I was just wondering what kinds of solutions are out there to use a HDHomeRun Dual (2013 Model) with Plex. My HDHomeRun model is NOT one of the new ones that support DLNA. I’ve got TVheadend (DVR software) setup and working for recording TV shows OTA, but I’m trying to figure out the best way to integrate that with Plex (or should I not use TVheadend and instead use something like MythTV). My questions are:
- Can I watch Live TV through Plex? I think this is possible with the newer HDHomeRuns that support DLNA, but is there anything I can do?
- I’m still very new to TVheadend (only been using it a few days) so I’m not sure of all of the options there, but it doesn’t seem like I have very much control of the file name that it produces when I record a show. So far Plex has been unable to recognize any of the shows. Is there a program I can use that can somehow automatically rename files appropriately? If not, what are the best alternatives? Should I just create a Home Videos library and forgo any kind of episode recognition and just browse my recorded shows by filename?
- Is any of this made much easier with a newer model of HDHomeRun (or any other brand)? In other words, can I save a lot of headache by just getting a better model tuner?
I appreciate the advice and would be interested to see what kinds of solutions other people have found…
Just to follow up in case anyone was interested. I don’t know if there is anyway to rename the recorded TV files automatically to get Plex to recognize the episodes, but I did come across a potentially cool plugin called TVplexend.agent. This plugin is supposed to create a scanning agent for your recorded TV library that will ping the TVheadend server for metadata about the file (episode name, date/time recorded, description, etc.).
However I have not got this plugin to work yet and I don’t know if it’s being maintained. I hope I can get it working because overall I’d be satisfied with this implementation.
Most DVR software has a function that moves completed recordings to a given location or they can spawn a process the can do the same.
Combine that with a program like Sonar that can monitor a directory for new content and auto-magically rename it and move it into a properly named and structured Plex style library and you have a great solution for TV shows. As far as movies goes, those are much easier to handle and it would be easy to script a rename and move function for them.
While I am not currently using much of DVR type of functionality I will, should I move to where OTA is actually available, use that solution. BTW: I do use PlayOn’s play later functionality to record a few things (TV shows) and I just have a process that moves the completed recordings into a directory monitored by Sonar and the automatic functionality of Sonar works great and the shows magically appear in Plex.
@Elijah_Baley said:
Most DVR software has a function that moves completed recordings to a given location or they can spawn a process the can do the same.
Combine that with a program like Sonar that can monitor a directory for new content and auto-magically rename it and move it into a properly named and structured Plex style library and you have a great solution for TV shows. As far as movies goes, those are much easier to handle and it would be easy to script a rename and move function for them.
While I am not currently using much of DVR type of functionality I will, should I move to where OTA is actually available, use that solution. BTW: I do use PlayOn’s play later functionality to record a few things (TV shows) and I just have a process that moves the completed recordings into a directory monitored by Sonar and the automatic functionality of Sonar works great and the shows magically appear in Plex.
Sonar sounds interesting, but how would it know what episode it even is to properly rename it? Where can I download Sonar? I found something on Github called Sonarr…
@zero_koop said:
@Elijah_Baley said:
Most DVR software has a function that moves completed recordings to a given location or they can spawn a process the can do the same.
Combine that with a program like Sonar that can monitor a directory for new content and auto-magically rename it and move it into a properly named and structured Plex style library and you have a great solution for TV shows. As far as movies goes, those are much easier to handle and it would be easy to script a rename and move function for them.
While I am not currently using much of DVR type of functionality I will, should I move to where OTA is actually available, use that solution. BTW: I do use PlayOn’s play later functionality to record a few things (TV shows) and I just have a process that moves the completed recordings into a directory monitored by Sonar and the automatic functionality of Sonar works great and the shows magically appear in Plex.
Sonar sounds interesting, but how would it know what episode it even is to properly rename it? Where can I download Sonar? I found something on Github called Sonarr…
Yeah, I left out an r. >:)
Look at https://sonarr.tv/ to get more info and the download.
As far as initial naming goes all the DVR software I have looked at name the recordings with enough info for Sonarr to properly name and move the episode. Some even get real close to perfect Plex naming. As example PlayOn’s Playlater function would name episode 1 of “The 100” as “The 100 S01E01 - Pilot” and the, if you have configured Sonarr correctly, Sonarr would rename it “The 100 - s01e01 - Pilot” which is the way Plex wants it and move it into Plex’s TV library in the correct season directory.
Sonarr can handle MUCH worse naming than the above. Basically any naming that FileBot can handle Sonarr can handle as well.
I really like using Sonarr with PlayOn and Plex but it is not perfect and does take a bit of work to get setup and working correctly and smoothly. Since I got everything working I find that it requires very little maintenance.
If I could get even one OTA channel it would be even easier but where I live OTA is not a choice. It is hard to erect a 30 ft. tower when you live in an apartment.
@Elijah_Baley said:
@zero_koop said:
@Elijah_Baley said:
Most DVR software has a function that moves completed recordings to a given location or they can spawn a process the can do the same.
Combine that with a program like Sonar that can monitor a directory for new content and auto-magically rename it and move it into a properly named and structured Plex style library and you have a great solution for TV shows. As far as movies goes, those are much easier to handle and it would be easy to script a rename and move function for them.
While I am not currently using much of DVR type of functionality I will, should I move to where OTA is actually available, use that solution. BTW: I do use PlayOn’s play later functionality to record a few things (TV shows) and I just have a process that moves the completed recordings into a directory monitored by Sonar and the automatic functionality of Sonar works great and the shows magically appear in Plex.
Sonar sounds interesting, but how would it know what episode it even is to properly rename it? Where can I download Sonar? I found something on Github called Sonarr…
Yeah, I left out an r. >:)
Look at https://sonarr.tv/ to get more info and the download.
As far as initial naming goes all the DVR software I have looked at name the recordings with enough info for Sonarr to properly name and move the episode. Some even get real close to perfect Plex naming. As example PlayOn’s Playlater function would name episode 1 of “The 100” as “The 100 S01E01 - Pilot” and the, if you have configured Sonarr correctly, Sonarr would rename it “The 100 - s01e01 - Pilot” which is the way Plex wants it and move it into Plex’s TV library in the correct season directory.
Sonarr can handle MUCH worse naming than the above. Basically any naming that FileBot can handle Sonarr can handle as well.
I really like using Sonarr with PlayOn and Plex but it is not perfect and does take a bit of work to get setup and working correctly and smoothly. Since I got everything working I find that it requires very little maintenance.
If I could get even one OTA channel it would be even easier but where I live OTA is not a choice. It is hard to erect a 30 ft. tower when you live in an apartment.
Thanks for the info. Based on their website I never would have guess that Sonarr does what you say it does, that website is terrible. But it sounds like the filename needs to have basic data about the episode name or number to be able to be recognized. I’m using TVheadend for my DVR software and for whatever reason it can only tell me the name of the show in the filename. I’m looking into that because I should be able to get the episode name but my EPG (electronic program guide) is not pulling that data.
