Latest Feb 2018 firmware is the WORST in 4 years

Do you have ‘don’t record duplicates’ selected?

I did, indeed, have the default setting to NOT record duplicates, but the recordings from 2 different channels of the show (Jeopardy) were not duplications. The older episodes from earlier seasons on the CW channel are scheduled and recorded; the new episodes on CBS go unscheduled and are thus missed. No option was chosen or evident to force New episodes to be skipped yet all were skipped and not recorded.

Hey mate, please give the support people a ring instead of just whinging all the time.

Starting in 2014 I have made numerous calls, submitted support tickets, and voiced numerous issues on this forum requesting help. By far the most effective method has been the assistance and cooperation of other users.

Sorry if my posts are hard for you to read. Please consider ignoring them.

Thanks mate,
Larry

Sunday morning talk shows all broken into fragments on 4 tuner Tablo (with new WD Elements drive). The 2 tuner had no issues with its 2 program recordings of same content. The 4 tuner is way more flakey particularly when loaded with 3-4 simultaneous jobs (recording, playing, EPG processing, indexing thumbnails, transcoding)

EVERY recording turned into 4 or more chunks. Same problem at night with 3-4 concurrent events.

Not an issue until v18 firmware arrived.

2 more “stuck” icons today, to complete the full Tablo user “experience”.

I tend to agree “something” happened with the 2.2.18 firmware and it feels like it is something related to tuner signal sensitivity. I don’t recall having many issues prior to 2.2.18 with signal but a couple of times after 2.2.18 being released I’ve had a very similar situation to what you are describing from yesterday. One evening I had something like 6 things recording and the first one was fine but then the remaining 4 all had multiple fragments.

They took a look at my logs and determined the cause of the multiple reboots that resulted in the fragments was due to bad reception. Interestingly, we have only had 1 channel in the past that we could tell visually was having reception issues (pixelation) but on that particular night it was apparently reception issues with 3 different channels throughout the night that contributed to the reboots.

Not that this is the source of your issue(s) but as a result of their findings and in the interest of ruling out as many variables as I could, I moved from an indoor antenna (Mohu Leaf 50) to an attic/outdoor antenna (Mohu Air 60 I refurb I found at Microcenter for $70) and it may be coincidence but after issues at least a couple of times a week before, we’ve had going 2 weeks of all the same shows on all the same channels and zero issues, so it looks like in our case maybe we were just on the edge of the “digital cliff” with our previous antenna and that combined with the Tablo update maybe messing with tuner signal sensitivity was what was causing our problems.

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Same Tablos have been recording multiple program mixes without fragments for a very long time suddenly having a big problem with nice strong channels starting the very day the new firmware was released… in my case no way is this an RF signal issue.

The 4 tuner fails very often now when heavily loaded. This is new firmware related and so are the missing / skipped recordings, and stuck icons which cannot be deleted. They arrived suddenly, together, with v18, along with a batch of prior recordings suddenly disappearing altogether.

Hope they fix it soon and properly.

Which is why I refuse to buy the 4 tuner model. The more tuners a box has, I’ve noticed over the years, the more problems it has. My best tuner reception box has just one tuner, costs $35 and the simple oxe hasn’t failed me yet (and it never heats up). As far as I’m concerned, the Tablo’s tuner (and its configuration) is its Achilles heel.

If needs be, when my Tablo dies, my strategy will be a DVR for each room. Something like the CM Stream+ with HDMI (never mind the wifi crap). If I need to complete watching a show in another room, I’ll simply take the USB stick with me from one room to the other (I do that with my simple oxe box which uses a FAT32 partition playable on any device). The “servicing whole house” thing from one point is just not worth it. And I can always record the same program in each room.

Even computing experts are seeing Moore’s Law failing (i.e. packing more and more elements densely into one box).

Since the Stream+ is an Android box, I may even put something like MiniDLNA on it and stream recordings between boxes.

The simpler the better…KISS :blush: Let one box do one thing. Need more things done - get more boxes. This way a box doesn’t strain at resources, bottlenecks, software complexity and horses pulling in multiple directions. :horse_racing:

An interesting configuration would be to keep a two tuner Tablo and install a Stream+ in a room. Use its tuners “locally” (per room) and the Tablo “globally” throughout the home. That gives a user 4 tuners in a room. As an Android streaming box, use the Stream+ also as a client (viewer) in a room for the Tablo (instead of say a Roku, eliminating the cost of a viewer). I already use my Kodi boxes (Android) as Tablo clients.

Very good approach!! I recognize that the 4 tuner split has a downside, But with plenty of signal strength my normal 4 tuner performance was perfectly adequate until the firmware change. Unless the box his internal EMI issues which have suddenly become worsened by the new firmware, I would say my tuners have more than adequate reliability and Margin. These problems are not occurring on fringe stations. They are the local NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox affiliates which deliver strong footprints in my location with small patch antennas indoors. My recordings from Toronto, 60+ miles away, remain solid, unless the Tablo has a heavy workload, starting with the release of v18.

Small single channel DVRs Would overcome the complexity of client/server, Ottawa-based confusion, And the expenses of $300 Tablo boxes.

Perhaps ironically, I really like the Tablo concept and product very much, And continue to support them With recommendations despite all that has happened. My one and only continuing gripe is an utter lack of software quality.

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I amended my first strategy with a second one in which a two tuner Tablo is retained “globally” but augmented with “local” (per room) tuners. And using the second DVR as a Tablo client to boot! I also find that one cannot beat a “local” tuner (HDMI like my oxe box) for sports.

