Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 & 1.46.1.3056 Live TV & DVR EPG Display Skewed ~24 from "Now"

[pl4151]

Server Version#: PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5889
Player Version#: Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056 (then 1.45.0.3013)

Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056, then reinstalling 1.45.0.3013, both have a severe Live TV & DVR OTA tuner channel EPG display problem that appears to manifest ~24 hours from “Now”:

1. All Shows, all channels graphically display misaligned with the Guide time-of-day header, and some, but not all, individual shows display in the channel ID column on the far left.

2. Shows scheduled at roughly 24 hours from “Now” are displayed twice. (Also, if one clicks upon one of such a duplicated show display pair, the other is highlighted.)

3. Shows scheduled later than ~24 from “Now” are displayed beginning in the wrong and skewed time “column.”

Plex for iOS 8.3 does not appear to have this problem on my iPad mini.

I tried disabling the Plex TV EPG, and also refreshing the Live TV & DVR EPG separately, but neither test helped the problem.

[pl4151]

The issue seemed to resolve itself when I reinstalled Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056 (replacing the reinstalled Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013).

Summary:

9 Jun 2022, launched Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013.

Entirely without my action (and against my wishes), Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 immediately updated itself to version 1.46.1.3056.

(IMO, involuntary updates should never happen.)

Today, I launched Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056, selected Live TV (formerly Live TV & DVR), used the day-of-week drop-down menu to change from Today (Friday 10 Jun 2022) to Sunday (12 June) > Evening.

The display was corrupted as described in my original posting above.

I changed back to Today.

I tried using the < & > controls to move from Today to Sunday afternoon. The display corruption was as before.

I tried the tests I described in my original posting above.

I then re-install Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013, and went through all of the above. 1.45.0.3013 showed the same display corruption.

Before the involuntary update to 1.46.1.3056, 1.45.0.3013 did not show any such defects.

I reinstalled 1.46.1.3056, to find the problem resolved.

[pl4151]

Server Version#: PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5897
dedicated PMS for Mac host:
27" iMac (2010) 2.93GHz Core i7 (4 cores) [iMac11,3] with ATI Radeon HD 5750 GPU
20GB RAM, 1TB Startup Volume (SATA) [303GB free], 12TB WD My Book (USB 2.0) [7.5TB free]
macOS 10.13.6

Player Version#: Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056
macOS 12.4
Mac Studio (2022) 32GB RAM, 512SSD
Display: 3940 x 2160 (4K UHD)

Tuner: HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 (HDFX-4K)

1Gbps Ethernet for all devices

Severe Bug: The Live TV OTA EPG is completely unusable on Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056 upon PMS 1.27.0.5897 update. After 2–3 hours, the problem may have become somewhat less severe for the current time-frame display (ie, “Now”), but nevertheless still broken 3 hours after PMS for Mac last restart.

As with last week’s Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 to 1.46.1.3056 and or the PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5889 update, the Plex for Mac Live TV OTA EPG display is broken, but severely this time for 2–3 hours. The Live TV OTA EPG was completely unusable initially, eventually improving in the EPG “Now” time-frame, but, just like last week, still broken ~24 in the future.

All OTA channels were initially displayed improperly. If one used the “>” controls to change the time-of-day display forward, show displays would advance to the previous 30-minute time-slot display.

Last week’s EPG problem eventually resolved itself (I think), whether through my testing or by some other unknown (to me) process. Despite rescanning my tuner channel, refreshing the EPG, restarting the PMS host Mac, restarting my (player host) Mac did not resulted in the a usable Live TV OTA EPG for 2–3 hours, nor a usable EPG display beginning after ~24 hours from the original “Now.”

Neither Plex for Apple TV 8.3, nor Plex for iOS 8.3 demonstrated this bug (like last week).

Please see last week’s update(s) induced EPG problem:

Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 & 1.46.1.3056 Live TV & DVR EPG Display Skewed ~24 from "Now"

Server Version#: PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5889 Player Version#: Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056 (then 1.45.0.3013) Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056, then reinstalling 1.45.0.3013, both have a severe Live TV & DVR OTA tuner channel EPG display problem that appears to manifest ~24 hours from “Now”: All Shows, all channels graphically display misaligned with the Guide time-of-day header, and some, but not all, individual shows display in the channel ID column on the far left. [Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 & 1.46.1.3…

I updated manually PMS for Mac ~1:41pm today (13 Jun 2022). After update, I immediately refreshed the EPG (~7 minutes), and checked the Live TV OTA EPG: almost FUBAR. (Certainly, my wife would have found it FUBAR.) Tried Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013—worse. Re-tried Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056—still (for my wife) FUBAR. Rescanned the tuner channels; refreshed (again) the EPG. EPG still FUBAR after 1 hour 45 minutes—absolutely unusable.

