What I said is that there’s been no progress for months on the platforms it was reported to work on, it’s been working on/off on the windows platform, it hasn’t worked on the ATV4K and the ROKU for a much longer time, and I observed it not working on a Fire Cube and an Android TV multiple times i the past two weeks. Another poster I believe said the same thing. I believe most everyone who has done more rigorous use of time shifting have come back and reported failures on all platforms but I’m not keeping a tally. I think, but could be wrong, that only you and one other person began reporting 3 months ago that your setup works. That’s great but it doesn’t seem to be the norm and means that no progress has been made in 3 months. Likewise PMP was reported to be working months ago even though there have been changes from time to time on that as well.
Because of the claim of progress and because we’ve been directed to review the release notes, I report only after a release of a new component fails to fix something or when someone reports something I’ve actually observed have the opposite effect.
I stand by what I said and if you view a report that a new release still doesn’t work as “complaining”, so be it. I hope more people don’t invest their $$ in a product that doesn’t work and isn’t being fixed.
Again, I havent really been here since the Android TV fix. I do distinctly recall - many- postings of a fix. Its not “one other guy”. Ive been using it successfully without a hitch for 3 months. That is rigorous enough.
I said I gave Plex till NFL season to fix it and if not, I would have moved on to something that worked Vs coming here to complain every day. I means me. I just need something that works and dont have the patience to wait for a fix that may never come.
I thought it was you and the one other guy were the two reporting success with the Shield about 3 months ago but if you’re saying it’s you and two other then OK, not much difference. I didn’t scroll all the way back again as it’s not that important as it was reported almost 3 months ago.
I don’t rely on PLEX but I help others who were taken in. They can’t afford another solution right now.
As I’ve repeatedly said and stand by, the vast majority of instances/uses don’t work reliably. The AndroidTV variants seem to be more reliable but I’ve observed them failing as well.
Yeah, we really like Emby DVR. It is so reliable. I keep checking in on this post to see if Plex has fixed theirs. I would like to have a one Server solution and I am hesitant to move my media over to Emby because Plex does work so well with our media distribution. I really don’t understand why Plex can’t get their DVR working.
3 weeks in a row of starting an NFL game in progress from the start and it’s worked perfectly for me start to finish skipping through all the ads. Nvidia shield server & player.
Not working 100% for me on nVidia server/player. More than once after selecting to skip backwards, it doesn’t go back correctly, and then time-shifting is completely broken and I have to exit playback and restart. Skipping forward has been working well however.
The issue may be related to “adding time” to the recording. I typically add 30-45 min to a football game in case it goes into overtime etc. I feel like the issues with skipping back have normally been when “live” is in the additional time timeframe.
To be honest I think I only skipped back maybe once or twice and it worked fine, otherwise it was just skipping forward over the commercials. Good theory on the extra time, I feel like the last time I had issue I may have started in the extra time portion of the recording. I’ll try test that on mine and report back.
I always add 30 or 60 minutes to a football game for the same reason, in case it goes into overtime.
I don’t have any problems at all, but I’m not using nVidia Plex Media Server, just the player.
My PMS is running on a Windows 10 Professional computer. It’s probably over kill on the specs, but I’m a computer geek and build my own systems. I typically buy new components every 2 to 3 years. The PMS is running on older hardware,
an Intel Core i7-4790 processor with 16 GBs of RAM. OS and PMS run on a 1TB SSD and media is stored on 10TB HDD.
This just failed for me again yesterday with Ubuntu PMS + Roku. Was trying to timeshift a college football game. I had about 45 minutes of lead buffer. I chased through 4 commercial breaks, but then the 5th time I tried to advance it locked up. Just hung spinning at 33%. Had to exit the channel and re-enter, losing the whole buffer (and point of timeshifting)
Just had time shifting fail terribly again on nVidia shield server/player. It’s clear to me now time shifting is completely broken when the recording spans more than one “planned” time slot per the TV guide.
I recorded football pre-game, and started watching about 20 min into the recording from the beginning. I skipped through commercials during pregame and continued into the game…which is a new program on TV guide. When a got to the game, I skipped through commercials a few times with no issues, then mid way through the first quarter, skipping forward would actually skip backwards…the stopped doing anything at all.
