Live TV & DVR Not Working With Android Clients (Non-Android Clients Work)

Live TV & DVR
, , , ,
1

Server Version#: 1.18.0.1913
Player Version#: Current General Release (4k Fire TV, Shield, Android 10 Mobile Phone)
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomeRun HDHR5-4US (Latest Firmware)
Guide/Lineup name: DVR—Broadcast TV Reno OTA Broadcast

I recently purchased a 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro and have the latest (from the Nvidia Google Play Store) version of the Android Plex App installed and running as a server. I have a HDHomeRun HDHR5-4US 4-channel tuner attached to my network and a 5TB external drive as well as a 256GB 3.1 Samsung USB flash drive attached to the Shield. The Plex server is running off of the flash drive and all media libraries and DVR recordings as stored on the 5TB drive.

I can access the HD HomeRun tuner via Android phone, 4K Fire Sticks, Nvidia Shield (all Android based to my knowledge) as well as via iOS (iPad), Roku, Windows 10 App, webpage, DLNA apps (VLC, etc.) using the HDHomeRun App.

My problem is that all Android based devices (phone, 4K Fire Stick, Nvidia Shield) cannot connect to the HDHomeRun tuner via Plex. I get a “No Internet Connection. It looks like you’re offline. You can still browse items downloaded or synced to this device.” message whenever I tap the “Live TV & DVR” menu in the Plex app from any of these Android based devices.

I can access via Plex app the “Live TV & DVR” functions (Guide, Tuner, etc.) from my Roku, iPad, and Windows 10 computer. I can access everything via Chrome browser running the Plex web player (app.plex.tv/desktop). The only devices that do not work with Live TV & DVR within the Plex App are the Android based devices (Android phone, 4K Fire Stick, 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro). Every other Plex function works correctly with these devices. The inability to use the Live TV & DVR function with these Android based devices is clearly an issue with Android to me.

The Nvidia Shield seems to work great as a server, but the using the Plex client on the Shield is unable to access the Live TV. Digging around on the internet makes me believe that it may be some sort of Secured Connection issue within Android that does not allow the Android clients to connect to the tuner via Plex. Once again, they connect fine via the HDHomeRun app running on Android.

I found various similar complaints online but have yet to find a resolution. I apologize for the long-winded description. I am only trying to be clear why I believe this is an Android issue…

2

Are you me? Hahaha. I was just about to post about this EXACT same issue. Similar setup (2019 Nvidia Shield Pro, HDHomeRun Connect Quatro). Live TV is working fine on Plex web, the Plex Windows app, and the LG TV app, but on my Android phone (Galaxy S10) and on the Shield it just says “It looks like you’re offline”. Movies and recorded TV shows play fine, it’s just the Live TV / DVR section that’s broken.

It seems to be something specific about running the Plex server on the Shield. If I run the Plex server on my Windows PC instead, everything works fine. That seems to imply that it’s not a client-side issue.

3

I agree with you it is very likely an issue with the Shield server. After reading your post I fired up my Windows 10 Plex server ( Version 1.19.4.2935) and setup LiveTV using my HDHomeRun Quatro tuner. I am able to access LiveTV via this Plex server with my Nvidia Shield, 4K Fire Stick and Android phone Plex app.

It may be helpful to provide the Shield Plex debugging logs while attempting to use LiveTV with the Android based clients? If this is needed, please let me know and specifically let me know what log “settings” are required/desired…

Do you think this issue has been discussed on the Shield forums? I just received my Shield and HDHomeRun tuner a few days ago and I am just getting up to speed on these devices. I have subscribed to YouTube TV the past few months and was questioning the value of paying $50 a month for the few shows I watched/recorded. When I received notice last week that they were going to increase the price to $65 a month, it motivated me to research the best OTA tuner / DVR options and I settled on an Nvidia Shield as a Plex server and the HDHomeRun network tuner. I intend to use the Shield as an “always on” server with a dedicated usb HD and usb flash drive used solely for media storage. My wife prefers to use the Fire Stick (I have multiple Roku’s, Apple TV, 4K Fire Sticks, iPads, Android Tablets, Android Phones, etc. in our household). If the Shield server issue with Plex LiveTV Android clients is not resolved soon, I will likely return the Shield to Amazon and look into other options for a dedicated Plex server. I hope this is not necessary…

4

This is the exact same use case that I’m trying to use the Shield for. I was using my PC as a Plex server for a while, which works fine but it’s quite old and uses a lot of power compared to the Shield’s minuscule power usage (around 4 watts when idle I think). For our use cases, I think the Shield is a perfect device, I just hope there’s a fix for this bug :frowning_face:

At least I’ve got a workaround - I’ve got an LG TV, and I think the Plex app on there is still working fine, so I can just use the Shield as a Plex server and continue using the LG Plex app.

This sounds useful to me. Plex’s documentation for getting the Android logs is here:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201573117-android-android-tv-fire-tv-logs/

I’ll try to grab some logs off my devices when I get a chance as well.

