I’ve been using my PMS with HDHomeRun Prime flawlessly for 3 months.
Now the recording feature is not “seeing” certain upcoming airings.
Shows PMS is not seeing (but used to, before ~11/15): Survivor, Big Bang Theory.Young Sheldon, Late Show.
Still working: SNL, NFL Football, ABC news.
Say: I think I just noticed the pattern… all the shows that are missing are on CBS.
These ARE definitely available on my HDHomeRun… so why can’t Plex schedule-record them? Something wrong with the program guide or my program guide settings?
Please advise on next step to debug this.
(Note: I just updated to latest PMS, running on my Ubuntu server.)
I can document a clear bug that has crept in to PMS DVR feature and/or the programming guide.
Channel 2.1 is configured as WCBSDT; but PMS Live TV/DVR seems to think it is KJWPDT. The result is: the DVR feature won’t record ANYTHING on CBS… which is 70% of my OTA viewing.
PLEASE NOTE that this problem crept-in mid November: I was successfully recording CBS with no problem until about 11/15. Note that I tried upgrading to PMS 1.9.7.4460 – still same bug.
Here are screenshots to prove there is a glitch:
(Note at the time of these screenshots “Scorpion” is on WCBSDT, and “Hogans Heros” is on KJWPDT.)
Plex DVR correctly has 2.1 set to WCBSDT: Figure 1
PMS still not recording CBS (on channel 2.1 in my area)
Other stations recording as expected
Running PMS Version 1.9.7.4460 on Ubuntu 16
Tuner is HDHomeRun Prime (which correctly detects 2.1 as WCBSDT and I can view the expected OTA content directly with HDHomeRun app)
CBS Shows that should have recorded in the past 48 hours, but didn’t:
Late Show w/ Stephen Colbert (Wed night, Thu night ~11:35pm)
Survivor (Wed night 8pm)
Big Bang Theory (Thu night 8pm)
Young Sheldon (Thu night 8:30pm)
Perhaps Big Bang Theory was a rerun, so excusable if it didn’t record. But all the others were first airings, so SHOULD have recorded, and HAD BEEN RECORDING just fine before November 15.
Uploading my logs, on the chance someone can figure out something.
Is there any way i can see/review a copy of the EPG, as it is downloaded and processed?
Either:
The EPG is cached to a file and I can grab it (or it is in a log somewhere)
The URL is in a log or configuration screen somewhere
Someone can concoct the “onconnect” URL for me
What I’m trying to problem segment is this:
Is the EPG incorrect (saying that my channel 2.1 is KJWPDT and Plex is just trusting it correctly.
OR
Is the EPG content correct (2.1 --> WCBS) and Plex’s DVR feature is getting something wrong.
The argument for “the EPG is at fault” is: this trouble “popped up” mid-November when I had NOT changed or updated PMS.
The argument for “the EPG is fine, the PMS DVR is at fault” is: the third-party plugin “HDGrandSlam” is correctly determining 2.1 is WCBS and giving the right show. Unless it has its own access to its own EPG, it is probably using with PMS downloaded… meaning it is the DVR features which is hosed.
I was holding off on upgrading to new 1.10 release, as I thought it was still considered “beta”. My general rule: when trying to debug something (like WCBS is no longer being recorded) that is a bad time to upgrade, especially to a beta release: it risks swapping in NEW problems, and confounding the ability to fix the existing one.
However, given that no one is able to suggest even a next step for debugging (let along a definitive fix), I don’t see that I have any other options than to break my general rule.
UPDATE: fiddled with this for about two hours, and finally pieced it together, and solved my problem.
The DVR basically had the wrong lineup selected. I live a tiny bit closer to Philadelphia than NYC, but my cable company puts NYC OTA channels on the cable. So whatever lineup I originally selected (in Sept when I set this all up) worked for 2.5 months, then stopped, because the EPG or PMS DVR decided that Channel 2.1 now had KJWP (the Philadelphia OTA channel) content, not WCBS (NYC OTA).
This problem was compounded by the fact that the PMS DVR settings page doesn’t display your selected line up (see this thread); the only way to know what lineup you selected is to remember what you selected when you added the DVR to PMS. And the only way to change it (that I found) was “delete” the HDHomeRun unit as a DVR, re-add it, and select a different EPG lineup then.
The other slight problem was: none of the lineups (by name) looked correct… because my cable company is Optimum, but in the line up it still uses the very old business name “Cablevision”. So I had to select that.
Why am I talking about cable providers if this is OTA programming, you ask? I don’t know about other cable providers and other parts of the country, but Optimum in greater NYC area puts OTA channels in the clear on the cable, and I can view them with no cable box on a cable ready TV or my HDHomeRun PRIME.
One more quirk that slowed down my diagnosis: I’m old enough to remember call signs, and the “rule” that all stations east of the Mississippi River started with “W”, and west of the Mississippi River started with “K”. So the fact that the EPG was assigning KJWP content to Channel 2.1 in my area must be an obvious/gross EPG error… right? Well, by some weird FCC rules quirk, KJWP is in fact a call sign for an bonafide Philadelphia area OTA broadcaster.
