Improved Film browsing, New Community too; PEX (Plex EPG Explorer)

Live TV & DVR
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Hi all! Remember when the built-in TV DVR EPG Browse broke for a month, I do, it’s when I decided to build the browse window I always wanted. The result is PEX (Plex EPG Explorer) — a fast, desktop EPG film browser that reads your Plex databases and gives you a smooth, two-week “upcoming films” view.

GitHub & downloads: https://github.com/AnicetusCer/pex
(Grab the latest Windows or Linux release from the Releases section.)

What it does

  • Two-week film grid of upcoming airings from your Plex DVR EPG.

  • One-click “Owned” controls: dim or hide films you already have in your Plex libraries.

  • At-a-glance details: title, year, channel, start time, description, SD/HD, and whether it’s scheduled to record.

  • Fast poster browsing: pulls posters once, then reuses them for snappy navigation.

  • Useful filters & sort: filter by day range, search by title, include-only channel filter, sort by time/title/channel/genre with asc/desc toggle.

  • Customisable: comes with a small AI primer to help you tweak features and behaviour for your own setup.

Quick start

  1. Download the Windows or Linux build from the Releases page.

  2. Point PEX at your Plex EPG and Library database files.

    • PEX will make local copies of these DBs (read-only to your originals).

  3. PEX will fetch posters and then present a browse view of upcoming TV films for the next two weeks.

  4. Use the Owned buttons to dim/hide titles you already have, and browse the extra metadata for anything that catches your eye.

How it interacts with Plex

  • Read-only: PEX never writes to your Plex databases. It copies them locally first, then reads from those copies.

  • No XMLTV setup required in PEX: it uses your existing Plex DVR EPG data.

  • Not affiliated with Plex, just a community tool.

Why you might like it

If you enjoy recording films from live TV, PEX makes it much easier to scan what’s coming, avoid duplicates, and spot the gems — without waiting on the web app or dealing with broken browse views.

Notes & tips

  • Paths to the databases vary by OS and install; look under your Plex Media Server data directory for the EPG and Library DB files.

  • If your system locks the DB files, let PEX copy them (default) or copy them yourself and point PEX at those copies.

Feedback

Bugs, ideas, or PRs are very welcome. Please open an issue on GitHub with your OS, a brief description, and steps to reproduce.

Enjoy!