Trying to understand if Plex is a solution for me. I have two TVs, one a smart LG, one a dumb Pana with a smart samsung BD player. I can get the plex app for both these setups, and I have a Win PC to install the tuner and plex server on. I currently only watch live OTA channels on one TV at a time, but I might want to have some streaming content. I am not interested in creating a media library or remote viewing of content, or even watching content more than once. The main reason I would record at all is the ability to reliably autodetect and mute/skip commecials. A few newbie questions:
My understanding is the plex server box & tuner could hide in my wiring closet, and be fully controlled from either TV running the plex app. Is this so?
Is it simple and quick to hop back and forth between watching OTA direct antenna and plex served OTA content?
Can I watch OTA content served by plex semi-realtime (small delay), or must I wait until a show is fully recorded?
Do Plex and/or add-ons allow me to reliably autodetect and mute and/or skip commercials?
Can commercial mute/skip happen semi-realtime, or does the show have to be fully recorded and post processed?
I get > 100 OTA channels (maybe 10 of interest), but I understand the plex compatible digital tuners are inferior to my TV tuners, and may only tune a small fraction of these. Why can some available channels be tuned and some not?
Is there a way I can determine ahead of time that I will get my channels of interest?
@tns1 said:
My understanding is the plex server box & tuner could hide in my wiring closet, and be fully controlled from either TV running the plex app. Is this so?
Sort of. You can access the content from the TV’s, but to manage your server you need to use our Plex Web app so you would need access to a browser.
Is it simple and quick to hop back and forth between watching OTA direct antenna and plex served OTA content?
Plex does not serve OTA content. We just show what your tuner picks up. So if you want to switch from the antenna connected directly to your TV to Plex and the channels your tuner picks up, it’s just a matter of switching inputs on your TV.
Can I watch OTA content served by plex semi-realtime (small delay), or must I wait until a show is fully recorded?
The content is live, no artificial delay.
Do Plex and/or add-ons allow me to reliably autodetect and mute and/or skip commercials?
Removing commercials is a built in feature when recording shows. If you prefer to run your own post processing script, that is also available.
Can commercial mute/skip happen semi-realtime, or does the show have to be fully recorded and post processed?
It is post processed. I don’t get how you would skip a commercial in real time.
I get > 100 OTA channels (maybe 10 of interest), but I understand the plex compatible digital tuners are inferior to my TV tuners, and may only tune a small fraction of these. Why can some available channels be tuned and some not?
The tuners are not necessarily inferior. They need to be able to save the data whereas the TV only has to display them, so they can provide better error handling.
Is there a way I can determine ahead of time that I will get my channels of interest?
Not without actually getting the tuner. They usually come with their own app you can use.
Is it simple and quick to hop back and forth between watching OTA direct antenna and plex served OTA content?
Plex does not serve OTA content. We just show what your tuner picks up. So if you want to switch from the antenna connected directly to your TV to Plex and the channels your tuner picks up, it’s just a matter of switching inputs on your TV.
Can I watch OTA content served by plex semi-realtime (small delay), or must I wait until a show is fully recorded?
The content is live, no artificial delay.
It sounds like you are saying that you cannot record and play back OTA content, but under “Plex Live & DVR” it says you can. Do you mean I can EITHER watch OTA realtime, commercials and all, (no real benefit using plex for this), OR I can record that OTA content and have it served up later with the possibility of nuking commercials? What did I miss?
I thought there would be a possibility of recording OTA, and having that same recording served up to me at say a 15min delay with some post processing done to it.
There is a product offering realtime commercial muting, so I thought it might also be a semi-realtime feature of plex. The MagicMute box seems to detect some data change common to most commercials rather than comparing against a database of signatures unique to each commercial (like anti-virus scanner).
@tns1 said:
It sounds like you are saying that you cannot record and play back OTA content, but under “Plex Live & DVR” it says you can. Do you mean I can EITHER watch OTA realtime, commercials and all, (no real benefit using plex for this), OR I can record that OTA content and have it served up later with the possibility of nuking commercials? What did I miss?
You can. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant by switching back and forth. You can record the OTA signal from your tuner and/or watch it live. The commercial removal is not performed until the recording is done, it does not remove the commercials as it is recording. While watching live, you can rewind back to your starting point and fast forward up to the current time. You can skip commercials but they will still be in the live stream.
I thought there would be a possibility of recording OTA, and having that same recording served up to me at say a 15min delay with some post processing done to it.
Once the recording is done and the commercial removal has finished, the item will be automatically added to your media library. You can then watch the content from there. You cannot access this version the same way you would the live content originally.
There is a product offering realtime commercial muting, so I thought it might also be a semi-realtime feature of plex. The MagicMute box seems to detect some data change common to most commercials rather than comparing against a database of signatures unique to each commercial (like anti-virus scanner).
