Anybody try Plex DVR?

Tin

Tin

Club Member
I just signed up for the beta a few days ago and liking what I see so far. As of right now, it just records shows, no live TV, pausing, or time shifting during live shows as of right now, but it is coming soon according to the devs on the Plex forum. I'm going to try and modify the shell script used for MythTV commercial flagging and adapt it to Plex Media Server to see if I can get it to remove commercials on the recordings. Plex DVR does work with cable TV as long as you have a HDHomerun Prime network tuner and a CableCARD. When it comes out of beta, live TV will work but the DVR functionality will only be available for people that purchase a Plex Pass subscription.

https://www.plex.tv/features/dvr/
 
do u have plex pass? is it worth it? I like the idea of how u can give access to friends and use the app to upload pics direct to the server from your cell...
 
Yep, I just paid the $5 to give the DVR a whirl. If it pans out and becomes a killer feature, I can see myself buying the lifetime subscription. If you're giving friends access, you'll need beefy hardware for Plex Media Server so it can transcode to different bitrates and formats on the fly. On the low end, I'd go with an i3 CPU, as it can transcode 3 or 4 streams at a time. Your typical NAS appliance with an ARM or Atom CPU wouldn't be very suitable for such things. I couldn't see streaming a 30GB+ 4k HEVC file across the internet with the way ISPs offer relatively low upstream bandwidth.
 
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Does the Plex DVR include the EPG? I'm currently using DVBLogic but have to pay a yearly subscription for the EPG from Perc Data.

To be honest the Kodi, DVBLogic, Perc Data setup is pretty cumbersome, looking for something a little more seamless.

Thanks,
John
 
Yep Plex does have an EPG, but the layout isn't the same as it is with a standard cable box or something like MythTV. Instead of a grid with show times and show listings, it shows an icon of the show and when it's airing. It's ok, but I hope they implement a more traditional EPG layout as it's less confusing and shows a broader view of what's on.
 
Are you running this on your Shield? I currently only have an Amazon Fire Stick and I'm afraid it won't be powerful enough to run Plex, much less with the DVR function.

Looking at the Roku Premiere+, not sure I need the power of the Shield.
 
Tin said:
Yep, I just paid the $5 to give the DVR a whirl. If it pans out and becomes a killer feature, I can see myself buying the lifetime subscription. If you're giving friends access, you'll need beefy hardware for Plex Media Server so it can transcode to different bitrates and formats on the fly. On the low end, I'd go with an i3 CPU, as it can transcode 3 or 4 streams at a time. Your typical NAS appliance with an ARM or Atom CPU wouldn't be very suitable for such things. I couldn't see streaming a 30GB+ 4k HEVC file across the internet with the way ISPs offer relatively low upstream bandwidth.
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My desktop with an old AMD quad would do a few streams at once before it started to slow down. The new server has yet to show signs of being stressed.

I'm also not sure if Plex will direct stream at full quality across the WAN if the bandwidth shows as an issue. Locally, you shouldn't have an issue with it.

camarojohn said:
Are you running this on your Shield? I currently only have an Amazon Fire Stick and I'm afraid it won't be powerful enough to run Plex, much less with the DVR function.

Looking at the Roku Premiere+, not sure I need the power of the Shield.
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From my understanding, the Firestick is only capable of being a client. Also, the Firestick does not have a slot for a cable card therefore, it can not perform the DVR function.
 
I'm running Plex Media Server on a small i3 desktop with a 500GB HD strictly for DVR stuff, but have it pointed to my NAS for the rest of my movies and TV series. I just use my Shields as TV/game streaming/emulation boxes. For the client side, assuming Plex DVR becomes full featured in the future, you could use Raspberry Pi 3s with RasPlex and let the Plex Media Server do all of the heavy lifting. Plex Media Server doesn't require beefy hardware unless you're transcoding, then you will want something like an i3 or better. If you're direct streaming without any transcoding, even a NAS with a low powered embedded CPU would work fine.

EDIT: If you're looking for a good system to run Plex Media Server that will handle a lot of transcoding, Dell has a sale right now on their T20 server, comes with a Xeon 1225v3 quad core, 4GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive for $250. That's a pretty smoking deal considering that CPU alone retails for nearly the cost of the whole setup.
 
