Android app and casting from Android app

Tablo Apps Android App
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New to Tablo. After reading a lot of reviews, much which were very positive, my first couple hours with Tablo have been kinda disappointing.

I dont understand how Tablo handles its buffer. Jumping between channels on the app causes the app to jump hours back in its buffer with little to no feedback to let the user know, that you’re not watching “Live TV”. There should be XX:XX/XX:XX to indicate your 12:34 into a buffer that is 56:78 long. Similar to the Chrome web player.

Thankfully, moving the scrub bar to the far right catches up.

My real problem is with Chromecasting from the app. It jumps back in the buffer, and moving the scrub bar does not work for me. It doesn’t seem to get past a couple seconds, whether I use the 30 skip button or the scrub bar.

Whats with the “Enable fast Live Tv”? Ive toggled the option a couple times and there doesn’t seem to change much of anything.

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  1. Have you tried playback on any other front ends? Roku, Fire TV, smartphone, tablet? No casting, just direct playback on those devices. Does the Tablo play fine?

  2. Is your Tablo hard wired to your router?

  3. What is your recording quality set to? The WiFi antenna in the Chromecast is not the best, it’s tiny and it only supports 2.4 GHz so many people have had issues streaming higher bitrates of 1080p to it. It does not matter if you have an amazing router, the front end device itself it the limitation. That is why Tablo created the “720p Roku / Chromecast” recording quality.

Read this entire thread:
https://community.tablotv.com/t/chromecast-lagging-and-stopping

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  1. I have tried playback on my Oneplus One, my Nexus 7 (2013) tablet and through chrome. Playback on these frontends is just fine.

  2. Yes, it is hardwired to the router.

  3. The recording quality is set to 1080p, however all the problems I am having are not related to recorded content, just live TV.
    I tested using the Tablo web interface through Chrome watching live TV, then casted it to my TV. I was able to jump around the buffer as expected with no problems. Move the scrub bar to the beginning of the buffer,then jump to the end of the buffer, current live TV.

I can not get the same experience when I cast from my phone or tablet.

I well test out using 720p to see if that improves performance.

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So casting recorded shows to your a Chromecast plays back just fine? No buffering for recorded shows?

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I have not recorded any content yet. All problems I have mentioned in my post are with Live TV.

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How about you record something and try playback via Chromecast and let us know how it goes.

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My advice is to get a nexus player and sell the Chromecast. That’s what I did and I have been very happy with the results. It has way better hardware than the Chromecast. The nexus player is reasonably priced ($70 at the moment if you’re in the US). The native Tablo app for it works perfectly for me. You can also cast with it. The Netflix app for it is also very slick if you use that

8

I would agree. Works quite good with the Nexus Player and the latest Tablo firmware. I’ve removed my Chromecast.

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So I tested my tablo again last night. Playing Live TV on my phone or tablet works as expected. I can pause jump back in forth within the buffer, change channels, then move within the buffer after changing the channel.

The problem begins when I cast it. I can be 15 minutes into a show on my phone/tablet, once I cast it, it starts over again at the beginning of the buffer. I try to skip forward using the controls on my phone/tablet and it doesn’t work. I try using the scrub bar, that also doesn’t work.

Does this work with the nexus player?

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On the Nexus Player - you don’t need to cast. Instead you run the Tablo app.

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I’ll try out casting on the Nexus player and let you know how well it works. I’ve only tried it once since I got it because the native app works so well but if you’d like to know I’ll try it

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Tried casting live TV and recordings with the nexus player and it worked great. No buffering or stopping

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@MarcCharette

  1. What device are you casting from?
  2. Is your Nexus Player hard wired or WiFi? (Yes I technically know it’s a WiFi only device)
  3. If WiFi, are you using the 2.4 GHz band or 5 GHz band? 5 GHz band is generally faster than the 2.4 GHz band.
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  1. LG nexus 4
  2. WiFi (about 4 feet from router). Tablo is wired
  3. Currently on 2.4 GHz. Have also tried it on 5ghz and it works equally well
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@MarcCharette

Lol yes, 4’ from router and you could be using Wireless B circa 1999.

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Hehe indeed. The one downside of higher frequencies is that it is harder to get through walls and floors so isn’t always faster if it is far from the router but if someone is in an area with a whole bunch of 2.4 GHz traffic then 5ghz will definitely be faster

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