Difference between network issue and signal issue

Support & Troubleshooting
1

Can someone please explain the difference in what kind of symptoms I should see with Tablo for network issues versus antenna signal issues? Sometimes I see “weak signal” when trying to load a channel, sometimes I see pixilation in the channel and image/sound hiccups, etc.

Before I buy a new router (putting my modem in bridge mode) or troubleshooting the antenna in the attic, I want to learn more of what is most likely causing the problem.

Setup is the following:

  • Tablo 4 tuner is hardwired to my ISP modem/router
  • Appletv is hardwired.
  • Roku stick is wireless.
  • Antenna is in the attic running directly to in line amplifier then directly to Tablo.

Thanks for the help!

2

At least with the problems I’ve encountered recently, it seems both weak signal and pixelation tied back to antenna/reception signal issues.

I’m not entirely convinced something related to signal sensitivity didn’t change with the 2.2.18 firmware but the primary issue I was having manifested as visible pixelation, to the point that apparently reception issues resulted in the Tablo rebooting, resulting in several multi-fragment recordings as a result of multiple reboots.

The logs apparently referenced reception/signal issues as the case of the reboots. As a result I upgraded from a Mohu Leaf 50 indoor antenna to a Mohu Air 60 attic/outdoor antenna that I installed in our attic about 2 weeks ago. Thus far, I’ve encountered no issues with pixelation or reboots during recordings.

So my anecdotal information seems to indicate a recent increased sensitivity to reception/signal issues so you may want to start there.

3

Now that you say it, I didn’t really have any issues before the 2.2.18 update? Now, I can scan for channels, and every 10 minutes I’ll get different colors (on a sunny day, no wind, nothing changing). Before, it would consistently get the same channel and signal color results. I’ll test tonight with just the antenna going directly into the TV - bypassing tablo and see how it looks.

4

Crash course on this as follows:

Pixelation, weak signal errors, failed recordings = Usually the result of a OTA signal problem. We have a number of suggestions for these issues here.

Note: We haven’t changed anything in the ‘tuner sensitivity’ department in any release.

Buffering (pauses during playback) = Usually the result of a network problem.
We have a fixes for this too, here.

5

Thanks for the confirmation no firmware releases had anything changed related to this @TabloSupport. That tells me that with my issues, it had to be coincidental that the problems started after the 2.2.18 firmware update and have to be a result of signal issues that may be complicated by weather, etc.

1 Like
6

While this may be true, I noticed that a channel rescan can help with broadcast signal reception, because broadcast stations sometimes change their meta data that the tuner uses, correct?

7

Very true.

One of the reasons why quarterly (or more often) rescans are helpful.

8