multiple MKV files at one time for conversion.
Step 2: Define the output format.
Clicking the Format bar, from its drop-down list, select your devices or apps compatible file formats such as “H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)” under “HD Video” main category. You can also choose other output file formats according to your own needs.
Step 3: Adjust output profile parameters.
Click “Settings” on the main interface to open “Profile Settings” window, here, you can flexibly choose or specify exactly the profile parameters including video codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate, channels, etc as you like to get better output video and audio quality.
Step 4: Begin the conversion process.
After all setting is completed, hit the “Convert” button at the right bottom of the main interface to begin the conversion process from MKV to your devices or apps compatible file formats.
When the conversion is finished, click “Open Output Folder” icon on the main interface to open the folder with generated files. Then you can easily stream MKV files from Nvidia Shield TV via Plex to TV, mobile devices as you like.
