I’ve tried reporting these issues individually, but put together they’re much worse than added up individually since they all affect each other in various ways. I’m hoping some of these have fixes in the works, so I wanted to collect them all in one place.
Scenario
I set an hour-long TV show to record. 30 minutes after the show started recording, I want to start playing it from the beginning. While watching it, I want to skip ads manually, getting closer and closer to “live”. I’d like to do this on iOS, PMP, the Web, and any other Plex endpoint. I’d especially like to do this while watching sports on the go using my iPhone.
Issues
It’s difficult to start playback of in-progress recording
The in-progress recording doesn’t show up in my library, and it’s impossible to begin playback from the DVR Schedule UI. In order to play it, I need to go to the Guide - where it’s buried between many other channels - or “Recommended” - where it is similarly difficult to find.
After starting playback of in-progress recording, progress is fragile
This one mostly affects iOS, but I’ve also seen it hit other platforms. Jumping forward / backward by 30 / 10 will often jump all the way back to the beginning of the recording, or all the way to Live, forgetting where I was. So it’s very fragile and unreliable to use.
Plex doesn’t remember where I was if I leave and come back
If I’ve watched 10 minutes of a recording in progress, leave for a second, and come back, Plex doesn’t remember where I was - all it asks is if I want to start from the beginning, or from live. This wouldn’t be so bad if Plex could continue playback in the background, but…
Plex doesn’t support background playback of Live TV / DVR
If I’m watching live TV, Plex doesn’t support continuing audio-only playback in the background while switching to something else. For ordinary live TV this is just an annoyance since you can reconnect later, but for time-shifted playback, #3 makes this impossible to get around.
I absolutely love using Plex as a general DVR for watching shows long after they air, but I just can’t rely on it for live TV like I hoped I’d be able to. Hopefully the team is able to make some progress on these issues!
I am new to Plex (although by no stretch new to I.T. etc), bought a Plex Pass on a whim when on sale a few months ago and have just got round to setting it up on my Synology NAS.
A vast number of things - and having read a LOT over the last few weeks they are things that have been complained about for a long time - should be “no brainer” features, especially in something that has been in development as long as Plex.
A couple of the worst are the inability to hide synopsis and spoiler pictures from content (although this can be somewhat mediated by plexkodiconnect) and the complete bewilderment that I cannot “allow” my own wife to delete her own recordings and watched shows. The amount of administration I need to do because of this is fist chewingly annoying.
Now this latest nuisance I have come across, exactly what you say above. I want to start watching a 60/90 minute show on a commercial channel maybe 15 or 20 minutes after it starts so I can manually skip the ads and be up to speed by the end. Also I may want to, as you say, stop watching for a bit and come back to it later, AT THE SAME POINT. Currently this is impossible to do.
This does NOT make Plex a viable DVR solution. ANY OTHER platform that allows you to timeshift and record shows will let you do all that you say above.
I was using an enigma2 box running OpenVix and recording directly to the NAS for Freeview and it worked like a charm.
It also managed to display 4:3 SD channels correctly and not in some weird squeezed box in the middle of the screen.
I wish I had never bothered investing time, energy and my money into Plex - as I said, these things should be complete “no brainers”, especially after all this time.
It’s almost as if Plex is coded and maintained by folk who don’t actually watch TV!
For whatever its worth to whomever, I agree. The issues described here are the most frustrating things about Live TV with Plex for me. Playing back recordings that have had time to complete and (critically, for me) generate thumbnails is actually a pretty great experience; I’d say it is at least on par and perhaps even superior to the same experience with major cable and satellite providers.
However, watching TV live is frustrating and time-shifting in-progress programs is pretty painful, basically for the reasons above. It is a little frustrating that in-progress recordings don’t show up in the library, but I can live with that. It’s also extremely irritating when playback fails after you attempt to rewind or jump ahead (leaving you hoping you can make your way back to the point in time where you were kicked out), but that has been somewhat better lately. But, what gets me the most is that fast-forwarding or re-winding in-progress programs is a pain simply because I don’t have thumbnails to assist in fast forwarding. This makes what is dead-simple on other DVR solutions a frustrating, hit-or-miss proposition with Plex.
Also, it is extremely frustrating to me that I can’t bring up the guide and browse to see what else is on without completely disrupting what I’m currently watching. Too often, I bring up the guide (by clicking, tap, and clicking my way out of what I was already watching) only to find there is nothing else I’d rather watch on at the moment, to then have to scroll, click, tap, and click my way back into what I was already watching. (It’s probably also worth acknowledging that the process is the same even if I do find something else to watch.)
I will say that these aren’t (yet) “deal breakers” for me, but they do make selling the family on Plex harder (which prolongs the cord-cutting transition). I’ll also admit that Live TV does seem to be improving in performance and stability. However, I do sincerely hope that some thought and development effort will be given to the Live TV interface and experience sometime soon. Otherwise, I may ultimately have to look at some other, more user-friendly option, simply to keep peace at home!
Same problems here - Linux PMS, Roku stick client. I really wish time-shifting a live recording show FF/RW worked properly. It jumps all over the place!
