Stream H.265 to Roku 3 via Plex Media Server

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4K content playback is now supported on Roku 4, Roku 4K TV, Roku Premiere, Roku Premiere+ and Roku Ultra, you can now direct play 4K video with a maximum resolution of 3840×2160 that encoded with H.265/HEVC codec with Plex app on above listed Roku models. However, for other Roku models users such as Roku 3, if you try to stream 4K H.265 to Plex via Roku 3, what condition will happen?

What’s the state of Plex app on Roku 3 with 4K H.265?

As what we have stated above, Roku 3 doesn’t support 4K playback, therefore, PLex will try to transcode the 4K resolution video down to a maximum of 1080p. What’s more, from Roku supported file formats, we can see that Roku 3 can only playback H.264/AVC MKV/MP4/MOV video. It also means that that Plex will also try to transcode the incompatible H.265 codec for Roku 3 playing.

It is well known transcoding 4K content (especially for 4K H.265 codec) can be very CPU-intensive and some lower-powered computers (especially NAS devices) might not be capable of doing so in real-time.

Best way to transcode 4K H.265 to Roku 3 for Plex streaming

If the computer that you try to run Plex Media Server don’t have a powerful CPU, it would be much ideal for you to perform the transcoding with a third-party video conversion app instead of Plex Media Server. If you are looking for a workable and reliable application to get the job easily completed, we highly recommend Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate to you. The program has perfect importing support for both 4K H.265 files wrapped with either MKV or MP4 container file format. Thanks to its batch conversion mode, you can load multiple 4K H.265 files into the application at one time for conversion to save your precious time.

This splendid application can assist you to easily compress and decode 4K H.265 to Roku 3 Plex app direct playable HD H.264 file formats with perfect quality and super fast encoding speed. For those people who runs your computer on Graphic cards that supports Nvidia CUDA or AMD App technology, you can get up to 6x faster H.264 codec encoding speed when using our program to produce H.264 codec.
If the 4K H.265 files are encoded with Roku 3 Plex app not readable audio codec, you can fix that by exporting compatible audio codec such as AAC, WMA, FLAC, AC3, DTS, etc from the “Profile Settings” Windows by clicking the “Settings” button.

For Mac users, please switch to download Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac to complete the conversion on macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, Mac OS X Yosemite, Mac OS X Mavericks, etc.

How to Compress and Transcode 4K H.265 for Roku 3 Streaming via Plex Media Server?

Step 1: Load 4K H.265 video into the program.

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 4K H.265 video files into the program.

Step 2: Output Roku 3 Plex app supported file formats.

Clicking the Format bar, from its drop-down list, select one of Roku 3 Plex app supported file formats such as “H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)” under “HD Video” main category. You can also choose Roku 3 supported H.264 HD file formats with other container file formats such as MKV or MOV.

Step 3: Select Roku 3 Plex app playable audio codec.

In the opened “Profile Settings” window, from “Codec” drop-down list, select Roku 3 Plex app Plex app playable “aac” audio codec to output. You can also flexibly change other profile settings according to your own needs.

Step 4: Start the conversion process.

When all the setting is done, begin the conversion process of 4K H.265 to Roku 3 Plex app compatible HD H.264 MP4 by clicking the right-bottom “Convert”button.

When the conversion is done, add converted files to Plex for streaming to Roku 3 with ease.