Live TV and DVR are completely non-functional and useless

General Discussions Plex Features
1

LiveTV and DVR were working great for me for quite a while, but they now do not work at all, and haven’t for a while.

My setup:
I have Plex Server installed on a WHS 2011 machine. I have an HD HomeRun connected to my network.

The HD HomeRun works fine when I’m not using Plex. I am able to use it to watch TV live using the HD HomeRun software on other computers on my Network.

The Plex Server shows that the HD HomeRun is connected, and the EPG loads. I am able to tell the Plex Server to record shows, but when the recording begins, the Recording Schedule screen quickly shows the exclamation point in a triangle error, and it usually says there is a transcoding error. (I have turned off transcoding when recording, but I still get the same error.) Sometimes I have gotten an error that says it is unable to tune channel. But typically it’s the transcoding error. No recording ever shows up in the library folder where I have directed Plex to store recordings.

When using Plex from my Android devices, when I go to the Program Guide and select any of the options (eg., “Watch Now”), it simply gives me a blank screen that says, “No items to display.”

Note that in all other respects, Plex is working great. I am able to listen to music that is stored on my server, as well as watch movies, etc., that are on the server from my other devices. Also, Live TV and DVR used to work great, and from my other devices I can still watch the old recordings that were made back when it was working great. But at some point in the last couple months, Live TV and DVR stopped working altogether. I did not change anything. (Maybe Plex auto-updated, but I didn’t do anything to it.)

To fix it, I have tried deleting and reinstalling the HD Homerun in the Plex Server setup menu under the Live TV and DVR tab. Didn’t help. I’m not sure what else to do.

Frustrating. Please let me know what to do.

2

Additional info:

  1. I am running Plex Server version 1.9.4.4325.
  2. I am using Windows Home Server 2011, 64-bit.
  3. Logs are attached.
  4. Under Settings/Server/Live TV & DVR, it shows my HD HomeRun CONNECT, and when I click on Device Settings, the “Convert Video While Recording” option is set to “Off.” However, I had the same problem with this set to “Transcode.”
  5. Before generating the log, I enabled debugging mode, rebooted the server, went to the Program Guide, and told it to record the Panthers/Eagles game. Within a very short time (minutes at most), the Recording Schedule showed the exclamation point/triangle error, and when I clicked on it, it said “There was a transcoder error.”
3

Are you actually able to tune to this channel? Plex doesn’t appear to be able to:
2390 Oct 12, 2017 18:22:26.605 [10916] ERROR - DVR:Grabber: Couldn’t find channel 2.1 URL for device device://tv.plex.grabbers.hdhomerun/1045FF69.
2411 Oct 12, 2017 18:22:26.874 [10940] ERROR - [Transcoder] http://192.168.1.82:5004/auto/v2.1: Server returned 404 Not Found

Can you start a Network Stream using VLC to the following URL: http://192.168.1.82:5004/auto/v2.1. Does the stream start playing in VLC?

If so please verify the channel mappings in Plex for this channel. You might also want to rescan the channels using the HDHomeRun app or my.hdhomerun.com.

4

Thank you! I re-scanned on both the HD HomeRun as well re-mapped on Plex. Now, the Plex Server records shows just fine. Once recorded, the show appears in the pertinent library and I am able to watch from other devices. One problem fixed!

However, I still have the other problem. Specifically, on my Android devices, when I click “Program Guide” and then select any of the options (eg., “Watch Now”), I get no available shows and it just shows a black screen with the message “No items to display.” the Program Guide shows up just fine on Plex Server, but without any items showing up on my Android devices, I am unable to watch Live TV or use my Android device to tell the server what to record. My only access to the Program Guide is through the server itself.

Any suggestions?

5

Well, I randomly solved that problem too. I cleared the Plex app cache and data on my Android device, and now it works great. Glad to have everything working again!