This CBS issue is really screwing me over. As a brand new Tablo owner trying to convince the ‘Boss’ that we can use this device for all our local TV needs and having it freak out and reboot all the time…well needless to say I’m loosing the battle. The other bad part is I had no idea at all the cause up until today.
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It normally is pretty reliable. We have had it for a few years now. This is a ‘fluke’.
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Yeah, the timing of this is very bad. Like it’s intentional to stop DVR’s, as antennas hooked directly to a TV are fine.
Anyway, I wouldn’t give up yet as it appears it is only CBS 5 that’s doing this. Give it a few days and then see. Once (if??) it’s fixed, then you can do a trial sub to CBS All Access to catch the shows you missed.
As far as the ‘freak out and reboot’, I believe this is also a result of CBS as I never had those issues until this latest ‘glitch’. So it may very well clear up as well.
The problem with switching back is the cost, it’s nuts imho. And if you go with a streaming service, they have their own issues. Welcome to the era of big business screwing the little guy (oh wait, that never went away).
I saw the reply. I also saw that they would try to figure out what wrong switch was flipped. To me, that sounds like something done in error vs. something intentional (which I still think is a possibility). I was suggesting a direct contact to them might result in some answers quicker (provided CBS will even say). Just thought it was worth a shot. I guess you didn’t understand that.
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We wanted to have our experts check the video pulled from a customer’s unit so we had a sense of what to inquire about before we approach the broadcaster.
We have observed that the video being sent is in an unusual format which is causing the errors you’re seeing.
We’ll be reaching out to the broadcaster as well as sending an email to Tablo customers in the Phoenix area shortly.
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If CBS figures out they can block DVR’s that auto commercial skip while impacting nobody else, well let’s just say a call to them explaining the problem would not be wise.
I have a bad feeling about this. I don’t think CBS is going to change their format for Tablo. Tablo will have to change their decoding. What if other stations change their format?
Can you direct us to the phone number that we should be calling to express our views?
It can’t be too hard to contact them since the contact information is at the bottom of the station WEB page.
The other bad part is that Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the US, so this impacts lots of potential customers. Yes I do believe Tablo will need to figure out a work around.
Edit: Ohh and I’m half tempted to see if I can get the Tucson CBS channel.
When my Quad tried to record BigBrother, it created a ton of 1 minute unwatachable files. When I tune to CBS live, I only get the first 9 seconds or so, until it runs out of buffer. Obviously it can’t save anything to the hard drive and crashes. I had to watch CBS on YouTube.tv, which also has Phoenix locals. Quality sucks compared to DVR’d off-air, but at least I could go back in time and watch the shows I missed.
Phone: 602-207-3333
Email: phxnewsdesk@azfamily.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/azfamily
Please be nice when you touch base with them! I’m sure this was just an oversight on their part.
I have the same issue related to CBS 5, when the show starts the Tablo reboots about a minute later and then records a minute, reboots, etc. This appears to all be related to the CBS 5 issue. I would love it if the thing wouldn’t reboot, it should just give up and not trash everything else that’s recording just fine.
What should we ask for / tell them?
Sometimes you can google fcc kpho and read the various documents. It usually contains the name and address of the company that owns the station as well as the name and contact info for the engineer that last filed the application.
I’m sure he would love to hear from you.
Unless your in the industry I wouldn’t suggest really contacting them. You would need to speak with someone who understands the situation and most of those people don’t want to speak with the general public. Everyone else is just going to go Ummm OK.
Of course I’m sure they would love to hear from various customers who are having a mental meltdown…
Or you could tell them that if they don’t fix it you will use your psychic abilities to direct the tarantula migration to their engineering room.
Good one, If anything I’ve learned is that threats against corporations tend to go nowhere.
While I don’t necessarily disagree with this…
If you do feel motivated to touch base with them, I would let them know that you’re having trouble viewing KPHO via your Tablo OTA DVR and that you hope that they can work with us to resolve the issue in a timely manner.
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It doesn’t hurt to send them an e-mail as long as it doesn’t sound like you really need to contact the local mental health hotline.