I have had a few DVR recordings set up for many months to only retain the latest episodes. I decided to change a few of them to retain all recordings. However, Plex was still deleting the latest episode, only leaving me with one episode at a time. I am currently focusing on one show in particular (Jimmy Kimmel Live) until I figure this out. I have tried deleting the Timer and recreating it, rebooting the server, etc. and nothing seems to convince Plex to hold on to the unwatched episodes. This is my first post for support, so if a there is a way to generate a useful log from my Windows Server, please let me know what to do. Thanks in advance!
Server Version#: 1.32.6.7557 (Windows)
Player Version#: N/A
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomerun Quatro
Guide/Lineup name:
Using XMLTV?:
Channel number/Name: WTAE
Thanks for that link. I have looked at those server logs before but don’t exactly know how to interpret them when looking for the logic behind its treatment of DVR recordings. It would be great if I could find a database of some sort that confirmed the current timer settings so I can see if there is some garbage in the timer that is causing it to only keep the latest episode. I haven’t found that configuration file anywhere quite yet. I’d love to submit a ticket with Plex to have them explain why their timers are not working for me since it seems logical that other people could be affected.
For future reference, I deleted the Jimmy Kimmel folder in which the recordings are being placed in case there were any files in there mis-informing the Plex DVR on which episodes could be removed. That did not resolve my problem. The prior episode was still automatically deleted.
Every morning, my server logs have rolled over so I can’t see what happened after the Kimmel show was recorded. I’ll make an effort to stay up and grab the log tonight. I have DEBUG enabled.
Does anyone know to look for in the log when the DVR has decided to removed a recording from the library?
Where did you make this change? There are two possible places, and the change may need be made in both (I’m not sure if changing one affects the other, and I’m not in a position to test at the moment).
The recording schedule for the series. In the recording’s schedule’s advanced settings, you adjust the “Keep” and “Delete episodes after playing” settings.
In the series’ advanced settings. In the library view, click on the edit (pencil) icon on the show’s folder in the (not season or episode, but top-level poster) and select the advanced tab. The same two settings as above are available.
Make sure the options are set appropriately for both the series itself and its recording schedule.
Great tip @pshanew. I did not know that there were also settings in the library items itself for the series. I have always been changing the Advanced Settings in the recording schedule directly. Unfortunately for this issue, it does look like Plex did the right thing and I see the same settings under the edit pencil of the series in the library.
Keep => All Episodes
Delete Episodes after Playing => Never
Wednesday’s episode of Kimmel was deleted as soon as Thursday’s was recorded last night. The next episode doesn’t air until Monday night so I have a few days to investigate. I’d love to know where in the log I might see the DVR making the decision to delete the existing episode.
Oh, man. I think your tip may have triggered me to find the problem which (as predicted) is likely user error and not a Plex server issue. I just remembered that I have another Plex server that used to be my DVR before I added a second server. Although the original server is no longer a DVR, it is still has a library mapped to that network drive where the DVR recordings are placed. I never realized that a non-DVR library also had its own retention policy (thanks for @pshanew pointing that out) and I believe it was still set to only keep the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel. I’ve changed the policy on the old server to never delete anything and will reply to this thread next week if that fixes the problem in case someone else runs into something similar.
Yep, Confirmed! There was another Plex server sharing the same library and deleting recorded episodes. I changed the setting on that server and the recordings are being retained.
