Shows deleted before viewed

I have started having an issue with recorded TV shows being deleted before I have watched them. The only shows affected are marked to delete after one day of viewing. The shows are This Old House and Ask This Old House.

Server Version#: 1.21.0.3711
Tuner Make/Model: Homerun
Guide/Lineup name: (File removed)

These shows haven’t aired new episodes since 11/19, so any aired in the last few weeks have been re-runs. Plex remembers watched statuses even for episodes which have been deleted. So, if you previously recorded these episodes, watched, and deleted them, when they are recorded next they will be deleted immediately (if configured to automatically delete). It would be a more efficient use of resources were it to just not record the episode again at all, but that’s a different discussion.

This has happened to me in the past. Perhaps this is what is occurring in your case as well?

In this case it only occurred on the shows set to delete one day after viewing. There are three versions of This Old House that I record, and the version not set to delete after viewing wasn’t affected. I’ve now disabled that feature so I dont think it will happen again, but I’ll find out in a couple of days.

The shows I disabled the delete after viewing feature no longer got deleted before I was able to watch them, so there is something wrong with that feature.

If you are going to allow Plex to remove files from your file system automatically, on it’s own, without any supervision:

  1. you deserve everything you get - and

  2. make sure anything deleted goes to the recycle bin.

Best Wishes
A Victimized User

(I delete things myself - apparently without any supervision - 'cause I’m always going to the recycle bin to get things back - Letting Plex handle any of that is… crazy, Man)

The feature works as expected, and as I described, on my servers. The key thing to keep in mind is that Plex remembers watch statuses. If you record an episode, watch it, and delete it, its watch status is still kept (along with the time it was viewed). If you subsequently record that same episode, and the recording schedule for that series is set to delete after x days, then the episode will be immediately deleted if the time period has elapsed since the last watched date.

I brought up the fact that the “Old House” series’ last new episode was 11/19 because it means that anything that’s been aired since then has been a re-run. Is it possible that you already recorded and watched those last new episodes and they were deleted normally? If so, any recordings you’ve made of them since will have been deleted immediately. The series resume new episodes starting on 1/2, I believe.

You can test that the feature actually works by setting a series that you’ve never watched or had in your libraries to record, and set it to delete after a day. Just pick something random which has an airing in the next hour or so and see what happens. If it gets deleted immediately, then something is indeed borked on your system.

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