Has anyone gotten MCEBuddy & Plex DVR postprocessing working with the latest PMS version? (1.7.5+)
I’ve got a Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD card that seems to work well enough for recording, but the MCEBuddy postprocessing bombs when the job’s added via MCEBuddy command line from a batch script, even though running the conversion manually after the fact works just fine.
Thanks!
mcebuddy and post processing on 1.7.5 was working fine for me before I downgraded back to 1.6.1. Was your script expecting a ts file which was changed to mkv with 1.7.0?
@johnm_ColaSC said:
mcebuddy and post processing on 1.7.5 was working fine for me before I downgraded back to 1.6.1. Was your script expecting a ts file which was changed to mkv with 1.7.0?
The script really just adds the recording to the MCEBuddy processing queue & starts the engine, and then the conversion job runs.
The conversion job (where I’m using “MKV unprocessed”) works when it runs manually, but not when it’s called via the script.
EDIT: I tweaked the script to match my specific paths, but the Reddit thread that I started with is here: Reddit - Dive into anything
Since Plex now creates mkv files I’m surprised the manual process even works. Input file=mkv, output file=mkv would overwrite each other wouldn’t it? I use MP4 unprocessed and haven’t skipped a beat since update to mkv file. i downgraded to 1.6.1 because of issues with tuners and not being able to record more than 2 shows concurrently even though I have 9 tuners configured in DVR.
@johnm_ColaSC said:
Since Plex now creates mkv files I’m surprised the manual process even works. Input file=mkv, output file=mkv would overwrite each other wouldn’t it?
Correct. MCEBuddy then overwrites the original .mkv with the converted .mkv file because they have the same name. The archive function also doesn’t work anymore because it comes last in the process (after the file has been replaced).
Solution/workaround:
http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1445431/#Comment_1445431
@johnm_ColaSC said:
Since Plex now creates mkv files I’m surprised the manual process even works. Input file=mkv, output file=mkv would overwrite each other wouldn’t it? I use MP4 unprocessed and haven’t skipped a beat since update to mkv file. i downgraded to 1.6.1 because of issues with tuners and not being able to record more than 2 shows concurrently even though I have 9 tuners configured in DVR.
I assumed that it would overwrite, actually, since MCEBuddy copies the source file into a working directory, does its thing, and then copies the new file back into the original location (which is where I’d expect the overwrite to occur).
EDIT: Which sounds correct based on the comment from @Wiidesire … and thanks for the Reddit post & script BTW. 
@MAScooby said:
EDIT: Which sounds correct based on the comment from @Wiidesire
The MCEBuddy developer also made a topic about this issue on their new forum, see here:
Archiving when destination filename is exactly the same as the source filename - General Support / Questions - MCEBuddy
@MAScooby said:
and thanks for the Reddit post & script BTW.
No problemPlease check your inbox.
@Wiidesire Got the Inbox message. All set. 
I’m not worried about archiving the original. My current setup uses NextPVR to record the file, then MCEBuddy grabs the recording, converts it, moves it into a Plex library, and deletes the original. That works flawlessly.
I’m setting up Plex for recording again now. I’ll post some MCEBuddy logs with the errors once I try another recording & conversion.
Ok, MCEBuddy log file of a failed conversion’s attached… I haven’t had a chance to look through it, but it seems to be the same behavior I’ve seen previously.
I may have figured it out… It looks like the manually added file was being deleted before or in the middle of being processed. I expected that move would happen after conversion, but that may be the same issue you were referring to with archiving.
I turned the delete off in the General settings and removed the Destination in the conversion, at which point Comskip was able to remove the commercials, but the MKV file was left in the .grab folder tree & never showed up in my library (I figured Plex would move it after postprocessing, but maybe not).
I’ve added the Plex TV library as the Destination and I’m trying another recording now.
EDIT:
No luck. This time it appears to have processed the file, moved it into the working directory, and then the file just disappeared. What’s odd is that the destination was supposed to be E:\TV … The last file move entries in the log file are:
INFORMATION> 2017-07-07T09:06:06 MCEBuddy.Engine.ConversionJob --> Moving converted file to destination
INFORMATION> 2017-07-07T09:06:06 MCEBuddy.Engine.ConversionJob --> Moving converted file E:\MCEBuddyTMP\working0\CBS This Morning (2012) - 2017-07-07 00 00 00 - Episode 07-07.mkv to E:\TV\CBS This Morning (2012) - 2017-07-07 00 00 00 - Episode 07-07.mkv
It looks like the original MKV was still sitting in the .grab folder tree.
Went back through to reset my settings & I’m trying another recording.
I have a feeling I may have mixed up some of my NextPVR config with my Plex config, but here are the current settings:
Almost identical settings. About the only difference I see is that I use some custom file renaming to actually move the file into the appropriate library when mcebuddy completes. This causes Plex to add a line in the log that says something like “Post Processing Deleted The File - Silly Script” and Plex removes the entry from the recording schedule so I don’t see the item with the play button beside it.
@johnm_ColaSC said:
Almost identical settings.
Ok, good deal… I’ll report back after the next recording.
@johnm_ColaSC did you set a destination directory, or is that not needed?
I do have Destination set to F:\
@johnm_ColaSC said:
I do have Destination set to F:\
Ok, thanks. I’ll give that a shot (E:\ in my case).
Actually, that’s what I just tested. I think it may have worked except that it dropped the file into the Movies folder instead of the TV shows folder. Getting closer…
The full rename string I am using is:
%ismovie%<Movies%showname%,Recorded TV%showname%\Season %season%%showname%-S%season%##E%episode%##-%episodename%>
The key is the metadata being identified as a movie or not. If movie it drops into my F:\Movies\ directory otherwise it drops into F:\Recorded TV. I have had a couple of shows that did not have season/episode information moved to my movie directory. Since they had no season/episode data coming from the guide I had to try to figure out what episode the show was, name it appropriately, and move to correct location. For example:
This show is currently in my movies folder. Here is one in the Program Guide that will probably do the same thing.
Yeah, here’s the string that I’m using:
%ismovie%<Movies%showname% (%airyear%),TV%showname% (%premiereyear%)\Season %season%##%showname% - S%season%##E%episode%##>
I randomly picked “Today” to record, and it identified it as a movie rather than a TV Show. I’m trying two more now to see if it works any better.
You might get duplicated years with %showname% (%airyear%) or %showname% (%premiereyear%). The year is included in the %showname% from what I have seen at least. All of my folders/filenames include the year.
