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Another night and another failed recording of a nightly series recording…
I’m tired of reading the same complaints on other post. I don’t care to provide log files anymore (it’s proven pointless). It is clear that Plex is totally unreliable as a DVR and that Plex developers/support is not going to fix it’s many problems. It’s been a waste of money to pay for the lifetime plex pass subscription.
Here is looking for another solution… Hopefully the search proves to be fruitful.
I know there are issues with watching an in progress recording and seeking around a live program, but I can’t think of the last time I had an actual recording fail.
Did you have an error on the DVR schedule page? What did it say?
Can you give an example of a recording and any special settings for it?
It’s a recording of a nightly news show. Monday through Friday @ 8pm. Plex regularly fails to record it. Sometimes it’s skips it completely. Most times when it fails it starts the recording way late - 20, 30, 40 minutes into the show.
I put the computer that runs Plex to sleep when not in use. I’ve been told that this is a problem. Plex may have a problem waking the computer on time to record on schedule. Really? Seriously? Anyway… I’ve created a scheduled task to mitigate this. The task wakes the computer 10 minutes before the scheduled recording. It seems like B.S. to have to do this. It is what it is I guess. Not that it matters though, because this hasn’t solved the problem with Plex being late on recordings.
Other issues… Plex apparently doesn’t pay attention to the other recording settings either. Maximum number of days to keep unplayed recordings (set to 3 latest episodes)… Meh… Plex ignores that. The episodes just keep piling up. Set the recordings to start 5 minutes before and end 5 minutes after airing… Meh… Plex ignores that too.
What exactly does work with Plex’s DVR recording functionality?
If you plan to use plex as your core DVR, esp if others in your family can set different programs to record, you really need to have plex running 24x7. On a modern computer, power consumption is really pretty minimal. Or get a Nvidia Shield and run plex on that as a server. Just barely a few watts.
It has its issues, but we have been generally satisfied with plex as the only DVR in the house. But make sure you pick a platform that is well suited for how you use it.
@fresnoboy I have a system that is up 24/7 and still see several issues weekly. If the channel I record on suddenly gets a bad signal, Plex will hold onto that tuner even though the tuner itself frees up. Last night, I had three recordings fail, and this morning I am only able to record on one tuner of my four as a result. I check on the HDHomeRun Tuner Status, and it only shows one tuner in use while Plex shows four tuners in use.
The above happens to me at least once a week where overlapping shows get cut off on the front or tail end because Plex believes not enough tuners are available to start a new recording. Why does Plex still show that it is recording several episodes from 7-10 hours ago when those programs ended 6-9 hours ago? Why do I have to restart the Plex Server to get my tuners back?
@tbthomp2 In my experience, waking the computer 10 minutes before a scheduled event will not work with scheduled recordings because the system tends to go right back to sleep after a few minutes if not logged in, so what you would need is a task that launches an application that blocks the system being able to sleep. Maybe start a video player with one of your programs playing in the background instead, or launch a computer game that you know keeps the system awake. You could also try waking the system closer to the start time of the recording.
I do agree with you that waking the computer should not be up to you. NextPVR had no trouble doing so when I used it for my television DVR tasks. I do not understand how Plex is behind on scheduled tasks for waking the system.
What task are you running to wake the computer 10 minutes early? Are you sure the channel you are recording has a good signal when it starts (I have seen that also result in recordings kicking off midway through the program)?