I realized this might be better for me (than a wholesale replacement) because I have a lifetime subscription. Why throw that away? Retain a Tablo and add tuners “locally” to each room. Why “locally?” Well, my wife watches certain programs at night only in bed so the DVR in the bedroom would take care of recording those programs.

Shows we begin watching in the living room and then in the bedroom (as we take a break in between) would be recorded on the Tablo. This would also spread out the recordings rather than rely on one storage location (and avoid total database problems).

Good approach, Mark. The Tablo has a lot to offer, and I would not want to give up all the functionality even if greater simplicity was achieved. I think it’s really a shame that the current Tabl doesn’t have an HDMI port, or instead, a small, separate, player box dedicated to Tablo for each client location.

As it stands, every revision of player firmware from Roku, Apple, Amazon, Nexus, etc. brings along new compatibility issues which would totally disappear if a dedicated player were offered.

And by the way… What kind of POS would reboot if the tuner encounters weak signal strength? Talk about crummy software design…

“What kind of POS would reboot if the tuner encounters weak signal strength?”

I’ve been wondering about this. I have a weak signal for one of my stations that the TV tuner picks up. 40% of the time this station comes in OK. But 60% of the time it either pixelates or drops out completely (“no signal” error message on TV). THE TV NEVER GOES BELLY UP! Otherwise we wouldn’t even attempt to watch that channel. We haven’t deleted that station from the TV’s channel roster because weak signals don’t cause the TV to die and sometimes it is watchable.

Now Nuvyyo has declined to comment on this phenomenon even though several forum members have posed the question directly… Which is why I commented in a post above in this thread that the Tablo tuner appears to be its Achilles heel (software or hardware).

Who knows why and where this problem is occurring. It may not be even in the tuner but in the internal amplifier that has been put in because of the internal splitter - i.e. attempting to amplify a non-existent signal.

The reboot on weak signal issue can be frustrating. I mostly have it resolved with my antenna upgrade, but still, did experience it when a couple of stations went down briefly. It’s one of the issues that makes me uncomfortable recommending it to friends. I’m willing to live with the quirks, such as the reboot issue, and occasionally getting kicked back to the program guide while watching live TV, but don’t want to be hassled by complaints from friends if I make a recommendation.

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I will second this sentiment. I have exorcised almost all of the demons out of my Tablo installation, but, I would never recommend this system to a friend who wasn’t both tech savvy and very patient.

We migrated from Minnesota to Florida in January for our “snowbird” season of four months. Within a week of arriving, for the second year in a row, we lost the ability to remote in to our Tablo box back in Minnesota. Why can’t we have a simple user ID and password setup instead of this dumbass pairing requirement? Pairing is fine if you are near the Tablo box, but, we are seventeen hundred miles away from our Tablo for months at a time. So our Tablo box is useless to us for fourteen weeks this winter because we have no way to pair our computer again. A simple user ID and password would solve this issue completely. Tablo, for whatever reason, simply won’t fix this issue.

Hey Tablo, are you even listening to your users? Over the years, this pairing feature has been the source of continuous misery to your customers and you continue to ignore the issue. What possible reason could you have for not fixing this?

Totally agree with you - but just in case helpful to you in your next Minnesota-Florida sojourn:

I’ve largely practically cured this problem (like some other Tablo users) by using a remotely triggered power switch on the Tablo. Specifically, I use the TP Link HS105 and plug the Tablo into it. The power switch can be controlled remotely from your mobile phone (yes, via a user name/password system), so you can reboot your Tablo when you lose the remote connection. I’ve found that this almost always (say, 98 out of 100 times) restores remote connection. In other words, it’s not the remote laptop/Roku/Fire Stick/Apple which loses remote connection, but the Tablo, and the reboot fixes it.

(Advanced tip: Check out the TV schedule; if your Tablo is supposed to be recording a program when you’ve lost connection, you may not want to reboot via the remote power switch until the scheduled recording time has ended, because the Tablo is often operating just fine but has simply lost the remote connection which can be restored later (and the ongoing recording would be disrupted if you rebooted before recording ended). I would say only about 10% of the time that I have to reboot has the recording schedule/capability also been lost and therefore it would have been good to reboot the Tablo earlier.)

Edit: The TP Link is at its cheapest price on Amazon right now ($25, usually $30); and in the time I took to write this post by wild coincidence I got an email from Monoprice announcing their brand-new equivalent for $30. Both can be controlled remotely via phone and in-home by Alexa and Google Home.

Ah, the TP Link switch… they make some really nice stuff I’m using several of their light bulbs, and found them very easy to set up But, they’re not immune to software “issues” as I found out last Sunday, when we switched over to daylight savings time. Turns out that in settings, there are two choices for my time zone, PDT or PST. A minor inconvenience once you’re aware, but other than that, they make some really nice and useful products.

The remotely controlled switch is a good idea. I once lost remote connectivity on a vacation, and couldn’t connect until I re-paired my computer. I may buy a couple of switches to play around with. I think I saw them somewhere for about $20.

Use a similar switch LIftmaster MyQ . Have only had to reboot once so far with it from out of town and it did its job.

I have used the tablo for years and I agree. I am now having a LOT of problems with duplicate recordings of the same show. And forgetting how many shows are recorded and throwing me out when using FF or RW.

Tonight I am getting “can not live steam”.

When I test for signal, everything tests fine. I can play recorded shows fine.

But live tv won’t work.

Very disappointed. I really like my tablo unit and wish it would work like I used to enjoy.

I’m not like other posters I read who can buy this remote switch for this or that. I just want to use it like I did for years.

No high tech stuff to do. Use the remote that came with it and run through my Amazon Fire TV box with no problems.