I have a DVR with 2 HDHomerun Connect devices configured. When I first set them up, I was using the same channels enabled on both devices. I live a long way from the OTA towers, so I have a unique antenna connected to each device. This gives me a better/stronger signal because I don’t have to split the coax as many times for each device.
In my area (Dallas/Ft Worth), the only station that broadcasts over VHF is ABC 8.1. One of my antenna’s gives me a perfect signal for ABC, the other, not so perfect. Doing some testing, I know which device gets a good signal for ABC and which does not.
I used the Channel Lineup web page on the HDHomerun device and changed the channel to not be a Favorite, while the channel on the other device is a Favorite. When I scheduled a show to record, it was using 8.1 on the device that that channel was not set to be a favorite. I then disabled channel 8.1 on the bad signal device and again scheduled a recording. It still used the bad channel. Finally, I disabled 8.1 using the Manage Channels function in Settings | DVR (Beta) on the device with the bad channel. After disabling it and saving, the EPG guide refreshed itself. (Separate issue - I would think disabling a channel would just remove the channel data from the current EPG, not cause a full reload). I see 30 channels are available on the bad channel device and 31 channels are available on the good channel device, just as I would expect. I scheduled another recording for 8.1 and it still used the bad channel, even though it was disabled on the device and within the DVR (Beta) settings.
My assumption is that since I have Manage Channels for each device within the DVR, that they were independent of each other, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Since it is still using the bad channel that was disabled, I can’t be assured of getting a good recording. Is there another way to establish a priority for which device to use when scheduling a recording? Shouldn’t the disabled channel no longer be a target for a recording?
UPDATE: Restarting PMS did not change the above behavior.
I found a workaround. Channel 8.1 also has two sub-channels: 8.2 and 8.3. When I disable all three channels (8.1, 8.2, and 8.3) on the bad device, Plex DVR no longer tries to use that device for 8.1. My guess is that since 8.2 and 8.3 were still enabled, channel 8 was not totally disabled. Since it found 8, it was able to find 8.1 even though it had been disabled.
Now, I will see how robust the logic is behind juggling the recordings when all 4 tuners are going to start recordings at the same time and one of the channels that needs to record is only on the good device. If it doesn’t prioritize channel 8.1 to take a tuner on the good device, then it’s possible that I would not have enough tuners. If the scheduling logic started recordings on the 2 tuners on the good device (instead of on the bad device) and then wasn’t able to start 8.1 because both tuners on the good device were locked, it could result in a conflict that would not be a conflict if the scheduling logic was smart enough to grab the 2 tuners on the bad device first, since either device would work.
When I recorded 1 show on 8.1 last night, it picked the bad device, even though that channel was not enabled on that device. You can see in the second photo that the first device only has 28 channels enabled (no 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3) and the second device has 31 channels, yet the show started recording on the device that had the channel disabled.
Always or “Luck of the Draw”? I had it work depending on the order I enabled the recording of the shows. And even then it was a bit random sometimes.
So are you saying that if you start all 7 recordings at the same time, tuners will be prioritized to minimize conflicts and that it honors disabled channels?
To test this, disable a channel on the first extend box and then schedule a recording for that channel (which still exists on the second box. Does it ignore the first box?
So far tonight all shows recorded. I disabled the locals on the prime so that locals will only record on the 2 extend boxes. I have my outdoor antenna with a splitter so the extends are getting the same signal so in my case I don’t care which one it records on.
I think that is because the Extend and the Prime use two different lineups. If the 2 like devices (Extends) are configured with different channels, I think that is where the bug rears its ugly head.
@rodgerzeisler said:
When I recorded 1 show on 8.1 last night, it picked the bad device, even though that channel was not enabled on that device. You can see in the second photo that the first device only has 28 channels enabled (no 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3) and the second device has 31 channels, yet the show started recording on the device that had the channel disabled.
Maybe try putting the one with 31 channels with the.249 ip & the 28 channels to .250