Please see these screenshots ~1 hour 45 minutes, ~2 hours 15 minutes and ~2 hours 45 minutes after last PMS host Mac restart:

5+ hours after PMS host Mac last restart, player host Mac restart, and multiple Plex for Mac re-launches, Live TV OTA EPG ~24 hours from now FUBAR still—completely unusable after ~24hours from original “Now.”

[pl4151]

8+ hours after PMS host Mac last restart, ~24 hours out EPG still FU’d—EPG completely unusable begin ~24 hours from the original “Now.”

[pl4151]

EPG OTA Live TV Guide display continues to be severely broken for all 59 OTA channels for three (3) PMS for Mac updates on two Plex for Mac player versions for a week now.

{I am not sure in which forum category to post, server or player.}

PMS for Mac 1.27.1.5891 (14 Jun 2022 released, marked “June 9, 2022” on Plex DL web page),
PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5897 (13 Jun 2022 release),
PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5889 (9 Jun 2022 release)

dedicated PMS host (not used as a Plex player, nor any other purpose, except one-time below test):
iMac (2010) macOS 10.13.6 2.93GHz Core i7 (4 Cores)
1TB [303GB free] HD (internal SATA)
12TB [7.5TB free] HD WD My Book (via USB 2.0)
Peak CPU load ever (casually, not logged) noticed: ≤ 20%

1Gbps Ethernet (without any other regular significant activity)

Plex for Mac 1.46.1.3056 (8 Jun 2020 release, 9 Jun 2022 involuntary update),
Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 (? release, 26 May 2022 installed)

Player host:
Mac Studio (2022) macOS 12.4 323GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Also (briefly) tested on
iMac (2010) macOS 10.13.6

EPG OTA Live TV Guide display continues to be severely broken for all 59 OTA channels for three (3) PMS for Mac updates on two Plex for Mac player versions for a week now.

Weirdly, it seems that at 4:00pm, shows begin being displayed in duplicate. After 4pm, the Live TV OTA EPG “Guide” display becomes essentially useless as the display of the EPG for all channels have shows skewed in time.

OTA DVR is the only reason I purchased, and the only current use my family has for Plex. (I do understand, and indeed have associates that appreciate that Plex is much more that a simple OTA DVR. Later, when Plex is stable for OTA DVR, I am planning to enable external serving of DVR recordings and perhaps other media, when traveling.)

Plex is now essentially useless for my family on Macs.

Please see details:

https://forums.plex.tv/t/severe-bug-ota-epg-unusable-again-on-plex-for-mac-1-46-1-3056-upon-pms-1-27-0-5897-update/796924?u=pl4151

and earlier postings

As before, Plex for Apple TV 8.3 & 8.4 and Plex for iOS 8.3, 8.4 do not appear to have this problem.

(PMS for Mac 1.27.0.5889 was extremely unstable for live OTA channel viewing, and had to be downgraded, with all players tested: Apple TV, Mac, iOS versions 8.3.)

Are there any persistent Plex for Mac files that I could try deleting as part of testing a Plex for Mac re-install?

[tom80H]

Mod-Edit: Please help us keeping things tidy by refraining from reposting the same/similar message repeatedly.

https://forums.plex.tv/guidelines#heading---tidy

[pl4151]

I understand the theory, but I respectfully suggest such preference arises from a staff/moderator bias. In my experience and judgment, user needs tend to be the reverse.

In this merged-thread’s example, merging new findings (ie, possible defect reports) associated with new software versions in a thread with a title that is specific to older software releases causes the benefit to other users to be dramatically reduced, as visibility is substantially obscured. The practice of merging postings and or long posting threads wastes user time—a lot.

I suspect most users (visually) filter-out search-engine results at the title level, likely not wasting time reading thread content, especially threads that are lengthy or span long time periods.

Merging posting, and encouraging/forcing heterogeneous threads almost invariably creates a needle-in-a-haystack problem for users.

It is bad enough that there isn’t a user guide. Support effectiveness, and therefore, ultimately, real product value to users, of other product lines attempting support via forums with similar characteristics approaches zero. (The time I’ve wasted trying to glean essential reference information for a line of aggressively-priced sophisticated routers I adopted a few years ago has made those routers the most expensive hardware I’ve ever purchased.)

Nevertheless, Plex is not my company, nor am I in charge. I’m just trying to be a good “Plex-ian.” (My wife, on the other hand, is not so sangfroid. She regularly lament my decision to “cut the cord,” getting frustrated by erratic UI behavior.)

[pl4151]

PMS for Mac 1.27.1.5916
Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 – 1.47.1.3086

Still broken

Beginning at 4:30pm local time, Plex for Mac appears to display a duplicate of the EPG 4:30pm-occurring show entry for all 59 OTA channels, and then subsequently skew the display of all later shows (ie, beginning at or after 5:00pm) of all channels to the wrong display time-slot column, essentially rendering the Mac EPG display useless.

