Plex Media Server Version 1.15.6.1079
If I try to watch live from the beginning within about 30 minutes from the start of recording, it works. Otherwise, it just pics some random spot. At that point, rewind, forward all go back to that very same random spot.
Besides that one guy from Plex who pops up occasionally to say they’re aware of this issue, nothing is being done. Come on!
I have very similar behavior. Shortly into a recording seems to work more often than one that has been going a while.
Do you have got streaming brain enabled? I bumped into the identical trouble the use of an Android Client remotely and when I disabled streaming Brain, I turned into capable of time shift properly. I had published that trouble some weeks ago and a Plex Team member stated they have been searching into it and it became a known problem.
I’ve been living with this problem for so long it’s so frustrating.
For those looking for a work around, it was said before to point a new Video folder to scan the .grab folder for video capture. I can say this works. A bit hacky but it’s something until plex gets it together.
Trick is to choose media as home video file and type the path of folder in the field as plex won’t browse .grab when choosing folder in windows.
Sadly, after all the time since “LiveTV/DVR launch”, we’re still talking about bugs and work arounds in what should be basic DVR capabilities. No attention to missing features and improvements such as progress bar enhancements and live PIG while setting up recordings… I believe it shows that PLEX either doesn’t understand LiveTV/DVR and/or was using it solely to accumulate revenue. To me it’s obvious that PLEX employees aren’t using this as a daily driver because they’d fix things if they were 
Still seeing all the same failings listed above on the “new server release”.
I did this a few weeks ago while trying to watch MTP from the beginning. Unfortunately, I chose to watch the partial recorded so far in VLC, the show/recording finished while I was still watching the beginning and apparently VLC didn’t play nice, Plex never finalized the recording and saved to disk in the proper folder.
I’m convinced it has something to do with how they manage files and recording space.
I’m guessing they’re writing to the grab files and then using that grab file as the final recording to be moved to the repository rather than leaving an active recording buffer always in use and copying recorded content from that buffer to a recording file when completed.
I’ve noticed that when there are back to back shows being recorded on the same station I get a “black out” between the shows and a “progress spinner” as though files are being moved/manipulated/created to accommodate the next recording.
All this is conjecture as I don’t have the time to debug their implementation but it’s consistent with similar things I’ve seen in the past.
Hi guys, I am also having the same issue and have tried a ton of various setups. Emby works very well and can play recordings from the start without issue, pause resume etc etc. The issues I had is the AndroidTV client I run would often pause. I am using IPTV feeds for FreeviewNZ and also BeastIPTV and these would sometimes drop and I couldn’t record or watch until I restarted Emby or sometime I had to actually remove the source and add it again then wait for a EPG update which takes an hour for BeastIPTV due to number of channels. emby client on windows is pretty good, I tried running this and the server on the same PC which works except the EPG/source dropping as mentioned and when the TV was turned off HDMI is disconnected and the application drops out of fullscreen meaning each time I had to use my mouse to make it fullscreen again. Obviously I am looking into this as PLEX DVR isn’t a good solution. I was using Telly to pass the IPTV feeds to PLEX which worked well it is just the playing active recordings that is killing the experience for me. To be fair the best solution I have found so far is to use NextPVR on a PC, it is very reliable and you can play recordings after they have started recording, easy to do series link etc too, plus it is free. one off purchase for Android App to watch remotely etc.
Scottiamit said it best, “Emby works very well…” That is my experience too, after getting frustrated with this Plex issue because I can’t watch games and news while they’re being recorded. I must say, Emby is intuitive, fast, and has almost all the features of Plex. I tested the Emby remote viewing capabilities over the weekend and everything worked perfectly. I can even remotely stream live TV while it is currently being recorded. It just works. The main feature that I am missing from Plex is the ability to automatically remove commercials/ads.
Hi Jnwplexu, out of curiosity what client were you using and did you test live TV as well as delayed recordings? I found liveTV via AndroidTV stopped working for live TV after 30-60 mins.
Another program I am testing and so far so good is TV Mosaic, only tested on Windows and Android, will try AndroidTV shortly. No media support atm so it would mean using PLEX for that still. One thing I do like about it is that you can create groups for your channels and favourites much like you can in NextPVR which means it is much easier to jump to the right part of your EPG which is important if you have lots of channels. If you need to watch and record from the same source multiple times then add the same source card several times.
