Fire TV skip ahead ends up in pause

Support & Troubleshooting
1

When using the 4th Gen with Fire TV Cube, when I jump ahead or back with the arrow keys it ends up in pause mode and I have to press play to continue.

Makes it unusable to quick jump through parts of a program.

Can others confirm this? I’ve found several other reports with Fire TV Cube and Stick. How about other hardware, such as Roku?

When submitted to tech support, the AI quickly replied, acknowledged what I’d written, confirmed it shouldn’t work that way and suggested the normal restart/update/etc. “fixes.” When told those didn’t help, it said it would need to escalate.

A day or so later I got a (supposedly) human reply, suggesting similar things, I replied and a few days later another message from support made it clear they hadn’t read any of my previous messages and again made the normal, worthless suggestions. I asked them to confirm that it worked like that on other Fire TVs. No response. I sent copies of the similar postings I’d found. No response. I’ve been ghosted for over a week now.

I bought this on a good sale, figuring it was going to go up with the tariffs, and in fact the next day it did. I wanted it as a replacement for my Fire TV Recast. But the Recast is working well again and I need to return the Tablo soon if I’m not going to keep it.

My guess is the Fire TV app is the problem. (Can’t get past the “finding location” screen when trying to install on my Fire HD 10 tablet–and no response about that from support.) So probably not worth the bother to get a replacement Tablo box.

Even with Recast working well, since it’s been discontinued, I’d keep the Tablo if I knew they were going to fix the jump → pause problem, but I’m disappointed the support is so horrible.

(At first I was annoyed at initially getting an AI, but it was far superior to the supposed humans!)

Thanks

2

Hello, and welcome to the community. I can confirm that the FF/Rew on our Fire Stick 4k Max works the same as you describe. Although we’d prefer the old Roku-style FF/Rew where only one button press is needed to FF or Rew and another to resume, my wife is okay with the current functionality.

3

I got this from Tablo support in response to my last message to them on 4/19. Perhaps they saw my posting here? In any case, it’s nice to hear back. We’ll see what they come up with. --tfm

> Tablo Support - Steve (Tablo)
*> *
> Apr 26, 2025, 2:17 PM EDT
*> *
> Hi there,
*> *
> Thank you for helping us with the necessary details. Our team is working hard to resolve the issue. We appreciate your patience. We would like to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
*> *
> Thanks,
> Steve
> Tablo Support
> Monday-Sunday 8:30 AM - 2:30 AM ET
> www.tablotv.com/support

4

I just noticed they changed the very top header on the reply they made. So maybe not so good to hear from them if they’re actually closing the ticket.

##- Please type your reply above this line -##

> Your request (347878) has been solved. To reopen this request, reply to this email.

Tablo Support - Steve (Tablo)

Apr 26, 2025, 2:17 PM EDT

Hi there,

Thank you for helping us with the necessary details. Our team is working hard to resolve the issue. We appreciate your patience. We would like to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Steve
Tablo Support
Monday-Sunday 8:30 AM - 2:30 AM ET
www.tablotv.com/support

5

The only buttons I use with my fire stick is the Dpad & return. The entire UI is controlable w just those buttons. Can’t say I’ve ever used the other buttons ever.

6

I think what I call the arrow keys are along the outside of what you call the Dpad.

Something I like about the Tablo is the right and left arrow keys on the Dpad jump 10 seconds, the << and >> buttons below jump 20 seconds. With Recast both jump 30 seconds forward, 10 seconds back.

When you fast forward or rewind, does it stop in pause and you have to press play (center button on Dpad, I think.) Thanks!

I replied to the message they sent me saying my problem was solved to reactivate it, as instructed. They sent me back an identical message, saying it was solved. Sigh.

7

Two problems. Fire TV and 4th gen. Tablo. Legacy Tablo program is better. Roku TV is better.

8

My final interaction with Tablo support:

(In reply to message below)

If you’d read my messages you’d know there’s nothing to take a picture of.

EVER TIME you fast forward or rewind using a Fire TV device, it enters PAUSE and you have to hit PLAY. Your AI said that isn’t right and users on your forum report that isn’t the case with Roku but is for both Fire TV Cube and Stick.

