Apps Plex vs. Infuse

[richpjr]

After having my library corrupted on Infuse 3 times in 4 days and after the I switched to Plex and have literally never had an issue. While Infuse may have more features, for me, it was not stable enough and I don't need the aggravation.

 

[firecore]

After having my library corrupted on Infuse 3 times in 4 days and after the I switched to Plex and have literally never had an issue. While Infuse may have more features, for me, it was not stable enough and I don't need the aggravation.

Hmm, so sorry to hear about your troubles.

If you have a chance to drop us a quick note with a few details we'd love to learn a bit more about the issue(s) you were running into. https://firecore.com/contact

 

[TheBad]

Without dropping the gloves and getting into the subjective picture and sound quality ring. I prefer both.

At home with my 3 ATV4s plex makes sense, for the central data base and load on the clients.

If I am loading up an ipad for use during lessons with the kids or a trip I find Infuse my app of choice. No dependency on internet, no transcoding to get the files onto the ipad or phone. Not sure if this is still an issue with plex, but before I had to be connected to the server to delete a movie off the iOS device (necessary if you ran out of memory taking a bunch of photos of sunsets). That was a major source of heart burn in the pass.

Both interfaces, seem targeted at a different user experience. Plex sit back and discover your own content again. Infuse, I want to play this file and now.

 

[topdrawer]

i just started using infuse 5 like yesterday, so my opinion might not matter much. what i like about infuse so far is that i don't need to run a server. for plex i have an imac as a server which is fine till it isn't. before it i had a different imac that wouldn't wake up sometimes and eventually the HD failed. retrieving the old HD and moving all my files is a pain because of the way the imacs are built. this imac doesn't get any other use other than being a server and with plex, sometimes it hangs transcoding large files and plex on apple tv becomes non respondent

so with infuse it seems like i can take the imac out of the equation altogether by attaching a HD to my airport. another benefit with that is that my appletv is wired to the airport directly meaning i could remove movie streaming off my wifi completely allowing me to do internet stuff without hiccups.

other than that, the reason i started looking into infuse was because of Plex's all or nothing transcoding. it seems like if I select a transcoding option locally, all my files get transcoded even when it's not necessary and i don't like those kinds of inefficiencies.

 

[geesus]

Not had any issues with Infuse and I've used it for years now. Seems to improve with every update, which is all I can ask for really. It's main advantage though is of course you don't need a server running, as mentioned, so can just stream files directly from my network.

 

[MjWoNeR]

Isn't Infuse cheaper than Plex if you want to stream your library, and transfer files to the iPhone for offline viewing?

 

[oliJ]

I have been a long time Plex user, although have, more recently, been using Infuse solely on the fact of the dolby sound licensing. Just the other day, though, I went back to Plex and instantly saw a dramatic improvement in picture quality compared to Infuse. I searched within the Infuse app settings, looking for a video quality setting, but didn't see anything. Has anyone else noticed the Plex app providing better picture quality compared to Infuse?

Thanks. I look forward to reading your responses.

can't really compare infuse and plex as the 'free' infuse on ATV does not let you play anything unless you at least spend 12 bucks with them, plex is completely free.

i have been also questioning the way audio is being sent to my receiver DTS / DD / .. pass through vs LPCM.
the fact is that DTS or DD are just lossless compression format whereas LPCM is also lossless but uncompressed. the data going on HDMI is digital in both cases and therefore they are no analog noise generated when sending to receiver as multi-channel audio. so this is what goes on when i play a movie using plex server and the plex player on ATV:

plex server is set to to direct play / stream, so the data goes straight to ATV plex with no decoding whatsoever, the dts bitstream is decoded by ATV / plex which turns it to lossless LPCM, and send it to my receiver that way. sounds great. I could actually compare cause my smart TV has a plex player that pass through DTS to the receiver , and while that has the effect of lighting up the DTS LED on my receiver and have it decode the DTS stream, there are no audibles differences.

so it is digital to digital, the dts has to be decoded anyway using their codecs and then the lossless result of decompressing the audio stream is sent to receiver as lossless uncompressed. the bit rate of LPCM is 27 mbits/s where as DTS restores up to 24.5 mbits/s so LPCM can handle decoded DTS no problem, LPCM also handles up to 7 channels , so again no problem there for me either.

i wanted to try infuse but disagree with their sale in app purchase approach. so i stick to plex, and if I want to see the DTS lit up in my receiver i can alwaysplay my movies using the samsung smart tv plex player, but that's the only difference the DTS light is on, and using ATV plex is much more convenient that the samsung version

onkyo 7.1 receiver setup with 5.1 array.

 

[Rigby]

There are a few mistakes in your posting. For one, standard DTS and DD are not lossless formats. This is relevant because Plex will have to transcode any format that isn't supported by the Apple TV Plex client to DD. This includes formats like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, or FLAC. So in those cases you will lose quality due to the DD transcoding, while Infuse can play them losslessly. There are also a number of scenarios where Direct Play doesn't work on the video side (e.g. if the video is VC-1 encoded or has subtitles in a non-text format), in which case the image quality will be impacted.