I suspect this is only a Plex for Mac bug, and only a Mac EPG display issue.

I do not think underlying EPG data is (fundamentally, nor entirely) corrupted. If underlying EPG data is corrupted in some partial fashion, PMS for Mac does not appear to have DVR recording timing issues, nor do the Plex for iOS and Plex for Apple TV apps appear to show any EPG display anomalies.

Live TV DVR scheduled recordings do not appear to be impacted: neither for recordings scheduled for ongoing series initiated before 9 June 2022 (when I first noticed the bug), nor those initiated after 9 June 2022; neither for the scheduled recordings successfully storing the intended OTA show (beginning and ending at the EPG data times), nor the playing of such stored scheduled recordings.

(This topic is completely separate and almost certainly unrelated to my [now resolved] issue in post;

Live TV EPG - The update you’ve been waiting for

[Resolved: 7 Jun 2022 post 1297 issue] Plex Live TV OTA (mis) displaying EPG for one OTA single channel PosiTV [display channel 20.5, KTBWDT5 Tacoma (broadcast into Seattle, WA MSA with current local time zone being PDT [UTC -0700] ) ] UTC timestamp data as if local PDT (ie, 7 hours off) has been fixed! [PosiTV Plex EPG Fixed! (was interpreting UTC as PDT) 2022-06-24 at 10.43.16 am] Thank you Plex and Gracenote. May God continue to protect and bless you-all, your associates and your familie…

that was specifically Plex consistently misinterpreting by 7 hours the EPG data for one single OTA channel, PosiTV [display channel 20.5, KTBWDT5 Tacoma, WA].)

[sa2000]

Gracenote have indicated that they fixed the time-offset error on channel PosiTV that you reported here Live TV EPG - The update you’ve been waiting for - #1340 by pl4151

If there is a problem with other channels please provide details
Also compare on different Plex apps to see if any residual issue you have is just on the Plex for Mac app - compare with the plex clients that you have Plex for iOS and Plex for Apple TV

[pl4151]

sa2000, I’m trying not to come across snarky, but I’ve posted many times in this topic that Plex for Apple TV and Plex for iOS do not demonstrate this problem.

Plex for Mac Live TV > Guide is still severely broken.

Summary: Plex for Mac Live TV > Guide, for all my 59 OTA channels, displays a duplicate entry of whatever show is scheduled to be playing during the 4:30pm – 5:00pm period, skewing the display of all subsequent shows in the channel. If one clicks upon the duplicate entry, the correct begin and ending times (ie, the times for the first entry) are shown.

A show scheduled from 4:30pm – 5:00pm seems to be displayed twice, 4:30pm – 5:00pm and 5:00pm – 5:30pm, apparently “causing” all subsequent shows to mis-display 30 minutes later than actual.

Even worse, a show scheduled from 3:30pm – 6:00pm is also displayed twice, 3:30pm – 6:00pm and 6:00pm – 8:30pm, apparently “causing” all subsequent shows to mis-display 2 hours and 30 minutes later than actual.

The Plex for Mac Live TV > Guide, has been effectively useless for three weeks now.

[sa2000]

@pl4151

Plex for Mac Live TV > Guide is still severely broken.

Summary: Plex for Mac Live TV > Guide, for all my 59 OTA channels, displays a duplicate entry of whatever show is scheduled to be playing during the 4:30pm – 5:00pm period, skewing the display of all subsequent shows in the channel. If one clicks upon the duplicate entry, the correct begin and ending times (ie, the times for the first entry) are shown.

I have found a bug in Plex Media Server that is affecting Plex Web guide display (and would also affect the Plex for Mac / Plex for Windows apps) when we have airings that finish at midnight utc time

I think that is what you encountered

[sa2000]

@pl4151

I’m trying not to come across snarky, but I’ve posted many times in this topic that Plex for Apple TV and Plex for iOS do not demonstrate this problem.

My response last week related to the problem mentioned in the title of this forum topic - airings being 24 hours out

My response today was to the issue of duplicating airings and shift / misalignment after that

[pl4151]

sa2000,

I have found a bug in Plex Media Server that is affecting Plex Web guide display (and would also affect the Plex for Mac / Plex for Windows apps) when we have airings that finish at midnight utc time

I think that is what you encountered

That almost explains the behavior.

Indeed, it does appears that if a show is scheduled to end, but also if scheduled to start playing earlier and is scheduled to continue to be playing, at 00:00 UTC (5:00pm PDT [UTC -0700]), the problem is triggered.