I had a similar issue last night watching AGT (which was 2 hours long) about 45 minutes after it started. (Also should note 2 other programs were recording at the same time.) I tried to watch both on nVidia Shield and via iOS and both kept spinning like they were buffering. Then I tried the app directly on my Samsung TV and it worked. One thing I suspect is I believe both the Shield and iOS use Directplay while the Samsung TV app transcodes. Maybe it’s a bug with Directplay, just a thought. Also I’m running the latest public PMS on Ubuntu.
Same issue here. Windows server with the latest beta and a Shield TV. Used to happen every once in a while, but now it is constant. Happened to my wife this week watching the Bachelorette (she was not happy) and tonight with the NBA finals (I’m not happy). And now forced to watch the finals live, I am getting weak signal errors when the signal itself is fine.
As a lifetime Plex member I was shocked to see this thread has been going on so long with little response and no solution from Plex. Frustrated that I finally upgraded to Windows 10, giving up Windows Media Center to go all in on Plex. Might have to check out Emby or the HDHomeRun DVR (which the kids seem to prefer, and I noticed has better deinterlacing for live tv).
Has anyone had success getting a refund from a lifetime Plex pass within a month of purchasing it? My parents bought it on my recommendation and aside from this issue, Plex isn’t recording all their shows, which seems to be another big issue they can’t figure out how to fix. I’m just hoping they can get their money back so we can try Emby based on everyone’s suggestions.
Hi scottiamit, I use an Nvidia Shield with the AndroidTV Plex client. Live TV on this setup is totally unstable and almost unusable. I have not tried TV Mosaic or NextPVR. Until this year, I had been using Windows Media Center (since it was launched in 2002). Then Plex, then Emby.
Has any progress been made on this?
I installed the latest beta Version 1.15.8.1163 and it isn’t fixed yet.
Plex - Do you guys need more logs? What’s the issue here? We’re getting very frustrated at the absolute lack of communication. “We are aware of the problem” doesn’t do much for me. When is it going to be fixed? A time frame would help.
I wouldn;t mind having a fresh look - in case the issue changed
Any specific plex clients ? or all?
Is the option given or not?
Please provide me with fresh logs and screenshots and details of what client and what time it was so i can easily find it in the logs
See
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/
and for capturing logs from the client apps see the relevant article from this list
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201869908-log-files/
Server: Version 1.15.8.1163 on Windows 10
Player : Roku 6.3.9.5772-1dfcf58b1-Plex
I enabled Roku remote logging at 7:57am MDT.
I attempted to start watching the CBS This Morning show that started recording at 7:00am. I was given the option to start watching from the beginning, but when selected, it started from some arbitrary spot.
I then fast forwarded the program. On the screen it shows the bar & the position advancing, but it starts playing at exactly the same arbitrary spot as before. I then rewound with the same result. I then downloaded the server logs that are attached here.
This is definitely the second time I’m giving you log. I may have given them before too. This problem started for me sometime in March.
Server: version 1.15.8.1163 on Windows 10
Player: Plex Media Player 2.34.0.983-edb7fbf7 on the same machine
Not usually one to post but this latest occurrence was during the wife’s Bachelorette watch party… TV Show was “Start from Beginning” approximately 30min into recording starting at 1900. All seemed well until approximately 2000 when an attempt to skip forward went to a random time near Live. All attempts to skip back or restart from beginning ended up at a similar random spot further in the recording. An attempt to skip forward later, as it wasn’t quite Live, moved backward to the same random spot.
Someone in her group saved the night with Hulu Live. Please help me not need to pay for some other service.
I have to say, after several years of plex pass, I’m looking for other options. The fact that so many users are discussing competitors should be a red flag for Plex. A serious software company can’t have a major feature broken for this long (July of 2018). The inability to identify a root case of the issue is sad. I work for a software company and asking for logs over and over for months is just a way to placate your user base with a perception of service. If you do your research, you will find that Plex is rapidly alienating its user base. Stop putting out new feature for a bit and fix your core features. But if they are still asking for logs, that means they haven’t figured out the root cause. I challenge someone from Plex to articulate the root cause and what they are doing to fix it. I would love to be proven wrong.