 

[Peepo]

For those who are Plex users and have an AppleTV, you should be using MrMC. It has two options for Plex. One is the native Plex client which integrates into the look and feel of the MrMC gui (support for different skins and playback transport controls). The second is fairly new being the Plex Kodi Python add-on now included with MrMC. Both options for Plex allow you to disable transcoding for local playback. Since MrMC is based on Kodi, it therefore has no issues at playing back direct from a file share (eg. SMB) without need of a dedicated "server".

 

[oliJ]

There are a few mistakes in your posting. For one, standard DTS and DD are not lossless formats. This is relevant because Plex will have to transcode any format that isn't supported by the Apple TV Plex client to DD. This includes formats like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, or FLAC. So in those cases you will lose quality due to the DD transcoding, while Infuse can play them losslessly. There are also a number of scenarios where Direct Play doesn't work on the video side (e.g. if the video is VC-1 encoded or has subtitles in a non-text format), in which case the image quality will be impacted.

Thanks Rigby,

my focus here is on the sound.

you are right DTS and DD are lossy, DTS-HD is lossless / lossy. This means that when they are decompressed they do not reproduce the original exactly. DTS / DD, DTS-HD are simply audio compression codecs, used to reduce the size of the audio data for convenience while minimizing impact of the sound quality when they are played back.

!! I guess the point here is that this will be be the case wherever audio compressed streams are being decoded , being in the Apple TV or in the receiver. A receiver may add some post-processing steps, but these are applied to the uncompressed audio , not the compressed data. the data must be uncompressed first.

Decompressing DTS/DD to LPCM and transferring that to the receiver is a digital and lossless process because the uncompressed and digital LPCM handles bit rates up to 27.648Mbps, whereas DTS-HD MA handles 24.5 Mbps, DTS is a mere 1.5Mbps, DD is probably less, in other words, there is no loss when transferring decoded data as LPCM to the receiver through a digital connection such as HDMI, or optical cable.

Plex Direct Play is great, and I have only very few issues with it, 300+ movies played with Plex in direct play, most 1080p + multi-channel audio in a variety of common compression codec, and only a couple fail to playback correctly.

So the highly non-quantifiable statement of yours : "There are also a number of scenarios where Direct Play doesn't work on the video side " turns into a mere 0.5% in my case, and probably for most PLEX users because I am no expert and probably do what everyone else does.

Also as I mention earlier, I can get the DTS decoding to happen on my receiver when using Samsung smart tv embedded Plex player. there is really nothing nice to talk about this software here , apart to note that that it can pass through DTS to my receiver, and that apart from the DTS led being on, it does not make a difference in sound quality compare to the same movie play back in PLEX/ATV sending LPCM across.

For the picture:

Also generally speaking with my limited experience in video player, (you can correct me there being an expert).
I have found PLEX to have the best picture quality all around. I cannot compare with infuse here , because firecore put me off too quickly, I went to download the 'free' version, set it up to access my movie library using DLNA, loaded the library, and when I went to play a title, Infuse prompted me with a screen asking me to join some sort of a trial with a $ amount associated with it, and that was the end of that. If they want me to buy their software they should do this when I download it not after. for this reason I don't think they do any better than plex on ATV. otherwise they would let you try with no prompt for credit card, knowing people would buy their software cause it is so much better, I think they simply rely on people who forget to cancel the trial. I don;t want to be one of those, I just want to try before I buy.

Finally, you said ' a few mistakes' without quantifying it, or actually taking time to list any apart that DTS /DD are lossy. which amounts to a total of one (mostly irrelevant to the discussion), not a few. So R u exaggerating facts, because you are upset when people challenge your expertise?

I have tried to explain things best i can here, and as you now know I am no expert, so You can go ahead and tell me all that is wrong with this a few or more, whatever. Just don't forget to provide substance thx.

ah and also read yourself again, I think you made a bias:

"This is relevant because Plex will have to transcode any format that isn't supported by the Apple TV Plex client to DD. This includes formats like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, or FLAC. So in those cases you will lose quality due to the DD transcoding, while Infuse can play them losslessly"

You forgot to say that this is the case only when ATV has audio output set to DD. if you use the best quality option, then you'll get uncompressed LPCM not DD, and there is no Transcoding involved in that case whatsoever. (assuming a video player that supports all these formats).

Also Infuse does not play losslessly anything if apple tv is set to output audio using DD codecs, only when apple TV is set to best quality will infuse send send lossless LPCM data to the receiver, just like Plex does .

Have a nice day

 

[bopajuice]

Thanks Rigby,

my focus here is on the sound.

you are right DTS and DD are lossy, DTS-HD is lossless / lossy. This means that when they are decompressed they do not reproduce the original exactly. DTS / DD, DTS-HD are simply audio compression codecs, used to reduce the size of the audio data for convenience while minimizing impact of the sound quality when they are played back.