Notice that the three shows scheduled to continue playing at 5:00pm PDT [UTC -0700] (00:00UTC) are duplicated, not just the shows scheduled to end at 5:00pm PDT:

Date-time computations are very tricky. If it’s any consolation, I’ve concluded from my testing that the big software company spreadsheet has never calculated date-times correctly with any of its date-time functions, nor fixed those reproducible bugs I reported roughly three decades (30 years), at least 12 major versions, ago! (With a few functions, one can see their shortsightedness or incorrect documentation. With the most critical functions though, I can’t find even shallow logic to explain the errors.)

Thank you for caring.

May God continue to empower, protect and bless you, your associates and families.

[pl4151]

Plex for Mac 1.48.2.3124 Live TV > Guide is still broken.

Live TV > Guide displays OTA shows on all 59 channels scheduled to end or continue playing at 5:00 PDT [UTC -0700] (00:00 UTC) twice, apparently causing all subsequent shows to be displayed in a later, wrong time column, making the Guide essentially worse than useless. The Guide misleads users to conclude contemporaneous shows of interest have not yet started, only to find those shows have been playing for 30+ minutes, or have ended.

PMS for Mac: 1.27.0.5889, 1.27.0.5897, 1.27.1.5891 & 1.27.2.5929
Plex for Mac: 1.45.0.3013, 1.46.1.3056, 1.47.1.3086 & 1.48.2.3124

(Neither Plex for iOS 8.3, 8.4 & 8.5, nor Plex for Apple TV 8.3, 8.4 & 8.5 demonstrate this bug.

Live TV DVR scheduled recording accuracy does not seem to be impacted.)

[sa2000]

Trying to push for a fix.

[pl4151]

sa2000, I do remember that you wrote seeing a PMS problem, but given that neither the Apple TV app, nor the iOS app demonstrate this bug, is there any reason to think the bug can’t be in the Plex for Mac application (rather than in PMS)?

Had anyone checked to see if the Windows application demonstrates this bug?

[pl4151]

sa2000,

Plex for Mac 1.45.0.3013 & 1.46.1.3056 Live TV & DVR EPG Display Skewed ~24 from "Now"

Trying to push for a fix.

When a software engineer reporting to me created an immediately apparent bug, it was almost always the very first priority to fix while still very fresh, otherwise, might have cascaded into other hidden impacts. It has been five weeks and several version since Plex introduced this bug.

Why do you, or anyone for that matter, need to “push for a fix” for a well documented new bug?

Given Plex’s dramatic claim to enable “cord cutting,” I paid $120 to license Plex

AND

bought an antenna, tuner, amplifier, Ethernet switch, extensive cabling and a 12TB drive; dedicated a valuable computer to host PMS; and spent considerable personal time installing such that cost me roughly a thousand dollars total.

I’ve had to waste dozens of hours testing, searching through essentially non-existent user operations “instructions,” and documenting Plex’s issues.

I still don’t know how to cause a show to be recorded that Plex “thinks” has already been recorded, nor record a show that is being watched on an app, despite the Plex player app UI indicating that “RECORDING SCHEDULED.” If the EPG episode data is faulty, users appear to be completely incapable of initiating a recording.

I no longer have a Plex for Mac OTA TV guide that works. (This was my primary fall-back for the lack of a Plex Apple TV & iOS app user guide or immediate recording capability.)

Streaming in my home’s (otherwise idle) very, very robust (almost entirely 1Gbps Ethernet) network of a successfully recorded show to an iOS app has huge buffering problems, even if PMS is otherwise completely idle.

If my Internet connection drops {like when the garbage truck snapped all low-voltage cabling to my home}, pathetically, Plex players are all pure dung—I can’t access any of the recorded content despite having a configuration from day one that appears to be that as advocated by a Plex customer (sekthree), but not documented by Plex.

(To be fair, PMS for Mac did successfully record every show already scheduled during the 32 hours without an Internet connection.)

Some apps have a UI that works one way, while other apps have a completely different UI that works entirely different, neither with any apparent documentation.

Rewinding / fast-forwarding sometimes works on the Apple TV app, but often does not.

[sa2000]

@pl4151

Had anyone checked to see if the Windows application demonstrates this bug

The same Plex Media Server bug is impacting the view of the guide on:
Plex Web
Plex for Mac Desktop app
Plex for Windows Desktop app

Other plex client apps have worked round the Plex Media Server bug and do not exhibit the problem

The issue does not impact recordings and is only impacting the view of the guide. It has no real impact to livetv streaming or scheduled recordings

The guide view may correct itself when scrolling further right and then back left

I expect the bug to be addressed within the next few weeks

[pl4151]

Plex for Mac 1.49.1.3146 Live TV > Guide is still broken as a client of
PMS for Mac 1.28.0.5973

[sa2000]

I did say the bug is in Plex Media Server and we are correcting it there and not in Plex Web or Plex for Mac or Plex for Windows

I will have an alpha build available to send to you later today or Monday