DVR Records not playing back reliably in Android clients

Live TV & DVR
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Server Version#: 1.31.1.6733
Player Version#: 9.17.0.38861 (d37d0eb2)
Tuner Make/Model: xteve
Using XMLTV?: Yes

Hi there,

I’ve just recently setup a DVR on my server, and I’m having a lot of trouble playing back recordings reliably. Basically, on Android clients (tried Lenovo tablet, Shield TV, Pixel 5) I can usually start playing the recording from the beginning. However, if I stop playing and try to resume later from the middle, I get the following error:

Error
An error occurred while attempting to play this video. Please check your connection and try again.

Sometimes if I try to restart from the beginning of the file, it will start to play again, but not always.

If I play and then set the client to Convert Automatically before it fails, Plex Transcoding will take over and the file will play successfully and be seekable.

Tested the same recording on an M1 iPad, and it plays flawlessly from start, from resume, etc.

Anyone else encountered this?

2

Just to follow up, this seems like an obvious bug. A little more testing reveals the following on Android:

On first play, the recording starts playing successfully on Direct Play. I can scrub around in the timeline however I want and it’s rock solid.

If I stop the playback completely and then try to resume, playback fails.

The video file is fine, but something about starting a playback session is causing a problem for future plays.

If I then mark the video as watched, playback will start working again, and I can once again scrub through the timeline.

Happy to provide logs.

3

Adding that this issue also affects playing from the beginning when records are still in progress. This fails on Android and works seamlessly on iOS.

This really does seem to be some sort of playback bug on Android.

4

This is still ongoing, and happens on every Android device I’ve tested. If this is some sort of known limitation it would be great to at least get confirmation on that.

5

As you may have figured out by now, the live TV and DVR features have never been one of Plex’s priorities and they do not provide any official support for their product. They have a habit of leaving showstopping bugs in the software for years before acknowledging them. If you’re looking for a DVR system that actually works as advertised, I’d recommend Channels DVR or Emby.

1 Like
6

Unfortunately you are using Xteve which isn’t supported by Plex and it doesn’t benefit them to get involved.

The Android client receives frequent updates but in general is working just fine with the DVR and programs recorded from HDHomeruns’.

7

I have the same issue on my Android TV after version 9.15. Ridiculous how often they break the android app.

9

I am now using tvheadend to record videos and can’t get them to play reliably on Android TV after version 9.15. They play fine on Apple TV.

10

Yeah, I actually set up NextPVR and Jellyfin to further test this out. Recordings from both exhibit the same playback problems in all Plex Android clients, but play fine on iOS Plex. Notably, those same recordings also play back just fine through Jellyfin, and exhibit none of the problems seen in Android Plex.

It seems pretty clear to me that there’s no problem with the recording files, and it’s not a device capability or compatibility issue. I’d also note that given all of the above, this is a bug that isn’t really properly categorized as a DVR or Live TV issue.

There’s a playback problem with MPEG2TS files in Android Plex.

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