I have a Plex DVR use case that I hope is supported. I’ve searched through the forums, both here and on Reddit and have read through the various support pages. I’ve seen hints that my use case is supported," and other hints that my use case cannot be supported with Plex. I haven’t seen anything that seems to definitively answer my question.
What I would like to be able to do is watch a program while it is recording, watching to start an arbitrary time after broadcast started, viewing the program from its beginning. For example, I might want to set up a sporting event to be recorded and start watching that event an hour or so after it begins.
Here’s what I see today:
- I set up an event to be recorded
- If I look in my DVR library while the event is being broadcast, I do not see the event
- If I look in the Program Guide while the event is being broadcast, I see the event and it has the record symbol. But when I try to play the event, play starts live rather than at the beginning of the event.
I can find no way to start play from the beginning of an event while the event is recording. Once recording is finished, the event shows up in my DVR library and I can play from the beginning.
Here are the specifics of my setup in case they’re relevant to my question:
Server: AMD FX-8350 running Plex Server 1.10.1.4602 on Linux
Devices: Plex Web (Chrome) 3.27.1; Plex for Android 6.11.3.3147; Plex for Roku 5.0.7.4265-1df89180-Plex on Roku 3
Tuner: HDHomeRun Extend (although I have also tried using a HDHomeRun Connect borrowed from a friend; results were identical)
Network: Gigabit over Cat5e (except for my phone which is 802.11N)
If what I want to do isn’t supported, fine; although this seems like a pretty big hole in Plex DVR use case support. If it is supported, can someone tell me how to do it?
Last I heard, this is not supported as of yet.
It’s still in BETA for some clients. For the Roku, you need to push the “Plex Preview” channel from your account to your Roku. Then when you try to watch something that is recording, it will ask to start from the beginning. As of now, it will not remember where you were, if you start playing, exist out and come back in. It is also available on the Android client. I’ve not seen it on any others, including the Plex Media Player or the Web interface.
Thank you darcilicious and jfgilliam for your responses.
Jfgilliam:
When you say “push the ‘Plex Preview’ channel from your account to your Roku,” it’s not clear whether you mean from my Plex account to my Roku or from my Roku account to my Roku. Regardless, I’ve looked around in both and don’t find a way to do what you suggest. I do know how to select the beta channel for server software, but I don’t think that’s what you’re suggesting I do.
I did find this page, https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201844613-Early-Access-Beta-Releases, which talks about beta versions of “Plex Media Player” without mentioning what platform the player being discussed runs on. I discovered that there’s a Plex app in the Windows App Store and installed it. It appears to work just like the other platforms’ apps with a different (and somewhat slicker) user interface.
The instructions on the page above for getting the beta media player say “Choose Settings under the user menu,” “Under the Main section, ensure that Automatic Updates is enabled,” and “Set the the Update Channel preference to PlexPass and save.” Unfortunately, I don’t see a “Main” section in the settings for any of my Plex Media Players (Roku, Chrome, Windows App, or Android App) nor do I see anywhere in the media player apps to enable automatic updates or set the update channel to PlexPass.
Any thoughts?
@jfgilliam Thank you. I’ll give it a try.
Do you know if this beta software is an actual beta (meaning that Plex would like to receive bug reports and has a mechanism in place for beta testers to submit reports) or if it’s just a preview for the masses?
I would assume you can post in the roku forum. Just note it’s about the preview version
