Server Version#: Latest on Windows
Player Version#: Latest - Android TV, web
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomeRun Prime x2 (6 tuners)
Guide/Lineup name: Charter Spectrum
Using XMLTV?: I don’t know?
Channel number/Name: Multiple
So this is going to have multiple items. If it’s better to split up each issue into a separate request I can; let me know.
Here’s the workflow and the resultant issues I run into. I have Plex set to record a few different news shows, and I want to see the latest episodes either on the Plex home screen or in the TV Shows section. My goal is to sort by latest episode and play the most recently-recorded episode. However, this doesn’t work very often.
I’ll go into Plex after the recording has completed - Can be immediate, can be a few hours later - and the episodes won’t show up. So I’ll drill into the show’s recorded episodes and scroll to the right, but the latest recording doesn’t have a date recorded, rather it has something like “Season 2023, episode 130”. I have no idea if this is the latest, so I click it, and usually it’s a day or two old.
So I go back to the main menu click left on TV shows and select “Scan library files” and then after a few minutes the show sometimes shows up, or sometimes it doesn’t. Again it never has the date but rather the season and episode number. The behavior is the same (or similar with a different UI) regardless of which client I use - Android TV on Nvidia Shield is my most common client.
On a side note, if I sort TV shows by ‘date added’ in Android TV, the dates under each title tend to be something like “A month ago” etc. In my settings I have both “Scan my library automatically” and “Scan my library periodically - hourly” checked.
All I want is to see the latest show(s) recorded. Alternatively, if there’s a calendar view that shows what was recorded and when and I can launch from that, that’s good enough for me. Right now it’s very difficult to just do what I think is something basic and I’d like to know what I can do to fix the experience.
In the web UI, view the Library tab for the library in which you store you DVR content. Set the advanced filters similar to the following (the limit of 10 is arbitrary, as is the unplayed status; just select ‘Episodes’ and ‘By Date Added’ and it will do the right thing).
This should result in your most recently recorded ten episodes being shown, with the most recent being to the left. After confirming this, select the orange “Save As” drop-down on the right and select “Save as Smart Collection.” Give it an appropriate name (Ten Most-Recently-Recorded Episodes) and click Create.
This should now be shown in the Collections tab of your library (if not, refresh the browser). Now, select the vertical ellipsis when hovering your mouse over the collection’s poster; select Visible On → Home (you can do the same for the library recommended tab).
Assuming you have this library pinned on your home screen, the result should be a new hub for this collection in which your most recently recorded episodes are shown, with the most recent always being shown on the left. Since it’s a smart collection with the limit set to ten and only displaying unplayed episodes, it should dynamically update as episodes are (fully) played.
Note: Episodes will not show up in this filter/hub until they are fully post-processed (intro detection, ad detection). It may also be necessary to change the view (move to a different library and return to the home screen) for it to be updated.
That seems to work; I’ll know over the next day if it also solves the episodes-not-showing-up issue. One question though, why does this need to be a smart collection? Shouldn’t I just be able to sort the UI accordingly? It’s worth mentioning that new episodes don’t show up on the main page’s “Recently released TV episodes” until I scan library files, which seems like a bug to me. If the smart playlist fixes it, I guess it’s an acceptable band-aid.
Update: I still need to click “Scan Library Files” before new recordings will show up in the collection. I have the setting to scan as new items are added to library but obviously that isn’t working. is there a commandline command I could make a scheduled task out of or something? Have it rescan every 5 minutes?
It does not appear in my library until I rescan. Then it appears in the library as well as the smart collection.
I believe that if I wait a few hours, it eventually shows up. I thought it might be busy doing post-processing but there was nothing in the activity and when I tested today it had been at least 90 minutes after the recording. My Plex server is fairly beefy so I don’t think there’s a bottleneck there. It happens on all clients. My primary client is a Shield Pro but I noticed it today on the web app on Windows 11.
Just to follow up, an episode I recorded overnight was automatically added to both the library and my test smart collection, as I would have expected. It did have several hours before I checked it, but it required no intervention on my part (no library scan). I’ll try to perform another test where I’m able to monitor more in real-time to see if the behavior is different.
I performed another test today where I was able to check the library more-or-less immediately following a completed recording. As expected, it appeared in my library automatically, with no intervention on my part. The smart collection I created to test was also updated automatically. I tested on both my Apple TV 4K and the web client (on the web client I did need to navigate away from the home screen and back).
So I’d say that the behavior you’re seeing is anomalous. It may be time to have a look at some debug logs to see what happens immediately following a recording/post-processing on your server.