Backing out and selecting the football game to watch from the beginning also had significant similar issues then.
Yes, the (broken time-shifting problem) has been happening for over a year now. It’s just not worth the time if you want to record anything then watch it later on PLEX. Longer recordings like football games etc, really mess PLEX up. After trying all the available DVR solutions, ‘Channels DVR’ by fancybits is by far the best. Zero errors when time-shifting, works great on Shield TV, commercial skipping is simple and works every time. Channels DVR has great support and they release reliable updates for their solution. PLEX is just not reliable enough any more. I am a lifetime pass holder for PLEX and I have had to abandon my subscription completely…
I’ve also been having the same issue, probably for a year or so. Frequently with a football game. I start watching maybe an hour late. I can start from the beginning without issue, and can fast forward and rewind correctly. But after about 15 minutes of watching, if I fast forward or rewind, it doesn’t show the right time on the timeline. I just have to ignore that, and if I fast forward 2 minutes, it does actually move me forward 2 minutes. That only works a few times before it thinks I am caught up (I’m not). I then have to back out of the channel, open again, start from beginning, fast forward to the right place, and from there I’m good for another couple cycles before I have to back out again.
That would be manageable enough, but I also record an extra 60 minutes past the game. So if I have to back out of the program after the live game is over, I can’t even select the game anymore, since it won’t be on the guide. And it’s not in my shows, since the recording isn’t complete. That’s a bigger problem.
Plex support, we are at 736 messages and counting on this critical issue, please update us on the status, this is obviously a key DVR feature that is certainly broken using Roku. People mention Embry and channel DVR as alternatives, I am frustrated this long standing issue is not being addressed! When it is this key DVR feature essential for any DVR going to be fixed? DVR features work fantastic using Roku for YoutubeTV, but I got the HD homerun so I would not have to pay a monthly $50 service fee. I am a lifetime member of Plex and feel you are ignoring us and not updating us on the progress of fixing this long standing bug.
I’m a relatively new user, been using Plex for just a few months, specifically for DVR functionality (I just moved away from WMC due to end-of-life of program guide data). I run the plex server on Windows and stream to a roku device in one room, and two samsung smart tvs in two other rooms. I signed up as a monthly subscriber so that I could evaluate Plex as a DVR backend.
I really want Plex to work for me, but so far the DVR is quite buggy and lacking in usability. Some issues:
Time shifting is pretty broken (at least on Roku where I primarily watch). When watching a program which is currently being recorded, if any skipping (fast-forward, rewind) is performed, then the “current position” marker will become out-of-sync, indicating an incorrect position. Exiting and starting from the beginning can be used as a temporary workaround/fix (but is very inconvenient). This is a critical issue!
No way to find a program currently being recorded (or recently recorded) other than going into the program guide (grid). This is a big usability issue, nobody should ever have to go into the time grid unless looking for a specific program/time to record. If the program has recently finished, then there’s no way to find it until it’s finished being transcoded or processed for commercials (I assume?).
Last I checked, there was no way to watch a program being recorded, from Samsung TV. So time-shifting is not possible at all there, one must wait for the program to finish recording/processing, which is super inconvenient to the point where I don’t use the Samsung at all for watching.
Maybe I’m not the typical or target plex user? I really only want Plex for DVR, but if everything worked as it should, I’d very happily buy the lifetime subscription today. In the current state, and especially given the lack of progress or responsiveness to the issues as shown in this thread, I’m pondering whether I should instead cancel my subscription and move on.
Unfortunately, your experience with Plex DVR isn’t just typical…its the norm. Plex as a DVR is VERY buggy and things that a reasonable person would assume are “basic functionality/features” of a DVR don’t work. The crazy thing is some things like that are available to the end user…like time shifting…but they don’t work. You would think they make things that don’t work NOT available to the end user…but they do.
Time-shifting isn’t solid on any server/client combo (but does work under specific conditions on some)…hence this thread which is almost 1.5 years old…which should cage your expectations as to when it will be fixed.