But I assume you know this and are just trying to annoy me enough by your very slow responses (twice almost a week), not acknowledging the problem or what I have written and more than once sending me a note with 'Problem solved" in fine print at the top.

Well, it worked. I’m at my return deadline and UPS just picked it up for return and refund from Amazon.

I’ll be posting 1 star reviews, noting that I’d give the actual hardware 4 stars and the app 3 stars, and would have kept it if the FF/Pause problem with Fire TV was acknowledged and that it would be fixed, and if support had been at all responsive.

Tom
Alaska

------ Original Message ------

From “Tablo” <support@tablotv.zendesk.com>

To "Tom
Date 5/8/2025 7:58:29 AM

Subject [Tablo] Re: Re: [Tablo] I guess I’ll have to return it

##- Please type your reply above this line -##

Your request (354321) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.

Tablo Support - Steve (Tablo)

May 8, 2025, 11:58 AM EDT

Hi there,

To help ensure the accuracy of any potential diagnostics, would you be so kind as to take a video of the matter the next time it occurs.

This can be taken from your cell phones camera. Here are ways you can send the video to us:

  • Attach the file as an attachment as a reply to this email.
  • Upload it to a popular cloud service such as Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox and use the sharing feature to share the video with us. You can find instructions on doing so for Android phones/tablets at the link below:

Instructions for iPhone/iPad are located here: Share long videos on iPhone - Apple Support (CA)

We look forward to your reply!

Thanks,
Steve
Tablo Support
Monday-Sunday 8:30 AM - 2:30 AM ET
www.tablotv.com/support

9

We’re sorry for the confusion and delays.

After looking at this more closely with our product team, the behavior you’ve described is expected functionality.

That being said, we have passed along your feedback to them.

10

I sent this in reply to a final message from a 3rd Tablo tech support human:

It shouldn’t be the way you want it to operate. It should operate like other Fire TV apps do.

With Recast, a quick press of the arrow (outside of ring) or fast wind (<< >>) keys quickly jumps 30 seconds forward (or 10 seconds back) and then immediately goes back into play.

So to skip a commercial I can press forward four times to quickly jump ahead two minutes and immediately go into play. Press again if more time is needed, or back if I overshot.

With your design you have to try to watch for the commercials to end, then press play.

Other Fire TV apps work similarly, although most have 10 second jumps both directions.

And if you press and hold a fast wind key it goes into continuous wind, with thumbnails, starting with low speed. You can press the key once or twice more to increase speed.

If you insist on keeping your current functionality, you could leave it on the arrow buttons and make the << >> buttons work like other Fire TV apps.

But for me, and I assume others, your current awkward functionality makes Tablo unacceptable. Had I been told that a month ago it would have saved me a lot of hassle. I like being able to watch a show, press keys to quickly jump forwards (to skip stuff) or back (if I missed something), and have it drop back into play automatically.

But your terrible tech support is also unacceptable. If you read through the series of messages you can see that your two support technicians either weren’t reading my messages, not understanding them, or were purposely just ignoring what I wrote.

Perhaps they need to do like your AI does: Be required to echo back what is written to them so it’s clear they understand.

Thanks.

Tom

11

Thanks for sharing your detailed experience it is incredibly helpful, especially for those of us considering the same setup i can confirm I have run into similar behavior when using the 4th Gen Tablo with a Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Jumping forward or backward using the remote’s arrow keys does often result in the stream pausing instead of resuming playback automatically. It’s frustrating and definitely breaks the flow when trying to skip through commercials or rewatch a scene.

I agree it doesn’t feel like a hardware issue with the Tablo box itself, but more like a bug or incompatibility in the Fire TV app I have also seen posts mentioning similar quirks across different Fire TV devices, which makes your theory about the app likely.

It is unfortunate to hear how poor the support experience has been especially when the AI seemed more attentive than the human responses. That doesn’t inspire much confidence in long-term product support, and you are right to weigh that heavily if you’re deciding whether to return it or keep it.

Hopefully, Tablo acknowledges this more publicly and issues an update. For now, the Recast despite being discontinued might still be the more stable option. Thanks again for taking the time to share it is really useful context for others dealing with or researching the same issue.

1 Like