Server Version#: V1.13.8.5395
Player Version#: 3.67.1
I have been recording on DVR for the past few months with multiple cases in which a show is not recorded. Looking for help to understand how to read the data logs to understand what my be going on.
For example, yesterday I tried to record a college football game. DVR created a folder for the recording like it does for every TV show it records, but did not create the file. No warning on the web server on why it did not record. Sometimes I get a âTranscoding Errorâ on files that donât record correctly, this one had no error. There is no âplayâ symbol either after the College Football 11am-2pm file name on the webplayer indicating this is no file to play. In this case, no file was created at all. Other times, a partial file would be created but it stopped recording for some reason. I figured I would start with one issue at a time.
I am not very good with Logs - but I think you get this behaviour when the show is a repeat showing and you have series link set as âNew Airings onlyâ. Although it does say new so I am not sure now lol
That is not what I have experienced. You correctly identified that this was a NEW show, so it should have recorded. When I see that Plex has the record icon on a repeat show that I have Plex set to record all new shows, the icon displays on the GUIDE but it does not create a folder in the recording location with the show name like this example did. To that point, that is something else I donât like about the Plex DVR is that in WMC, when I have record all NEW shows in a series, it only puts the record icon on the shows it actually plans on recording, not the ones it as already identified as a repeat. I donât like the Plex setting for recording all NEW shows in a series in which it keeps the record icon on the show regards if it plans on actually recording it or not, i.e. it still shows the record icon on repeat shows that I donât want it to record.
Iâve had this happen to me several times too. One thing I did notice was that for the ones where there was NOT a transcoder error, it seems that the show info was updated just prior to recording. So if my local ABC station originally had it labeled as Teams TBD and then a few hours before it changed to Michigan vs Michigan State, that would mess up something. Itâs like it suddenly became a totally different show and that was enough to nullify the original scheduling.
This used to happen to me quite frequently. I noticed that it would record part of the show and it would be stuck in the .grab folder as if it just gave up recording. I also had many other problems with DVR on the last versioj of plex. I installed the latest update and i havenât had a problem with recording yet.
It recorded another show (Blindspot) at the same time (dual tuner) and recorded the next two shows after that (Speechless and Hawaii Five-O) that but I cannot understand why Last Man Standing did not record. Created a new folder under the .grap folder titled, bfe33fa89de2657b892fbffe9f89b0ea1f1e249b, but no file was within the folder.
This was also after I updated server to Version 1.13.9.5456
Server Version#: 1.13.9.5456
Player Version#: 3.69.1
Here is another case in which a show did not record correctly. In this case, it was FOX 9 Morning Sunday. in which is was scheduled to record at 9am. Unlike other shows, this does not list an Season and Episode number but rather is just lists todayâs date. This was not part of a series, I just selected it to record this hour. After I saved the recording selection, under the Recordings Calendar View, it did not list this 9 am show to record. Instead it had a yellow exclamation mark icon next to it along with the time slot of 7-8 am, instead of the selected 9-10 am. Looking back at the schedule, there was indeed a 7-8 am show with the same title and for some reason it also had the recording icon listed at the 7 am time slot, even though that hour passed. I was curious if the show would actually record the 9 am start time so after a few minutes, I checked and Plex did create a folder under the .grab folder but there was not file listed as being recorded. I than looked again 10 minute later, and then a file was present and recording. After the show was completed, it showed that the show length of 50 mins when it should have been 60 mins (did not remove commercials). So i have attached the data logs again to see if anyone can tell me why this did not start at 9 am but rather 10 minute late.
I had this problem and I thought the update had fixed it but it hadnât. I looked into it more and realized all the the channels were vhf broadcasts can and I attributed the problems to signal quality. I changed the the orientation of my antenna and I have great signal quality and have had no problems for almost a week. Are you using an antenna? It looks like all your failures on on fox.
Edit all markets with Fox 9 transmit in VHF. Double check your signal strength. You may have to use a 3rd party program. The signal strength displayed in Plex is the strength at the time the tuner was added and not updated with real-time signal information.
I know my last two shows were on Fox, I donât recall if my original posting of the College Football game was or not that did not record. I am using an OTA and based upon my Hauppauge Digital Signal Quality meter, the signal strength is excellent. It is not clear how I can confirm it is the same strength for all channels, including Fox, or how it measuring signal strength. I opened up my WMC live TV and started going and up down the channels, as the strength always stayed at SNR 30 which is highest is rates the signal (i.e. being excellent) but I did get a minor variation in the Correctable Errors, so I assume that when I changed channels on WMC for live TV, that was the signal that the meter was capturing. If that is true, than all my channels are excellent. If you have a better meter to use to check per channel, please advise.
I will keep note of future failed recording and see if it ends up being consistently on Fox or not. I can say for the past five years, I have been using WMC for TV recording and it is rock solid in never dropping a recording on any channel, so at least with WMC, signal strength also has never been an issue. I have noticed as well on some Plex recordings, there would be some pixelated segments on recorded TV shows at time which I also never received when using WMC.
I know when I switched from nextpvr to Plex I had a lot of video quality problems that I didnât have with next pvr. It seems the Plex transcoder and method of video creation (little video segments in the .grab folder that are then complied into one video file) are mutch more prone to glitches. I have debated switching to an SSD for video recording because maybe multiple recordings are creating write errors. No idea though, I am far from an expert. I do know that about 1/4 of the files created by next pvr had xml problems that resulted in Plex not being able to play them.
Am also in the UK, and recently having similar problems:
EPG not updating properly. I would find holes in the guide data for future days, or maybe nothing at all for some of them. This is obviously one bug that could affect the schedule of recordings.
Lack of reliability after successfully setting recordings, and them being actually recorded. This even when the show appears in the guide (i.e. not in a âholeâ area described in 1) above).
Searching the forum produced these two threads with an acknowledgement from someone linked to the Plex development team, and suggestions which might be worth a try:
1) EPG problems
To fix, update Plex to most recent version (beta 1.14.0.5468) AND make sure to do a manual guide update from the DVR settings (updating the server version appears to do a EPG update but doesnât seem comprehensive Apparently it should work all right in the future, but weâll seeâŠ
2) Reliability of recording:
To fix, use the âadvancedâ menu but DONâT set the resolution to âHDâ⊠just choose âAnyâ resolution. Further down the menu, choose the specific HD channel.
Hardware/software:
Media Centre PC running Windows 10
Hauppauge Quad HD tuner
Plex server: 1.13.9.5456 (just updated to beta x.5468)
Plex web: 3.69.1
Region: West Midlands
EPG: Freeview
