Issues with DVR not recording shows correctly

[dymunson1]

First, I’m on the Beta update channel, using Plex version 1.13.9.5456 with a HDHomeRun Connect dual tuner, and the server is on a Windows 10 Pro machine. I also have a TiVo Roamio OTA that we are still using until we can better rely on the Plex DVR, but this also allows me to compare recordings that could technically be the same. Both the TiVo and the HDHomeRun are connected to the same antenna.

I’ve had a few recording issues over the past month or two.

In the ‘random glitchiness’ category: I had a show that recorded a little over a week ago that I had told the server to record a few hours in advance, but it didn’t start recording until a couple of minutes into the show. That apparently freaked the timecode out or something, because I have it set to automatically delete the commercials, and since the DVR didn’t recognize that the recording had started late, it was cutting out random chunk of show, I am assuming because it thought that was where the commercials were. This has only happened once to my knowledge.

The other issue is more consistent and frustrating. Locally, we have 2 channels that are supposed to air the CW network, 2.2 and 35.1 (both have the same call letters, KYUU, so don’t ask me why there are 2 and they are so wildly far apart). On our TiVo, we have both enabled because the TiVo says 35.1 is only an SD broadcast, but 2.2 often has a really low quality signal, so it usually records from 35.1. On the Plex DVR, I disabled 35.1 months ago because having both enabled seemed to confuse the DVR, especially since the 2 channels generally show the same shows at the same time.
This is where it gets weird.
So, both 2.2 and 35.1 say that the EXACT SAME episode of Supernatural shows at the same time (Thursdays at 7pm). Both describe the new one. The EPG data is the same. The TiVo records the show on 35.1 and the Plex DVR records the show on 2.2.
For the last month, without fail, the Plex DVR records some wildly wrong, many years old episode of the show. Every. Time. I cannot check the channel from which it was recorded because the Plex will not give me that information (that would be REALLY nice to have), but according to the time and date of the file, it was recorded at the correct time.
Now, you are probably thinking that the program data for 2.2 is just wrong, and that the Plex DVR records that because it thinks it is correct, though it turns out not to be. This would make more sense. Except it’s not the case. In trying to figure things out, I set the TiVo to record from BOTH channels (2.2 and 35.1) a couple of weeks ago, and both were the same episode (though of different qualities) BUT!! the episode recorded on 2.2 by the Plex DVR was TOTALLY DIFFERENT! Like, 10 years old!
I only tried that experiment once, but I set it up to do it again this week.

Honestly, it’s freaking me out. Not to mention being incredibly annoying. The nearest I can figure is that the Plex DVR is thinking it’s recording from 2.2, and has the EPG from 2.2, but is actually somehow tuned to some other channel that shows older episodes of Supernatural at the same time.

Help?

[dymunson1]

Responding to my own post to keep this thread active and hopefully get the attention of support. Still having the same issue. Further testing with the TiVo recording both channels and the Plex DVR recording one still results in the TiVo recording 2 copies of the same episode, and the Plex recording a really old, random episode that it gets from who-knows-where, that doesn’t match the EPG.

[dymunson1]

I figured something out!
So, since Supernatural has been around WAY longer than the tv series Supernatural, I had older episodes in my TV shows folder (which is separate from my DVR folder). They are in MKV format, slightly different naming schema (didn’t give the year the show started, mainly. Season and episode naming was all correct), but apparently that REALLY confused the Plex DVR. Poking around showed that the files recorded by the DVR and residing on the hard drive were actually CORRECT, but for some reason, even though the naming schema was correct and the old season files were in a completely different folder, the Plex DVR viewer (on Roku, Shield, AND web) pulled the much older files when you clicked on the newest episodes. Some of the symptoms:

1. Under the ‘TV Shows’ library, the show Supernatural showed up, and only 1 season (the season I had in the ‘TV Shows’ folder) showed up – but total episode count included ALL episodes I own (including those in the ‘DVR’ folder).

2. In the ‘DVR’ library, the Supernatural folder was no longer showing up at all this morning.

So I started poking around on the back end (not Plex back end, but file system back end). Found that the most current episodes – which would not play correctly in web, Roku, or Shield systems when clicked on, showing older episodes instead – were there, and HAD been recorded correctly. So the problem seemed to be simply a matter of confusion on the part of the Plex DVR system recognizing and calling the correct episode up for playback. I know that the default settings for the DVR for recording and accessing television programs is to store and call them from the TV Shows library, so, when I created a new folder for DVR shows (and another for DVR movies), even though I set things up to access them correctly, there is something in the Plex server which is apparently hard-coded to default to the ‘TV Shows’ folder if it exists and it freaks out if there is any ambiguity.

So the fix was simple: I took all the seasons from the Supernatural folder in the TV Shows folder and moved them to the Supernatural folder in the DVR folder. The server almost instantly recognized the change, removed Supernatural from the TV Shows library, showed everything properly in the DVR library (all the seasons), and every episode now plays properly when clicked on from the web client (haven’t tested from the Shield or Roku yet).
I’m happy. But it would be nice if the All Powerful Plex Coders could find the little bug in the server that gets confused when there are similar items in different folders (from different sources).