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Sorry, I'm currently running a Synology DS215J and the Fire Stick as the client.

So based on your last statement I should be okay with my current NAS as long as I'm not transcoding? I guess the best thing to do is try.
 
camarojohn said:
Sorry, I'm currently running a Synology DS215J and the Fire Stick as the client.

So based on your last statement I should be okay with my current NAS as long as I'm not transcoding? I guess the best thing to do is try.
Click to expand...

You should be fine. Plex Media Server is available for Synology NAS units.
 
why not run Plex on your NAS? just curious why you chose the route of a small laptop. I have the Plex plugin on my FreeNAS, is that not a preferred way to do it?
 
I was running it on my NAS until just a few days ago, but I wanted the extra power of the i3 for transcoding since TV is broadcast in mpeg2 and takes up a lot of space. Transcoding to h264 preserves most of the quality but reduces the file size considerably. My NAS has an embedded Celeron 1037u that's roughly 1/6th the power of the i3.
 
Im still running my FreeNAS with the Plex plugin on a Core2Duo but im thinking of switching over to an i5 Optiplex that I just got from work.

I almost purchased one of those HD Homerun boxes and an antenna just to see how well it works as a tv tuner. Maybe Ill get one and try out the whole Plex DVR thing.
 
The HDHomerun Prime is the only one that works with HD cable TV, the other ones will do QAM256 SD cable and OTA HDTV.
 
Another satisfied "customer". Under my advice, my friend asked his folks and girlfriend for a pair of Mi Box Android TVs and a HDHomerun Prime for Christmas. He's not a techie by any means and uses primarily Apple products, but I told him I'd get him up and running when he first inquired about my setup. He spent much of the day trying to get it going himself and was having a very hard time, so I told him I'd shoot over after dinner and get all going.

Yesterday morning, he took his cable boxes back to Comcast in exchange for a CableCARD and shaved a decent amount off of his bill. Comcast doesn't charge for a single CableCARD, but they do charge $2.50 per month for each additional if you need multiples. I loaded up the HDHomerun, CableCARD recognized, and plugged in the info from the CableCARD menu into his Comcast account, scanned for channels, and jackpot. Now he has a full EPG and gets many channels he didn't previously plus a decent amount of HD channels. I showed his girlfriend how to use it and she was able to pick it up quickly, something unusual when it comes to this kind of thing. She complained at first about not having On Demand, but I showed her how to install apps for the various channels so she can catch up on her favorites.

Next, he wanted me to make his old Mac Mini a Plex Media Server. It's nothing extravagant, just a 2012 model with a 6TB USB hard drive that contains a number of TV series and movies he has downloaded over the years. I loaded up Plex plus the DVR beta, pointed Plex to the shares, and now they have DVR functionality to record their favorite TV shows. Now he can stream his downloads to the TVs in his home instead of being chained to a computer, plus that added DVR functionality. The whole process took me about an hour, that's NASCAR pit crew speed when it comes to this stuff, but they love their new setup, and she loves saving money.
 
Curious what the pro/con is versus something like Tivo Bolt/OTA which has had a GA product for years & is mature. I just did a cursory glace at the Plex DVR site and didn't see any major differences. I like and use PMS myself for streaming locally stored media, but I don't see the need/market for this DVR thingy. Sure, Tivo is a little more money, but for $200+ I have a single hardware platform that can DVR live TV, has a great TV guide, runs Plex client, runs Amazon Video, Hulu, Netflix, and ton of other apps, etc. Once you factor in the HDHR hardware cost + Plex DVR cost, not sure there's a huge cost difference. My only disappointment with Tivo is no support for SlingTV or Vue.

What am I missing?
 
I've never used Tivo so I can't comment on it's functionality. DVR beta is limited to Plex Pass at this time, but will be included in the free subscription once it's out of beta. It's still pretty beta as it goes since it doesn't support watching/recording simultaneously from the same tuner like MythTV or HDHomerun DVR. Luckily, the Prime has 3 tuners so other shows can still be tuned in while one tuner is recording. They are trying to implement a standard EPG like found on other DVRs but their roadblock is licensing since somebody has a patent on the grid layout that's common to DVR products. Eventually, Plex DVR will be full featured and capable of live TV and commercial detection/deletion in a similar manner as MythTV.
 
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