So y’all may recall I had a post some time back about my Archer C7 mysteriously rebooting itself. It never really went away, but again is getting far more frequent. Trying to watch a recorded football game (Sunday night game) it rebooted about 15 times. Yeah, glutton for punishment here. Each time after it came back up and I re-started the game, I would FF to about where I was when it crashed, since the un-graceful take-down does not allow Tablo to mark the spot.
So wondering and wondering… for grins, I started watching live TV on the same channel to see if it is something that channel is going to cause, but been watching for over an hour and no router bounces.
Is watching ‘live’ and ‘recorded’ content from the same channel an apples-to-apples comparison? Or is there something different about the recorded stream (at least as it goes through the router) that might cause it to behave differently and over-drive the router?
Tablo is wired to the C7, but then using a Nexus Player wireless from router to TV.
I’m about ready to toss the C7, but apart from watching recorded TV, it does everything else all day and all night like a champ.
Since the Tablo immediately transcodes the data, there is no difference between recorded tv and live tv. (unless you count adding the thumbnails after the recording is over).
Is it really the router rebooting, or the Tablo?
If it’s the router, then it’s broken.
I believe the Archer C7 is actually a good model, and you probably just got a bad unit.
Double check to make sure you’re using the correct power adapter for your router.
If you move electronics around, like I do, you’ll inevitably try to connect the wrong power cord to the wrong device, thus causing phantom behaviour.
Translation: it won’t work right, if you don’t use the right power cord.
The following setup will use 2 tuners for Live TV, and recording:
Tablo Max Recording Quality setting = HD 1080 - 10Mbps, 720@60fps
Channel is broadcast at 720p.
2 tuners are available.
Let’s say you have a Tablo Dual, which has 2 tuners.
Your Tablo settings are like the above mentioned.
Nothing is currently recording on the Tablo.
Noone else is watching anything on the Tablo.
It’s just you.
Currently 2 tuners are available.
You watch a Live TV channel being broadcast at 720p.
Both of your 2 tuners will be allocated to process the Live TV stream.
Now let’s say you have the same setup, but only 1 of your tuners is available, because a non-720p broadcast channel is currently being recorded.
You watch a Live TV channel being broadcast at 720p.
Only 1 of your tuners will be used, because there is only 1 available.
Maybe 2 tuners processing 1 channel is more stressful on the Tablo than 2 tuners each processing a different channel?
Another issue is the difference between watching a recording, and Live TV.
A lot more is going on during Live TV processing, because it’s actually recording, and playing back at the same time.
Watching a recording only involves playback.
Yes, really sure it’s the router rebooting because every device in the house loses internet at the same time
Curiously, it seems to be more stable when the Nexus is on the 2.4 GHz network instead of the 5 GHz. Although I thought there were issues with playback of 1080 broadcasts on the 2.4 and one needed the 5 GHz for reliable / consistent playback. Not seeing that as an issue at the moment, although no VoIP phone calls or other ‘heavy’ usage is taking place.
Hmmm…
I did fire up a trouble ticket with TP-Link back when I was having issues before, but they wanted me to reset to factory defaults, which would not work since I am using the PPoE setting to drive my DSL modem. The modem is an ‘all-in-one’ provided by Frontier, but their firewall and routing are not up to snuff. Shoot - there isn’t even a way to turn off the wireless in the modem!
I could go router-behind-router, but then remote Tablo viewing becomes a near impossibility, if Tablo is connected to the TP-Link.
So getting wrapped around the axle in order to have my Tablo on the router that can deliver wirelessly to TV’s on the 5 GHz side.
Hesitant to go with dd-wrt because of the lack of clarity and apparent high risk of bricking the router. I did notice in looking last night there is a new 2016 firmware out from TP-Link, but it has a colorful warning on it -
The US firmware was specialized for FCC certification and can’t be downgraded to other version, please click here for choosing your region and selecting the most suitable firmware version to upgrade.
I think this means they have removed their boot loader from this image, and as such, previous firmwares that had that boot loader included cannot be re-flashed onto the drive This seems to fit with some of the concerns on dd-wrt, but as they do not yet have a version that can be flashed over the TP-Link 2016 version, I am a bit hesitant, since I don’t have any other routers handy to toss in.
The other reason I don’t just jump on dd-wrt is they recommend upgrading for an April 2015 firmware only. I am on an October 2015 firmware, so would have to downgrade to even stand a chance, and the version dd-wrt recommends I start from is not available on TP-Link’s US download site, so just a little hesitant to flash that onto my US router…
Think I will do some more research on that before I consider pulling that trigger.
And thanks, but assigning static IP’s to everything is not going to happen. Many devices don’t have an interface where I could do that (Echo, Acurite temperature bridge, etc.) and many I don’t want to mess with (cell phones, tablets, tv’s, Nexus players, etc.)
For what it’s worth, on the TP forums, it seems there are quite a few folks with my situation. Glad to know it’s not just me…
Thanks all… Now to flip a coin - do the TP-Link 2016 firmware, or try my luck with dd-wrt…
I keep a Linksys E1200 router for testing. I know it isn’t as fast as the Archer, but it works in a pinch–especially for testing stuff. They are available used or refurbished from Amazon for less than $10.
