I just bought a 2 tuner unit model SPVR2-01-NA. Based on the instructions I thought the way this would work with accessing with multiple devices would be the following. For “device” I’ve tried PC, ROKU, iPhone - they all basically do the same thing with channel priority. Say that I did the following in order:
Access Tablo with device 1 and tune to watch channel A
Access Tablo with device 2 and tune to watch channel B.
I would expect this to work and that device 1 would stay on channel A and device 2 would watch channel B. But what happens for me at this point is that device 1 gets kicked off channel A when I start watching channel B on device 2.
Is this normal? I thought with the 2 tuner Tablo I could do this?
I recently found out from @TabloSupport that in the following scenario, 2 tuners will be allocated for one 720p channel:
2 tuners are available. If only 1 tuner is available, only 1 tuner will be used for the 720p channel
Tablo Max Recording Quality set to HD 1080 - 10Mbps, 720@60fps
The channel being recorded is broadcast at 720p
They promissed to update the Tablo documentation to clearly state the above tuner allocation rules.
In my case, I was recording a 720p channel, and 2 of my 4 tuners were allocated for that process, leaving me with 2 left.
I just verified it follows the same rules when viewing Live TV.
There are 2 workarounds:
Set your Max Recording Quality to something other than HD 1080 - 10Mbps, 720@60fps.
Meh thinks, after you read the second workaround, you’ll wanna do option #1, like I did.
If 1 of your channels to view is 720p:
2a. Start viewing a non-720p channel before you start viewing the 720p channel.
That will allocate 1 tuner to the non-720p channel, and the other will be available for both 720p and non-720p channels.
If both of your channles to view are 720p:
2b. Start viewing a non-720p channel (yeah, I know you don’t want to watch what’s on that channel).
If all of the channels in your channel list are 720p, then you’re out of luck with option #2, and must use option #1.
That will allocation 1 tuner to the non-720p channel, and the other will be available for one of the 720p channels you do want to watch.
Next, start viewing one of the 720p channels you do want to watch.
Now you have 1 tuner allocated to the non-720p channel you don’t want to watch, and 1 tuner allocated to one of the 720p channels you do want to watch.
Next, start viewing the second 720p channel you do want to watch.
The first channel tuned in was the non-720p channel you don’t want to watch anyway, and since the Tablo releases tuners in the order they were allocated, that’s the tuner that will be released, and used for your second 720p channel.
I just ran a test. I have multiple 720p stations, and I have the 10 Mpbs, 720@60fps setting. On one device, I tuned to one 720p channel, and then used another device to tune to another 720p station.
I just have a two tuner Tablo, and I am watching both stations with no problems. I don’t see how a 720p channel would use multiple tuners.
I noticed fewer tuners available, reported it to Support, and they confirmed it works the way I described.
Weird.
Were any other channels active before you tuned into the first 720p channel?
Cuz, if there was, the first 720p channel would only use 1 tuner, and allow the second 720p channel to use the other tuner.
Maybe it doesn’t work that way on a dual tuner model.
It definitely works that way on my quad.
Could also be the firmware version.
Mine’s v2.2.11 Beta 4
I didn’t notice it in v2.2.10, and below, but I wasn’t looking for it, either.
Here’s a quote from a Support PM to me:
For now, think of it this way. 720p channel = 60FPS bitrate requires 2
tuners. If this is the last available tuner, you won’t get 60 FPS, and
instead it will transcode to 30FPS. This falls in line with the tests
you ran above.