Server Version#: Android Nvidia Shield
Player Version#: Android TV
Tuner Make/Model: HDHOMERUN
Guide/Lineup name: Houston OTA
Using XMLTV?:
Channel number/Name: ABC 13
Plex failed to record an episode of a first run series. It successfully recorded the show for the past two weeks and the DVR schedule lists next week’s episode. There was no error message, I am almost certain that the DVR schedule showed the listing prior to the show’s air time, but I did not see it in the listing of recorded items from last night.
The TVDB that Plex uses, shows there was a new episode last night. The recording option was for new shows.
I downloaded the log files from the windows app this afternoon, but I don’t know what to look for.
Any help would be appreciated.
I’ve seen this problem a couple times recently as well - a show that was recording successfully before a mid-season break then fails to record when new episodes begin airing again.
If I delete the series recording and set it up again then Plex will then record the series, but we shouldn’t have to keep an eye on the recording schedule to see if Plex is recording as it should.
I am recording a game show that is first run and not on a season break. The past two weeks recorded fine. This week’s episode was missed and the DVR schedule shows next week’s episode listed for recording.
I did delete the listing and reselect it, but it showed the scheduled recording for next week before I did this.
Is there a tutorial somewhere that shows how to use the log files? The one’s I captured (the next morning) don’t appear to cover the time of the recording and there are so many log files that I’m not sure where to look, even if I had them for the time in question. Without an explicit error message, it’s difficult to diagnose the issue.
There is no guide that I know of, and in addition sometime the actual contents of the log files will gradually change over time with new Plex server versions so you have to be open to the possibility that a log search term that was previously very useful MIGHT no longer appear.
Plex logs are most useful if you have debug level logging enabled and verbose level logging disabled. Verbose is simply too much logging and causes the logs to roll off too quickly in most cases. This guide provides the same guidance.
Inside the log zip that downloads the most valuable logs to start with is almost always the “Plex Media Server.log” series of files. “Plex Media Server.log” is the log that is currently being written, “Plex Media Server.1.log” is the next most recent, etc. If the issue happened before “Plex Media Server.5.log” then it’s been too long and you will have to wait for the problem to happen again and download logs more quickly after the issue.
Start looking for the string “ERROR” in the logs. If you have a Linux computer available then grep for all lines with “ERROR” can be a good way to start. Not every instance of “ERROR” indicates an actual problem, so you have to read and interpret to see if the error is associated with your particular problem. If Plex has simply chosen not to record a particular episode, as opposed to getting an error when it tries to record, it will normally NOT show as an error and you have to wade through the scheduling decision making in the logs to see if you can find why it decided not to record that episode.
Typically if Plex tries to record and receives an error then in Plex Web → Live TV → DVR Schedule it will show the recording attempt with a graphic of an exclamation point, but I’ve seen cases that it doesn’t.
In the advanced recording options for this show, do you have “Keep” set to anything other that “All Episodes”? About 6 months ago there was a bug that was causing the automated deletion process to delete the episode immediately after the recording finished if this was set to keep based on date. I thought this had been fixed, but…
Hope this helps.
Thanks for answering. I don’t have any delete options enabled for this show.
I suspected that the log data was missing the time period of the recording when I checked. It was the next morning, but less than 24 hours after the record time. I didn’t realize that the show hadn’t recorded until then. I will see what happens this week the the next episode is scheduled to record. I was a little surprised that the logs covered less than one day. I used the Snapstream Windows program Beyond TV as my DVR for almost 15 years and while it was a much simpler implementation, it was rock steady, so I rarely had to dig into the log files. I seem to recall that they covered several days of activity.
I am using an Nvidia Shield as the server host and log in from the windows app to access the log files.
That does sound a bit short for a time period for all 6 “Plex Media Server.x.log” files. On Linux my debug level logs typically cover a couple days, but perhaps your Plex server is just much busier than mine or it is a difference in platform. If you haven’t, you may want to confirm you have verbose logging turned off. FYI, I think you have to restart your Plex server instance for changes in log level to take effect.
So this will end up as an unexplained anomaly. The next episode in the series aired last night and it was recorded correctly.
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