So I have multiple libraries on my Plex server. I have a library for all my curated shows (called TV shows) where I know they don’t have issues. I wanted to start recording shows over the air to augment my existing collection, but wanted to be sure that it was clear this was stuff I’m recording myself, so I created a new “Recorded TV” library for Plex to put the new content.
Library setup:
TV shows: /data/Media/movies/TV Shows
Recorded TV: /data/Media/dvr/tv
The issue comes in when I record a new episode of a show that already exists in the TV shows library. If I look at the “Recording schedule” view I see the new episode there with a play button, but when I click on the “Recorded TV” library, the entry is missing entirely. Here’s a more concrete example.
Suppose I have multiple shows in TV shows:
Modern Family, Agents of SHIELD, Family Guy
If I decide to record a new episode of Madame Secretary, that episode shows up just fine since it isn’t a show that I already have in my TV shows library. But if i decide to record a new episode of Modern Family, the show doesn’t show up at all in my Recorded TV shows library. The file is there, I can play it just fine (in fact, I can play it from the Recording Schedule page), but the show itself is missing from the Recorded TV shows library. Any ideas what’s going on? Is this a bug or something wonky with my setup?
Server: Ubuntu Server 16.04.3
Server version: 1.9.4.4325
Tuner: HDHomeRun CONNECT with an OTA antenna
PLEX won’t record if you already have a version of that show anywhere in your library. I’m suprised the episode shows up as a scheduled recoding, my experience has been it won’t even schedule the recording if you already have that episode.
But I don’t have that episode, it is a new season of a show that is in another library. It feels like a fairly basic thing. I also notice that the show page tells me that there’s a new episode in my TV Shows library, but then everything is watched when I actually click into it.
To provide a more concrete example, let’s say we’re talking about Modern Family. Season 9 just started, but let’s say I already have season 8 in my TV shows library. It’ll let me record season 9, and the files show up properly in the Recorded TV folder on disk, but then when I try to browse to the Recorded TV library to watch it the show Modern Family doesn’t show up at all. Then I go to the TV Shows library and Modern family shows 1 unwatched episode, but then when I go in to look at the episodes, only Season 8 is present.
Yeah, I have a post-processing script that copies the file to a queue file share where my windows desktop picks it up, runs MCEBuddy to use comskip, and then re-encodes it before copying it back to a ‘finished’ directory. The script then copies it to its final location. My logs are rotating too quickly, so I’ll copy up logs in a bit.
@jalsk said:
Yeah, I have a post-processing script that copies the file to a queue file share where my windows desktop picks it up, runs MCEBuddy to use comskip, and then re-encodes it before copying it back to a ‘finished’ directory. The script then copies it to its final location. My logs are rotating too quickly, so I’ll copy up logs in a bit.
Sounds overly complicated. You copy the file to 3 different folders, 2 across network shares. Have you looked in these folders to see if the process didn’t complete successfully? Checked the MCEBuddy history/logs?
Have you thought about for the purposes of debugging to temporarily eliminating the post processing and see how Plex does? You can always manually copy unprocessed files to your MCEBuddy folder afterwards.
Before I posted this question I already validated that the video file processing is working properly. MCEBuddy processes the files without issue and the files show up in the destination directory structure without a problem. If I go to the Recording Schedule view in the web interface of my plex server, the episode shows up with a play icon, and I can play it from there without a problem. The only issue is that it does not show up in the library view.
Screenshots would help see what you are referring to. Perhaps a screenshot of the recording schedule showing the episode, then a screenshot after clicking on the episode to view the details, not watch it, and click the Get Info under the More (…) link. Then screenshots of Library showing no episode, and one of the library file system showing the episode on disk.
@jalsk said:
If I go to the Recording Schedule view in the web interface of my plex server, the episode shows up with a play icon, and I can play it from there without a problem. The only issue is that it does not show up in the library view.
When you go to the Recording Schedule, instead of clicking Play click outside the Play button and it should take you to an information page about the recording. Click the … menu and click on Get Info. Post a screenshot of the info page. Where does Plex think the file is? Is that where it really is? Is that location part of a library?
The file is where I expect it to be when I click on info, but then the unwatched counter in the TV shows library doesn’t match. The episode I’m using as an example here is The Big Bang Theory S11E04
I’ve updated my comment above to say which path is which.
I haven’t ever recorded any Movies, so the Recorded movies library is empty. The settings for the four libraries are are nearly identical, only difference between each of the libraries is the path. Each library has only one search path, detailed below.
TV Shows -> /data/Media/movies/TV Shows
Recorded TV Shows -> /data/Media/dvr/tv
Movies -> /data/Media/movies/Full Length Movies
Recorded Movies -> /data/Media/dvr/movies
To be clear, the issue I’m tracking down here is only with TV shows, I haven’t tried to (and honestly don’t currently plan to) record any movies so I don’t know if the issue is present there and I don’t really think it is relevant to this.
Above, you showed what the Get Info looked like for a show that you were able to access from the Scheduled Recordings page:
Toward the top of that page, there is a “breadcrumb” trail for The Big Bang Theory → Season 11. If you click on The Big Bang Theory, what does the page look like? Is all the info populated? If you click … menu, do you see Match or Fix Match? Maybe it just isn’t matching to anything (which is another issue).
So when I click on the Season 11 in the breadcrumb trail, I only see the other two episodes listed and there is no Fix Match option in the overflow menu.
Something interesting to note, there’s an ‘unwatched’ count in the upper right side of the season thumbnail, that says 3, whereas there are only 2 episodes actually shown in the season.
I also just noticed that when I get to the episode detail page, the “Recorded TV Shows” library is highlighted in the left list of libraries, but when I click on Season 11 in the breadcrumb trail the highlighted item switches to “TV Shows”
