I wish I had before I parted with my cash!
Call your credit card company and dispute the charge since the product advertised isn’t fit for purpose.
The majority of issues through PMS are with the EPG, which Plex is trying to remediate with the change in data providers
Just a quick glance at these forums should tell you that’s not true. Currently you can’t even watch live TV on an Android device for more than 5~ minutes without it exiting back to the guide. Timeshifting is a broken, buggy mess. The DVR is extremely hit or miss on whether it will record. Last year they had a bug where live TV would freeze at :03 past the hour, ever hour (imagine trying to troubleshoot this).
Plex developers and employees should be seriously ashamed of the state of this paid feature.
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In 2+ years of running PMS continuously, I have personally experienced none of the trouble you claim to be endemic. The DVR functionality works, the couple of failures that I haven’t been able to attribute to EPG problems have been rare and very oddball (no argument, there are bugs there.) Considering how much time, especially in the evening, that LiveTV is running here, the :03 past the hour never occurred. With only a couple of exceptions, I’ve been able to chase back problems as being self-induced, not really something that I can tie directly to a PMS or Plex client issue.
Does Plex have issues? Yes, for sure. It’s not as stable as the pair of Tivo DVRs that I ran for 10+ years prior, but it’s cost me a whole lot less as well, in addition to giving me a lot more flexibility.
I’m willing to bet that you’re not using Android TV for your client devices then. From what I’ve heard Roku works pretty well, but Android TV / Firestick / etc are a buggy mess.
True. Android TV specifically, no, but I do somewhat rarely use the Android client on my phone. From the outside, AndroidTV has always impressed me as a hot mess, very much similar to Roku clients embedded directly in TVs. Actually, my display does have a Roku client, but compared o a Roku device… yeah, no. It also has not been updated in years, due to manufacturer stagnation (which is why I’ve bought the Roku hardware.) I tried to use it when I set up PMS 2+ years ago, and gave it up in disgust after about 20 minutes. A buddy of mine loaned me a Roku device as a test and that thoroughly sealed that deal.
Edit: need to update this slightly… if there was a Roku client on this display, it’s no longer available. And the Plex client is 1.0.1 (plex devices lists it as 3.13.14.) 
I’m not sure what devices you’ve looked at, but the Nvidia Shield is one of the best streaming devices you can get and I’ve been very happy with it for the last few years. I actually tried a Roku ultra for a few days to get around some of these Plex bugs. The Roku UI and such is nice, but in the end I’m just not willing to give up my Shield when it can do so much that a Roku can’t.
I can also say that other apps like Emby, Channels DVR, and Live Channels are able to handle live TV without nearly as many (if any) issues as Plex. So it’s not the OS that’s the problem, it’s the software…
NO.
Channels DVR works well. Better at timeshifting than WMC was.
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Don’t get a Plex Pass just to get Live TV/DVR. You will be disappointed and frustrated. It’s clunky, unreliable and lacks the basic common sense behaviours (known as features in the Plex world) that you would expect if you’ve ever used a DVR before.
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Mark me down as another person who plunked down for lifetime pass specifically for Live TV and regret it.
It’s buggy trash and is only getting worse every time they try to “fix” it.
Meanwhile Channels supports TV Anywhere logins, which will be only way to get cable networks with the impending death of cablecard.
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It’s buggy and you’re lucky if you don’t get ignored by Plex employees. And even when something is addressed in beta it’s still released in public version. If you don’t mind trial and error yes I do recommend it, if you’re looking for something stable, this is not the way.
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And me… the Live TV experience on Plex has been very frustrating. It’s riddled with long-standing bugs which the developers appear to have little interest in resolving and lacks many basic features (e.g. control over deinterlacing).
I started testing Channels DVR a few days ago and so far the experience has been much better.
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Hmm, my TCL/Roku TV is indistinguishable from a stand alone Roku other than the additional TV settings and the Roku software version is the same as stand alone devices. Even my radio based remote from another Roku works as expected.
Rokus are fine for vanilla streaming, but for DVR-like TV timeshifting the hardware is not up to the task. To see how it should be, either run Win Media Center on a Win7 or Win8 PC or Channels DVR on a fast Android TV device to really enjoy timeshifting sports etc.
I’m sure Apple devices work well too, I just can’t say because I have never had one.
Why use the schedule menu to watch recorded shows?
You can add recorded shows to a Plex Library and watch them as you would for any Movie or TV Show in Plex.
My experience has been quite different. I have recorded over 5 TB of over the air TV shows. Several complete series.
No, Plex DVR isn’t perfect, but it is very usable.
I’m betting you don’t use Android TV for your client devices then, otherwise you’d feel differently.
I use Andorid TV for my client…for playback. For DVR it’s decent for viewing what’s scheduled and using the guide, but scheduling doesn’t work at all which is irritating. A Plex Employee responded back about that specific issue here: DVR: cannot plan recording from Android app - Plex Players / Mobile Devices - Plex Forum. Although they didn’t really say much. It seems they’re working on a fix along with other changes, but it’s not clear exactly what they’re working on.
I will also recommend getting an HDHR Duo or Quatro. Regardless of what software solution you use, the HDHR is a great piece of kit.
I am a very casual Live TV user, so I cannot comment on if Plex will suite your needs as a TiVo replacement. But I use it on an AppleTV 4K and it works fine. Use the PlexPass free trial and see how it works for you.
I can tell you there are fixes for Live TV/DVR in every server release, so it is something they are actively working on and trying to fix.
But I agree, don’t buy a PlexPass just for Live TV.
If Plex doesn’t work as you expect, there are other options.
Channels: Yes, this is the cream of the crop, works wonderfully. Free on iOS, $25 on tvOS, and $80/year if you want DVR (which should run on your Synology, but verify your model [it’s a bit old]) Note if you want DVR, don’t buy the $25 app, because it’s included in the cost of the subscription.
Silicon Dust has their free app that comes with the HDHR. They also have a DVR service you can pay for, but I haven’t heard a lot about it (Not to say it’s bad, just there’s no WOW factor to it)
Summary: buy an HDHR and test the different software options. You’ll definitely save money over the TiVo service (and maybe even gain some back if you sell the boxes)
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I’d double check to make sure half of that 5tb isn’t (copy 1) (copy 2) duplicates or shows that are saved named in a way the plex scanner completely ignores so aren’t detected at all.
But happy your happy with this.
Another potential alternative is to setup TVHeadend and a client app. I’ve had to do that until Plex Live TV is working.
I have Chromecasts at each TV controlled with the Android app.
- Stream very regularly stops (used to work, now because it doesn’t it’s a dealbreaker)
- Can’t handle aspect ratio changes (reported - several channels unwatchable)
- I will not record broadcast TV into my controlled library (haven’t checked this in a while, might be able to easily record to completely separate place now)
Because I leave the TV on while working, Plex just isn’t doing its job at the moment. Installed TVHeadend (free, takes a bit of setup but not too bad), bought an Android app (£1.45). Not perfect, but now I can at least watch live TV again.