!! I guess the point here is that this will be be the case wherever audio compressed streams are being decoded , being in the Apple TV or in the receiver. A receiver may add some post-processing steps, but these are applied to the uncompressed audio , not the compressed data. the data must be uncompressed first.

Decompressing DTS/DD to LPCM and transferring that to the receiver is a digital and lossless process because the uncompressed and digital LPCM handles bit rates up to 27.648Mbps, whereas DTS-HD MA handles 24.5 Mbps, DTS is a mere 1.5Mbps, DD is probably less, in other words, there is no loss when transferring decoded data as LPCM to the receiver through a digital connection such as HDMI, or optical cable.

Plex Direct Play is great, and I have only very few issues with it, 300+ movies played with Plex in direct play, most 1080p + multi-channel audio in a variety of common compression codec, and only a couple fail to playback correctly.

So the highly non-quantifiable statement of yours : "There are also a number of scenarios where Direct Play doesn't work on the video side " turns into a mere 0.5% in my case, and probably for most PLEX users because I am no expert and probably do what everyone else does.

Also as I mention earlier, I can get the DTS decoding to happen on my receiver when using Samsung smart tv embedded Plex player. there is really nothing nice to talk about this software here , apart to note that that it can pass through DTS to my receiver, and that apart from the DTS led being on, it does not make a difference in sound quality compare to the same movie play back in PLEX/ATV sending LPCM across.

For the picture:

Also generally speaking with my limited experience in video player, (you can correct me there being an expert).
I have found PLEX to have the best picture quality all around. I cannot compare with infuse here , because firecore put me off too quickly, I went to download the 'free' version, set it up to access my movie library using DLNA, loaded the library, and when I went to play a title, Infuse prompted me with a screen asking me to join some sort of a trial with a $ amount associated with it, and that was the end of that. If they want me to buy their software they should do this when I download it not after. for this reason I don't think they do any better than plex on ATV. otherwise they would let you try with no prompt for credit card, knowing people would buy their software cause it is so much better, I think they simply rely on people who forget to cancel the trial. I don;t want to be one of those, I just want to try before I buy.

Finally, you said ' a few mistakes' without quantifying it, or actually taking time to list any apart that DTS /DD are lossy. which amounts to a total of one (mostly irrelevant to the discussion), not a few. So R u exaggerating facts, because you are upset when people challenge your expertise?

I have tried to explain things best i can here, and as you now know I am no expert, so You can go ahead and tell me all that is wrong with this a few or more, whatever. Just don't forget to provide substance thx.

ah and also read yourself again, I think you made a bias:

"This is relevant because Plex will have to transcode any format that isn't supported by the Apple TV Plex client to DD. This includes formats like Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, or FLAC. So in those cases you will lose quality due to the DD transcoding, while Infuse can play them losslessly"

You forgot to say that this is the case only when ATV has audio output set to DD. if you use the best quality option, then you'll get uncompressed LPCM not DD, and there is no Transcoding involved in that case whatsoever. (assuming a video player that supports all these formats).

Also Infuse does not play losslessly anything if apple tv is set to output audio using DD codecs, only when apple TV is set to best quality will infuse send send lossless LPCM data to the receiver, just like Plex does .

Have a nice day

You can look up references on Google all day to prove your point, but keep in mind most of what we view on Plex is dependent upon the rips we do beforehand. I personally try to rip DTS-HD MA in my movies in the hope of future compatabilty, but we all know AppleTV can't reproduce Master Audio.

if your focus is sound, then the source material such as a Blue Ray is the best option.

 

[oliJ]

You can look up references on Google all day to prove your point, but keep in mind most of what we view on Plex is dependent upon the rips we do beforehand. I personally try to rip DTS-HD MA in my movies in the hope of future compatabilty, but we all know AppleTV can't reproduce Master Audio.

if your focus is sound, then the source material such as a Blue Ray is the best option.

Yes I agree, with this. 33% blu-ray come with PCM uncompressed master audio up to 7.1 channels, so no compressed format can beay that but when re-encoding using DTS-HD MA you are as close as close can be from the real thing. True HD sounds pretty good too.

Happy movie ripping and thanks for your meaningful reply.

 

[Rigby]

!! I guess the point here is that this will be be the case wherever audio compressed streams are being decoded , being in the Apple TV or in the receiver.

The point I was trying to get across is that DTS-HD, TrueHD or FLAC tracks don't even get to the Apple TV without quality losses if you use the standard Plex client.

Finally, you said ' a few mistakes' without quantifying it, or actually taking time to list any apart that DTS /DD are lossy. which amounts to a total of one (mostly irrelevant to the discussion), not a few. So R u exaggerating facts, because you are upset when people challenge your expertise?

Nice. There are several other mistakes in what you wrote, but I just didn't have the time to write more yesterday. And after the above I no longer have the inclination either.