I was originally using my Nvidia shield for my Plex server but after the 5th time my Plex server stopped running (permanently), forcing me to do a brand new sever setup on the shield each time, I decided to try it out on Ubuntu and it has been rock solid.
The weirdness I’m experiencing seems to be on Plex’s end, but I have zero idea how to fix it. Hopefully it’s something simple that someone here can point me too.
So, I set up Plex server as a brand new server and I even turned off the sync watch history, etc. settings off on my Plex account before I ever setup the server for the first time… but my old watch history from the nvidia shield carried over…how? It’s also completely f’d on the “continue watching” part of home. There are only ever two specific tv series episodes there and it’s always the same episode even though I’ve watched episodes past them and even different series/movies entirely.
Also, Plex refuses to scan for skip intro. I’ve enabled it in the main settings on my Plex account AND in the lesser known setting for individual libraries. I’ve googled this and looked on Reddit quite a bit, and as far as I could find, those are the only two places to enable that.
I’ll gladly take these issues over the nightmare of the nvidia shield shitting the bed randomly, but I’d love to be able to get to the bottom of this as it would make the switchover more than worth it!
How long did you wait after disabling the feature before you reinstalled the new server? The change to this setting can take a few hours. It’s been 6hrs since you posted so the setting should have updated now, so you can setting up the server again and it should not sync the previous status from before.
From our support article:
Once you’ve opted in to the feature with your account, you may need to restart your Plex Media Server (or wait a few hours) to pick up the account change.
The reverse is also true when disabling the setting.
I do see in your server logs that it was syncing the status from plex.tv.
I disabled it after my shield already quit working (so there was no operational server at the time) and less than an hour before the Ubuntu install. It’s been in the state I described for about a week. I reenabled the setting right after my Ubuntu install.
Also, do you have any insight on the server not scanning for intros?
I just want a clean slate and I’ve tried a fresh install (including OS) twice. Can you recommend how to just wipe everything clean and start over?
Edit: I also disabled every single “authorized device” (including my shield server) before I ever installed the Ubuntu server.
As mentioned, that setting can take time to update so it may have still been enabled. If you try a clean install now, it should not sync the old played status.
I reenabled the setting right after my Ubuntu install.
Why did you re-enable the setting? I thought you didn’t want things synced up with plex.tv?
I just want a clean slate
We do not currently have a way to remove the synced status from plex.tv. If you disable the feature and wait long enough before a clean install, it won’t re-use the info. But if you re-enable that setting, it will come back.
I’m going on my third try redoing the server. The second instance was better but things were a still a bit screwy, especially on the skip into feature. Everything seems perfectly happy on this third time, but I’m scared to re-enable the sync. I want the feature, I just don’t want the old data that got super screwy. How long do I need to wait before enabling it for it to be based on my new server and not old server(s)?
What do you mean by old data? If you had already synced your server previously, this will sync back down to your new server. There is no way to “start over”. The info already sent up to Plex.tv cannot be deleted so it will be used and sent back to your new server.
It’s not important enough of a feature for me to spend any more time on. I didn’t fully understand it or realize how new it is until I did some reading on the topic. I thought it was to sync my play status of my local library across all devices, but it’s more nuanced than that. My devices and continue watching tab are all synced to my local library and that’s all I care about.
It’s a shame that data can’t be deleted because it totally breaks my Plex and I’m not sure how that’s even possible based on what I’ve read. The two times I enabled it, yes my played/unplayed status was correct, but it totally broke the skip intro and the continue watching portion on my home tab (stuck on the same shows and episodes despite me advancing past that and onto other shows that never show up in continue watching).
I think I’m all good now though , Plex is doing what I want now so I’m not touching anything.