I am not familiar with that product. Plex does not remove commercials in real-time.
Is it simple and quick to hop back and forth between watching OTA direct antenna and plex served OTA content?
Plex does not serve OTA content. We just show what your tuner picks up. So if you want to switch from the antenna connected directly to your TV to Plex and the channels your tuner picks up, it’s just a matter of switching inputs on your TV.
Can I watch OTA content served by plex semi-realtime (small delay), or must I wait until a show is fully recorded?
The content is live, no artificial delay.
It sounds like you are saying that you cannot record and play back OTA content, but under “Plex Live & DVR” it says you can. Do you mean I can EITHER watch OTA realtime, commercials and all, (no real benefit using plex for this), OR I can record that OTA content and have it served up later with the possibility of nuking commercials? What did I miss?
I thought there would be a possibility of recording OTA, and having that same recording served up to me at say a 15min delay with some post processing done to it.
There is a product offering realtime commercial muting, so I thought it might also be a semi-realtime feature of plex. The MagicMute box seems to detect some data change common to most commercials rather than comparing against a database of signatures unique to each commercial (like anti-virus scanner).
@tns1 said:
It sounds like you are saying that you cannot record and play back OTA content, but under “Plex Live & DVR” it says you can. Do you mean I can EITHER watch OTA realtime, commercials and all, (no real benefit using plex for this), OR I can record that OTA content and have it served up later with the possibility of nuking commercials? What did I miss?
This depends on the client you’re using. I believe most Android and iOS clients can do this, Plex is slowly rolling out the feature to other client devices. If you’re using something like a Roku, then it’s coming soon.
You can. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant by switching back and forth. You can record the OTA signal from your tuner and/or watch it live. The commercial removal is not performed until the recording is done, it does not remove the commercials as it is recording. While watching live, you can rewind back to your starting point and fast forward up to the current time. You can skip commercials but they will still be in the live stream.
My confusion stems from the use of “live” to mean content that has not finished airing but has been partially buffered/recorded. It sounds like plex is always buffering/recording the active OTA channel, but will not save it to the library unless configured to.
Does plex have access to reliable enough guide info on my local channels that I can schedule it to automatically record OTA TV series and have those episodes available in the library?
**My understanding is the plex server box & tuner could hide in my wiring closet, and be fully controlled from either TV running the plex app. Is this so?
** Sort of. You can access the content from the TV’s, but to manage your server you need to use our Plex Web app so you would need access to a browser.
I guess I thought the plex app I installed on each client device would allow me to access the guide info, play content, schedule recordings, delete old shows, etc. Will it? As far as setting and managing the server features beyond that, my LG tv has some kind of embedded browser. Will that do or would I have to be at a real PC with a full featured browser?
Currently, iOS and Android devices can watch recordings in progress. This means that if you join in on a recording that is currently happening, you can start it from the beginning and catch up. The functionality is much like any standard DVR you’re probably used to.
In my universe, I either have to wait for a recording to be completed, or I can watch it live without the ability to fast forward or rewind beyond the point which I started watching it. This also ties up a second tuner, as the first is handling the recording. Bear in mind, this is what I experience currently. When they release the watch while recording feature to me, I suspect I’ll be watching a file, and will not tie up the second tuner watching live.
Plex factors in your location I believe based on zip code allocated to your account. I live in St. Louis, MO and the guide here is spot on. It’s all based on Gracenote accuracy. Even local shows are represented well.
Recordings go to any library you specify. I currently keep my DVR and TV Shows separated. It’s just my preference.
Actually never used a DVR, but I imagine some limitations of plex are business decisions rather than technical barriers.
You’ve helped me understand it enough to give it a go. I have seen a few comparisons against Kodi etc, and one of things that is brought up are the many (more) internet repositories of local content on Kodi that might replace the need for OTA capture. I hadn’t even considered that a possibility, but it would simplify the setup if I didn’t even need a tuner card. Does plex get me any of those same repositories?
@tns1 said:
Does plex get me any of those same repositories?
No sir. A stock Plex install will only serve up things you already have (files) or feed into it (antenna or cable signal, with separately purchased hardware). There are no “repositories” like you’ll find in Kodi.
There are some plugin channels out there that offer additional functionality. Several that will handle IP streams. You’re at the mercy of the developers for those though, as many of them are not officially supported. Also, no way that I know of to record any of that.
Plex works best in the same ways that Kodi was originally intended to be used. It serves up your files in a visually appealing menu system. Where Plex shines, is in it’s ability to stream those files to Plex clients on any number of TVs or devices available on the market, converting them as necessary to be compatible… something Kodi cannot do.
It should be made clear, and it is sometimes misunderstood…
Purchasing a Plex Pass doesn’t grant you access to stations or any new content. It simply enables you to use the DVR function, and some other perks. In order to use the DVR, you’ll need to purchase a tuner box, and connect an antenna to it.
