2 Weeks In and VERY Disapointed

I’m recording at 720 & 1080. I didn’t even turn on any lower ones in the guide. I got a 2 TB drive just for the Tablo & here I am moving stuff off it instantly…

I really hope this is fixed. It’s clearly the Tablo that’s having the problem. I can throw other 1080p 35gb excessive bitrate 2hr shows at the chromecast & it doesn’t skip a beat. Tablo casts a 720p vid & it chokes. Something isn’t right here.

On a side note, at least it records beautifully. Hasn’t skipped a show yet.

@Spunky03

I do like that script better than the app I was using, Tablo Ripper. :slightly_smiling: Started messing with it today. Good suggestion!

riffy, glad I could help. As you can tell by my thread I was at wits end here trying to get mine to work and I very much agree with your thoughts that it’s something on the Tablo end. This is why I went back to basics and took as much out of the mix as I could. Firm believer in the KISS principle around here and with Tablo acting as a DVR only and having it just worry about recording it is doing very, VERY well! It’s like a whole new animal once I gave up on trying to have it stream content. Now I just sit back and enjoy.

Check out the SurLaTablo thread I mentioned. I posted a wrapper script that I run via cron on my FreeNAS box that pulls all new shows from Tablo at 5 & 35 mins after every hour. Then it calls my Plex server API using a wget to trigger a library refresh. Wife gets her content in Plex within mins after it airs.

I have it set up to run in the crontab every 5 mins. See what happens when 2 happen at once. hehe

I do agree this little thing works really really well but the no casting thing is killing me! I try to keep everything inside Plex but… YouTube, Curiosity Stream, Haystack, etc… I’ve changed from running Kodi years ago to just casting everything from my phone.

@riffy
Tablo mentioned an upcoming KODI plugin so we might want to try KODI again.

Chas

@cthompgh I’m never going back to Kodi!!! To much upkeep! Casting is a much better solution not to mention more flexible. Most all apps support it now too.

I wish they’d do an official Plex plugin! The 3rd party one can’t cast to chromecast. I think it can’t cast for the same reason Tablo’s own app can’t cast tho so… maybe they should just stick to trying to get their own software to work right first.

BTW @Spunky03 , every 5 mins… was bad. :slight_smile: so… */6 & */36 it is.

I will cast a second vote for this amplifier/splitter. We have used this unit for over a year to feed five TV’s and the Tablo. It has never caused us a bit of trouble . . .

Sorry, I didn’t mean every 5 mins.

I run it at 5 mins after the hour and 35 mins after the hour. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

Basically:
5,35 * * * * /path/to/my/script

Yeah I know… I was being lazy.

I’m going to use a script to run it every 3 mins after I figure out how to name my shows. Thinking of reusing a script I have. Something like this:

"#!/bin/bash

trap “rm -f /pool/Stuff/Sync/Tablo.lock” SIGINT SIGTERM

if [ -e /pool/Stuff/Sync/Tablo.lock ]
then
echo “TabloSync is running already.”
exit 1
else
touch /pool/Stuff/Sync/Tablo.lock
/pool/Stuff/Sync/Tablo.py -q “.” c -z
rm -f /pool/Stuff/Sync/Tablo.lock
exit 0

fi

Hi @Spunky03 and @riffy,

I set my Tablo to 720 at 5Mbs and recorded from 1080 broadcast out of curiosity. My result was that the recording ran 56mins and 28 sec without an issue. Controls worked to FF past commercials. At 56:28 it stopped. The minute I brought my Nexus 7 out of sleep mode everything resumed. Ran to 1 hour 12 mins and 06 seconds and stopped again. This time I had to exit and reenter the Tablo app. The remaining 30 minutes of the show ran fine.

I agree that the tablo chomecast feature is not up to the state of the chromecast art. However, it is interesting that your system can’t make it past a couple minutes if I understood your post correctly. I am curious about your configuration and what about our components affects the severity of the issue. @TabloSupport I would really love hear the configuration of your test system where you are not having any errors.

