Problems I encountered with Plex DVR failing to record:
I have my DVR scheduled to record all new Nova episodes on PBS. On Sept. 13, a new Nova show aired, but didn’t record. (I’m reasonably sure it never appeared in my Recording Schedule).
I was watching this new Nova episode when I realized it wasn’t recording. I know PBS replays Nova episodes, so I opened Program Guide to schedule a later recording. But Plex showed no additional airings other than the show that was in progress.
After Nova finished airing, I again looked in the Program Guide and the additional airing (2AM 9/14) was there. I clicked the record button to record it. The red dot appeared indicating the recording was scheduled, but the show did not appear in my Recording Schedule. I checked Plex this morning and the show did not record.
Thus there is/was a specific show I wanted to record, but was unable to record by any method that Plex DVR provides.
I have another problem with Nova that may or may not be related. The metadata for Nova episodes is always wrong. The TVDB for Season/Episode never matches the filename recorded and always pulls the wrong metadata. I have to manually edit the filename “SxxExx” to match TVDB to get the metadata to be correct on Plex. If Plex is using the TVDB to determine if an episode is a new airing, that may explain some of the problem. But that wouldn’t explain why additional airings were missing from the Program Guide, or why they didn’t appear until the original airing was complete, or why I couldn’t record a show in the Program Guide by simply clicking record.
There are situations when I would prefer to schedule a late night recording instead of an earlier airing of the same show, but Plex seems to avoid or prevent this option.
As it stands I am losing confidence that Plex will accurately record the shows I schedule it to record. I’m also concerned that Plex is failing to provide full DVR functionality. I’m hopeful that someone at Plex will let me know what is being done to address these problems.
Check to see if the Nova is a “new” episode. I think all of the current airings of Nova are reruns. Check to see if you have New and Repeat Airings set. Once you have changed it look at your scheduled recordings and see if Nova shows up.
I think I’ve discovered the answer to some of my questions:
Show didn’t record initially because it is not a new airing. (I opened this show in my PBS app and it shows the initial airing in August. It should have recorded in Plex then, but it’s possible I deleted it inadvertently during a system cleanup.)
I have no answer for why additional airings of shows may not show in the Program Guide during an airing of the same show.
My attempt to record the show in a later airing failed because of recording priority. I still had Nova scheduled to record new airings only and that had higher priority than my later schedule to record only the later airing. I’ll now have to remember check the recording priority if I try to record something I already have scheduled… or modify the original schedule instead of creating a new schedule.
User error.
The reddit link may also be user errors.
Thus my only real issue is the TVDB having the different metadata for Nova than what my PBS station broadcasts.
The issue with TheTVDB and Nova episodes has been discussed on numerous other threads. On each I have commented that there are 3 or 4 different lists of episodes it seems each with various differences. TheTVDB is a community maintained site so anyone that registers on the site can modify content that has not been locked by a moderator. It appears that no one that records Nova episodes has actually cared enough to change the content. One other user commented that changing it would change the content for all users that are utilizing the content on TheTVDB. If the show data is inaccurate I would want it changed. I guess everyone else is alright with inaccurate data.
The issue I have with Plex using TheTVDB.com to determine if it is a new airing or not is the original airing is not country dependant. The show you may want to record may have already aired in the US for example, but not (for me) here in the UK, so the show will not be recorded unless you tell Plex to record Repeats.