5

I found these two errors in my logs:

07-17 11:56:05.754  e: Presenter not found! Type: unknown, Subtype: live

and

07-17 11:56:05.807  e: Error fetching https://192.168.0.16:32400/hubs/sections/tv.plex.providers.epg.cloud:2?count=20&excludeElements=Actor%2CCollection%2CCountry%2CDirector%2CGenre%2CLabel%2CMood%2CPart%2CProducer%2CRole%2CSimilar%2CWriter%2CPhoto%2CVast%2CTopic&excludeFields=summary%2Ctagline%2Cfile&includeEmpty=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeLibraryPlaylists=1&includeRecentChannels=1&includeStations=1&includeTrailers=1&includeTypeFirst=1&libraryHubsOnly=1&X-Plex-Token=...tml>

192.168.0.16 is the IP of my Shield, so this error seems relevant, however it just says “Error fetching” with no other details as to what the error actually is. Maybe someone that works on Plex can help with this.

Edit: Also, this is logged on the server side when the error occurs:

Jul 17, 2020 12:14:25.765 [23409] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.0.21:33140 (Subnet)] GET /hubs/sections/tv.plex.providers.epg.cloud:2?count=20&excludeElements=Actor%2CCollection%2CCountry%2CDirector%2CGenre%2CLabel%2CMood%2CPart%2CProducer%2CRole%2CSimilar%2CWriter%2CPhoto%2CVast%2CTopic&excludeFields=summary%2Ctagline%2Cfile&includeEmpty=1&includeExternalMetadata=1&includeLibraryPlaylists=1&includeRecentChannels=1&includeStations=1&includeTrailers=1&includeTypeFirst=1&libraryHubsOnly=1 (11 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (sites+plex@d.sb)
Jul 17, 2020 12:14:25.766 [23409] ERROR - Exception handled: bad lexical cast: source type value could not be interpreted as target

Seems like the /hubs/sections/tv.plex.providers.epg.cloud:2 API call is throwing an error (I see a 500 Internal Server Error if I send the same request myself).

@sa2000 Is this something you can flag to the team? It seems specific to the version of Plex server on the Shield and I can reproduce it 100%.

6

@divans I fixed it I think! I disabled the Plex Server (in the settings in the Plex app on the Shield), updated Plex Media Server in Google Play, restarted the Shield, then re-enabled the server. Seems like it’s working fine now. Maybe try that and see if it works for you?

7

It worked for me. Thanks!

When I received and installed my Shield a few days ago, I opened the Google Play app and went to My Apps and updated everything (I think most of the preinstalled apps, including Plex, updated). It was my belief that I had the latest version of Plex (client and server) installed.

After reading your post, I opened the Plex settings on the Shield, shut down the Plex server, and I believe I may have selected the “beta” update option as well? I do not know if the “beta” option allowed me to download a different updated version or not…

I opened the Google Play app within the Shield and search for “Plex”. There were two different apps. Plex and Plex Server. I selected the Plex Server app and it asked if I wanted to update. I said yes, updated, relaunched Plex within the Shield (no Plex Server app visible, just the one Plex app…), and restarted the Plex server. I noticed it was a newer version number versus my original version number.

The Plex Live TV worked immediately from the Shield Plex app. I then attempted to see if one of my 4K Fire Sticks would work with Live TV. It did not… I cleared the cache and storage from within the app and deleted the Plex app from my Fire Stick. I reinstalled the Plex app and when I opened it I could then access Live TV. I had to do the same clear cache, clear storage date, uninstall and reinstall with my other Fire Sticks for them to work with Live TV. The Plex app on my Android phone did not work with Live TV until I performed the same uninstall and reinstall of the Plex app.

Hopefully everything will work smoothly from here on!

8

Same problem. Shield Plex Server needed to be updated. Android TV Plex app needed to have cache cleared. Then everything worked again.

9

Thank you all for your posting and replying to this. I am so glad I was able to find this information. In my particular case, in mid-August 2020, I was also able to get around this by upgrading the Plex Media Server component (as stated above, not the Plex UI app). My Plex UI app was already at the latest version, cache and data cleared and all the other things tried and retried. I upgraded to the latest version which is a Beta as of this reply, and the problem was resolved.

I strongly believe that this is an integration bug introduced into either the Media Server or Plex UI app which fouled up the interface between them. I have no evidence, but it would seem that this was realized and addressed in the new Beta.

As I said, I would have NEVER found this out on my own, as there is no instruction or guidance on how to upgrade the Media Server and I would not have suspected that they would be upgraded separately. I am 100% certain that I would have just returned the USB tuner I bought and canceled by Plex Pass and been cranky!

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

10

Daniel15 came up with the solution (thank you). Lets home it is not an issue again going forward with future app updates. IMO, the apps should not be separate and should have the option to automatically update. Needlessly confusing as it is now…

11

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.