Hey all, I’m new to Plex. I’ve been using it, or at least trying to, for a couple of weeks. Server (latest beta build) is running on a 2014 MacPro. HDHomeRun Extend tuner. iOS/tvOS devices for clients. I’m coming from TiVo because I wanted to consolidate all my media sources to one client device. Based on the research I did ahead of time, it looked like Plex was a great live TV/DVR alternative to TiVo.
Plex may do some things great. But, WOW, is it a bad live TV/DVR solution. Missed recordings. Partial recordings. Recording errors. Playback issues. It transcodes even though the HDHomeRun Extend is already transcoding. Guide data issues (the local ABC channel never has guide data beyond about 8 hrs and then says “unknown airing”). It hangs when fast forwarding and often doesn’t recover. Live TV rarely works. The UI for navigating and interacting with recorded shows is poorly designed. No grid guide on iOS. The UI is cluttered with things I don’t care about with no way to hide those things.
The list of issues is so long, it could be years before the Plex dev team has rock solid live TV/DVR solution. I don’t really want to spend weeks or months going down the rabbit hole of submitting logs and trying this setting, and that setting, and then having it break again with the next release. I just want something that works. Regrettably, I bought a Lifetime Plex Pass. I guess my first question is if it’s possible to get a refund? My next question is if anyone has experience with other DVR-centric solutions like the SiliconDust DVR or the Channels app DVR that they could recommend?
Channels DVR is very solid. Minimalist UI but the functionality is very solid. Commercial skip and all. The only thing that I could offer as a detriment is their client support isn’t as broad as Plex. They basically don’t have a Roku client. The iOS client is awesome though. And runs very well with Plex if you turn Plex DVR off. I have a Mac Mini with Plex and Channels DVR on it. Channels is recording off of two Extends and one Dual. Then I use Plex to watch from the Roku. Use the Channels client to watch either LiveTV or recordings from Channels DVR. Plex doesn’t use the commskip from Channels though. Switching to Channels for DVR has made my Plex install much better.
I installed Channels yesterday. Great recommendation! In my opinion, that’s how a live TV/DVR solution should work. Everything recorded last night without any issues. The commskip in the recordings is fantastic. Skip in general works as it should. You can even configure how many seconds to skip. Live TV works perfectly. No delays with playback or live TV streaming. I installed the server on an older Mac Mini. Very little transcoding CPU usage. In addition to my HDHomeRun Extend, it even supports my old HDHomeRun Dual. You can also designate tuner priority, which is great for my situation. It has a very focused, well organized UI. They do have a Roku client currently in alpha. I installed it, but it doesn’t work that well. From what I’ve read in their forum, now that their Android client has shipped, it will hopefully get more attention from the dev team. The only downside to Channels is it’s a little more expensive than I would like. But, it actually works, unlike Plex.
