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​Nvidia Shield adding full Plex Media Server support

Plex has had a great Android TV application for quite some time, but it's getting supercharged with full media server access on the Nvidia Shield.

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Jacob Krol is an editorial intern for CNET. He has a big love for all things tech, and is a huge Springsteen fan and also a native New Jerseyan. Jacob is currently a rising junior at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA.
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Sarah Tew

Good news for Nvidia Shield owners: Not only is it a superb way to run Plex's client app for Android TV, but it will soon be able to act as a Full Plex Media Server, including support for hardware-accelerated video transcoding (in H.264, MPEG2 and HEVC formats) with multiple simultaneous streams.

Shield owners will be able to connect a hard drive or network attached storage (NAS) device filled with video, audio and photo files, and serve them out Plex client apps and software inside or outside the house. In addition to playing those files on a TV via the Shield itself, you'll be able to stream them to PCs, phones and tablets anywhere with the free version of the Plex app.

Shield's big advantage over a PC running the Plex server is that you don't need to keep it turned on all the time--Shield uses a lot less juice than a typical computer. And unlike a typical NAS, Shield has plenty of horsepower for Plex transcoding, which is necessary to convert high-resolution video files for streaming to lower-bandwidth mobile connections outside the home.

Plex and Nvidia say the new Plex server functionality will arrive as part of Shield's next software update to version 3.2, scheduled for later this month.

Watch this: Nvidia Shield Android TV: A high-end, gamer-friendly 4K streamer

Updated June 13 with additional information about how the Plex server function will work.