App review
webOS File (media) managerThe built-in media manager of the webOS is very basic and is only useful for managing about 10 files before it becomes cumbersome. It doesnt follow the folder hierarchy of the drive so if you arrange it in a certain way it doesnt follow that. It presents all videos as if they were all in one folder in alphabetical order which is a headache if the file names are lengthy or in the thousands.
USB port of the TV does only reads FAT & NTFS formatted drives. ExFAT and other file systems cannot be read. Android TV has no problem with this.
webOS media playerPlayer built into the webOS does play .mkv in 720p, 1080p and 2160p. Maybe it is my NAS, the LAN layout or the TV itself but it buffers when playing 1080p and 2160p. I did not have problem with this when I used a USB 3.0 flash drive directly to the TV when I auditioned the TV in the store. I had this problem when I connected my NAS to the TV via LAN through two routers.
To solve the stuttering it was suggested I use PLEX. PLEX is really useful and I am thankful that they support webOS. It still did not solve my stuttering problem.
PLEXI am running the FREE account of PLEX. Will consider getting a paid account later.
If you have a NAS for your 720p, 1080p and 2160p videos then this is a must. Really really useful.
Coupled with Netflix it allowed me to decongest my NAS by 20% getting 400GB back.
The shortcoming of webOS is negated by the PLEX app. It also includes Channels like
- PBS (full episode like FRONTLINE)
- Comedy Central (full episodes of such shows like the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Latest episoe is 14 November 2016). Quality is 1080p at 4.9Mbps
- CNN (clips, will probably erase)
- History Channel (geoblocked)
- South Park (yes, all 20 seasons + this week's episode in 1080p)
- Comedy Central (latest full episodes of such shows like the Daily Show with Trevor Noah.)
- CBS (full episodes of such shows like 2 Broke Girls but latest season only of the latest 4 episodes) geoblocked, sadly.
- BBC iPlayer (geoblocked, sadly)
- History Channel (geoblocked, sadly) I blame it on aliens!
Netflix #1 reason why buying a 2016 model 4K TV makes sense to me today. Without readily available 4K content would make me instead buy a 1080p TV or not buy a TV at all.
webOS app storeAs I feared webOS app store has very few apps unlike say Android's Play Store. I had to erase all the preloaded apps because of where I live. I only kept Netflix and Youtube then added Al Jazeera, Google Maps, PLEX.
ABS-CBNABS-CBN app is so unuseable and the first video they played was a video clip from 2012. ABS-CBN pretty much abandoned their app.