Mine again:
Tablo 4 tuner (wired to router)
Netgear R7000 router
verrsion 1 and 2 chromecasts. (currently wired, but I have used equally successfully wifi.)
record at 720 @5Mbs (for testing).
USB3.0 HDD with its own power supply.
Nexus 7 tablets (2012 & 2013) versions with android 4.4 and 5

@js98 OMG! Someone who isn’t telling me to just live with it or buy new equipment? :-o My new BFF! ROFL

Here’s what I’m running with:
2 Tuner wired
Asus RT-N16 router
All chromecasts are ver 2 & wired
WD My Passport Ultra portable 2TB USB 3
S7 Edge on T-Mobile (with the added bonus green screen bug)
65" 1080p TV (noticeable diff between 1080p recordings & 720p)

I have it set to 1080p 8Mbps again for recording. I’ve tried down to 720p 3 Mbps tho with the same results just plays for longer but oddly freezes more often for shorter times. Still ends up freezing at some point & never recovers.

Ah ha!
Keep the Chromecasts, but get a smaller TV!
Just jelli, cuz mine is much smaller. :frowning:

@Radojevic hehe

Yeah, I can see why you need all those pixels. I am jealous too. Just don’t tell me it’s a 4K.

4k! lol That’d be over kill I think. I’m getting old… my eyes aren’t going to be getting better. LOL I do have a 4k monitor & after a little distance… I can’t really tell it’s 4k. Close up I can but I don’t put it that close to me.

The funny thing is, it’s really to big for my living room but I love that I can see it so well from my kitchen. It also didn’t seem that big before it got in the house. :slight_smile:

Just thinking about the list of items.

  • Chromecasts - Low probabability. Both wired. Automatic firmware updates so probably both on same rev. Few configuration options.
  • Tablo 2 tuner vs 4 tuner. Mine is rev 2.2.8. Enable fast live TV startup and Leanback mode are both off.
  • Passport ultra vs seagate self powered. I went to self powered drive because my Toshiba Convio kept getting disconnected. I have had far fewer HD not connected failures on Tablo. Different issue, just an observation.
  • S7 Edge vs Nexus 7. S7 has had a couple trouble reports on the tablo forum. The flashing as you note. And a problem detecting the chromecast where the cast icon did not appear. Does Tablo webapp on a PC with chromebrowser with chromecast plugin work better in your environment? Might help point to S7 or not.
  • ASUS RT-N16 router vs Netgear r7000. So what could go wrong here - everything wired. Well, just had an issue on the Tablo forum about recent R7000 firmware release causing Tablo to lock up. I tried the recommended solution of downgrading and my Tablo lockup problem diminished, if not disappeared. The router’s wired interface is simple enough but there are a lot of protocols at work in the router. A quick search on ASUS routers and chromecast brought up an exchange of UPnP and IGMP snooping protocols affecting chromecast behavior. Perhaps some setting in this area affecting either the chromecast or Tablo. But I think chromecast was working for you otherwise?

I have seen some comments from some pretty savvy network guys on this forum hopefully one of them can chime in.

That is what I could think of over a coffee break. Will try to look at my router settings when I can get a chance.

Chrome browser has identical issues. Well minus the green screen fun. :-p

I got a hold of the support group & emailing them now. See if maybe I can help some how to find a fix.

Today I removed the hard drives & rebooted the Tablo (support suggested it) & it cast with out a single problem even at 8Mbps. Went back to how I had it set up & watched a whole 30 min show cast no problem! Started to watch Good Morning America from this morning… 4:36ish Freeze! Reboot Tablo & try again… almost the same exact spot it freezes & even crashes chromecast. Chromecast rebooted & I couldn’t get chrome to play it not cast either after it froze till I got about to 12 mins in & it runs fine again. Start casting that & it works again. So… maybe it’s something about segments in the recorded files that causing a problem? Really odd it crashed chromecast. :-o

Now to put that in an email. hehe

You know, until I have had my first cup of coffee those morning news shows are tough on me too. I will be interested to hear the resolution of your problem. It will be an education.

It’s at least a step in the right direction. I have watched a whole show for the first time cast from Tablo. hehe