Setting to Limit DVR Storage Utilization

Feature Suggestions
1

Hello-

I recently switched from Amazon Recast (and MythTv prior to that) to Plex for DVR functionality and so far it’s been great. One notable thing that’s missing from the Plex DVR is the ability to limit the total amount of disk space that the DVR recordings are consuming. It basically forces the user to have to manage the storage utilization manually or face the possibility that a show won’t record due to the disk being full. Some suggestions I had in mind:

  • Set a storage utilization limit at the Library level. Not sure exactly how that would work for folks that are storing both DVR shows and non-DVR shows in the same library. Perhaps create a dedicated Library type for DVR shows which has this option.
  • Add a flag to preserve/lock individual DVR recordings so that they are not deleted when the storage limit is reached.
  • Delete oldest non-locked recordings when storage limit is reached or close to it.

Some additional requests:

  • Add keep options for “x latest episodes” for DVR recordings regardless of whether the episodes have been played. Maybe this could be a checkbox that toggles the “unplayed” requirement.
  • Add 90 and 120 minutes to “MINUTES AFTER END” on clients that present the user with a drop down instead of a text box. I’m a big football fan and sometimes the games can go over 60 minutes (usually it’s the overtime nail biters)

Thank you!

2

Yes, please! This functionality has been a part of every DVR I’ve ever used (MythTV, Windows Media Center, Tablo, UVerse) so I think it’s reasonable that folks expect this functionality. I know Plex tilts a bit toward the media archiving (hoarding?) crowd, but I think it’s not too difficult to meet both sets of needs with some simple options when recordings are scheduled.

3

I’ve given up on Plex as a DVR solution because I’ve found that it has other problems on NVIDIA Shield, for example, if I try to watch something as it’s being recorded, it has the potential to lock up other background processes which prevents new recordings from starting. I have to restart the Plex server to clear this condition.

I’ve switched over to Channels DVR and it works perfectly on the Shield. It has all the normal features one would expect from a DVR.