PMS for Mac 1.30.0.6486 (and maybe earlier)
Plex for Apple TV 8.12.1
Plex of iOS 8.12.1
(. . . but apparently not Plex for Mac 1.59.1.3398)
Frequently watching a OTA Live TV show that is being recorded using Plex for Apple TV or Plex for iOS, regular playback will:
- spontaneously halt; and or
- partially cease being GUI responsive; and or
- appear to be GUI responsive, but isn’t; and or
- fails to ever play any video, merely presenting a spinning pinwheel.
.
-
Example: wife watching, using Plex for Apple TV, OTA Live TV > NBC > The Voice finale episode (scheduled to air & record 9pm – 11pm) live. The Voice finale episode immediately followed the Voice recap-of-finals episode that aired and was recorded 8pm – 9pm. At 10:01pm, playback appeared to halt completely. We tried to exit, and then re-initiate playing, but could not get the playback other than what appeared to be the previous recap-of-finals episode (is, airing 8pm – 9pm). We tried restarting the Apple TV, powering down the Apple TV, changing channels, the back to NBC. Nothing we tried would let us get back to 10:01pm. Checking from Plex for Mac, I could see that the recording was continuing, and was able to play from the beginning, play from 10:01pm, play at random points in time by clicking upon the scrub bar.
-
Example: (See The Voice finale episode referenced in 1. above) I tried watching on my iPad. The GUI scrub bar would falsely indicate a playback point, but the playback would then jump to the previous episode.
-
Example: Using my iPad Several times recently, I’ve attempted to watch an OTA Live TV show (Jimmy Kimmel) while it was being recorded, but the fast-forward-seconds control had been frequently grayed-out, forcing my to wait until the recording finished to watch with FF functioning. Most Mondays – Thursdays, I have initiated watching Stephen Colbert, then Jimmy Kimmel while being recorded, and then if after it beginning, Seth Meyers while being recorded. I have done this many, many times without problems. Not so now. These bugs may have manifested when I (very reluctantly) updated from iOS 8.5 to 8.12.1, from PMS from 1.28 to 1.29, 1.30, or both.
-
Example: On my iPad, I tried to watch Stephen Colbert while it was recording. It just displayed a spinning pinwheel.
.
.
My wife, by far the primary Plex user, thinks Plex is dung, lamenting **Plex playback failing in some fashion every evening.
It’s hard to defend Plex.
In the ~8 months of Plex use, I’ve had to spend several dozen hours testing and or reporting serious or catastrophic bugs from what appears to be very poorly tested PMS, Apple TV and, now iOS, updates. There have been several weeks of Plex for Apple TV (the only way my wife can use Plex) just not functioning at all. I can’t remember any month that Plex as a whole was stable since spending ~$1,000 on a Plex license and the hardware needed for OTA live TV signal detection and LAN streaming to Plex. My wife is sure there has not even a week of positive Plex performance.
