I use DVR to record my TV shows to a separate library named RECORDING. After it is recorded, I have mcebuddy watch the folder and do a commercial removal and save as new file to new folder and sorted (TV > SHOW > SEASON > Episode.mkv). After that process, the TV library and show will say that the episode is there where it says available episodes but when I go into the show details it is not there.
For example, Show before new recording has 5 episodes. New recording happens and is put in RECORDING and temporarily added to Plex. mcebuddy removes commercials and moves original recorded file out of RECORDING directory and copies new file without commercials to TV directory and properly sorted. Looking under TV directory of show listing, says it now has 6 episodes. Open TV show details and it only has 5 episodes in there.
The only way I can get the show in there as expected is to manually remove it from the directory via Windows Explorer, rescan library, then put it back in and rescan again.
Any thoughts? I know this setup is a bit complicated, but it works quite well at recording the TV shows, removing commercials, and having them nicely organized for viewing. Just would like to remove the manual process of adding the files back in.
Is a scan of the library happening when mcebuddy moves the file into the folder?
FYI, this type of setup can lead to duplicate recordings if you are using new and repeat for recording settings. I had a similar setup when I first started with Plex DVR and was getting every episode of every show recorded regardless of whether the episode already existed in my other library. Once I moved to one library with multiple folders I no longer get episodes recorded multiple times, unless the new recording would be a higher resolution than the copy I have in my library.
This may be related to an issue I’ve been experiencing. I have had issues with the library not seeing added until the manual scan is performed. The last version that worked was 4325. I updated today to 4441 and the recorded shows are now not being post processed or moved. Atleast with 4441 the shows are recorded. The version between 4335 and 4441 skipped recordings. May head back to the older version in the morning if this continues.
I think I have it to scan when it detects changes, so I may change that and what folders the processed footage moves to as well as schedule a time when the library is scanned for changes when I know nothing is recording (usually early AM). I’ll see if that fixes it.
“I use DVR to record my TV shows to a separate library named RECORDING. After it is recorded, I have mcebuddy watch the folder and do a commercial removal and save as new file to new folder and sorted (TV > SHOW > SEASON > Episode.mkv). After that process, the TV library and show will say that the episode is there where it says available episodes but when I go into the show details it is not there.”_
I set up a separate TV Shows category and set the flag to not be included on dashboard. My PlexDVR recordings (with HDHomerun Connect) go in to that folder. I just set up MCEBuddy to monitor that folder and put the processed files in to my regular “TV Shows” library. On the rare occasion that I can find that episode (usually in my DVR folder) it will play a totally different episode if I try to play the new one. After the file is processed by MCEBuddy and put in to my regular TV show folder, I can’t find it again.
You would need to look at logs if files are not being placed in your DVR library, or mcebuddy logs to see is it actually moving files to the correct library you believe it should be in.
In my case, the files are exactly where I want them to be. In order for them to be accessible, I have to do the manual process that pitrie17 describes. Removing the files, scanning, placing the files back, scanning again.
The process described is what is often referred to as the Plex dance. My point is you should not have to do this manual process. I use mcebuddy to process recordings, the recording is made in G:\DVR, mcebuddy processes the file after recording and moves the processed file to F:\RecordedTV. I don’t have to do the Plex dance to have the files available. There is also an option in Settings/Server/Library to update automatically, as well as other options for run a partial scan when changes are detected, and update library periodically.
You’re absolutely right. Shouldn’t have to do this.
I first set this up last weekend and all worked well, except that the videos were being cut short. One of the PMS updates seems to have broken this. Unfortunately, weekends are the only times I can waste time chasing this.
Fortunately (I guess) the files are getting moved where they are supposed to. The thing that isn’t happening as I would expect is the library scan and add after it has been moved from one Plex TV library to another Plex TV library. Therein the problem lies. I’m in the testing stage of trying different library scan settings, but so far nothing has made a difference.
Have you considered using one library? You can have multiple folders added to one library. Like I mentioned in a previous post my recordings are done using G:\TV_DVR, think I said just G:\DVR. I then post process using mcebuddy and recordings are placed in F:\Recorded TV. I also have 2 other folders configured for my TV Shows library as shown in image. This has the advantage of episodes that I already have in my TV Shows library are not recorded multiple times, unless I have the replace with higher resolution option enabled.
Yes I am able to add without having to Plex Dance. Just looked at my mcebuddy logs and see 108 recordings over the past 7 days were recorded on one drive in library, processed by mcebuddy, and moved to other folder in library. Plex sees all of the files and can play any of them.
Update: Removing the two libraries and combining the recording folder and processed folder into one library has done the trick. It all works as expected now.
