Tablo has started injecting pause screen ads during OTA recording playback. I need to know how to turn this off, or the Tablo is going to be recycled and I’ll move on to a product that isn’t doing this, or stop watching TV all together.
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OMG, seriously?! My wife is going to lose it when we get back from vacation. No doubt this is a function of the Gen4 app.
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Yeah I’m super disappointed. If I was okay with ads, I wouldn’t be using this product in the first place. I still have my OG Tablo that doesn’t have these shenanigans but clearly they are being phased out and the old app is no longer supported. Jeopardy and a bit of news is about the only thing I watch anyway…so this might mean the end of TV for me. Seriously. I’m not trying to be hyperbolic. I just don’t like my living room feeling like a billboard.
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You didn’t say what app/device you were using. With some devices like Roku tablo uses the devices video player. I’m not sure they can do this.
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It’s an Apple TV 4K and it’s definitely not coming from that.
This guy’s Apple TV 4k shows ads.
“The Apple TV 4K does sometimes show static advertisements when you pause a show or movie, but I tend not to look at my TV much when it isn’t actively playing video.”
https://www.androidpolice.com/switched-google-tv-to-apple-tv/
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I didn’t know Tablo started it,
ROKU does it and it pi$$e$ me off.
They get paid to do that BS, and don’t care what the consumer thinks.
Keep hammering them with ads, and some will buy the product.
Not me, I refuse to.
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Okay! This is getting interesting. Since I have a variety of devices at my home, I just ran some simple tests and it turns out that neither my Amazon Fire TV 4k Plus (the newest model) OR my old Roku Express+, OR my Chromecast (Android TV OS V14) has this same behavior! I stand corrected about my assumption about this not having to do with my Apple TV 4k. I have to say this is the first time I’ve seen anything like it on what I thought was far and away the best streaming device to avoid this kind of thing.
I wonder if the situation might be more complicated. Perhaps Apple only allowed Tablo’s app onto their ecosystem if they agreed to this. I would love for someone from Tablo to explain what’s going on here, because based on the behavior and the tight integration, it’s leading me to believe that this isn’t on either company alone, but the combination of the two.
You pay a lot of money for an Apple TV 4K. So you get lots of features. Rice ads is just one of them.
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Well, it wasn’t as expensive when I bought it, but still more than the other streaming devices! I’m so glad I discovered this before jumping to purchase their next gen streamer which should drop any moment now… 
For the record, my assumption there is turning out to be incorrect!
The Tablo app does not provide a native setting to turn off pause screen ads. Tablo embeds these static advertisement screensavers directly into the video player layer of their app layout, meaning traditional network-level ad blockers (like Pi-hole) rarely stop them without breaking the stream entirely
rigger the Apple TV Screensaver Instead
If you need to pause your TV to step away, avoid letting Tablo control the screen.
- Press Pause on your Apple remote.
- Immediately double-click the Back / Menu button on your Apple TV remote.
- This manually forces the stunning, ad-free Apple TV Aerial screensaver to start over the top of the app, instantly hiding the Tablo advertisement.
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I love this workaround. The Apple screensavers are indeed beautiful, and something I’d much rather look at relative to a rice ad!!
Rice s good for you. maybe your doctor is sending you a hint.
I haven’t seen pause ads on my system (all Roku). To be honest, I don’t have a problem with it. Compared to other home entertainment options, the Tablo is DIRT CHEAP! A hundred bucks out the door and no monthly fees… If Tablo finds a way to make money that doesn’t involve reaching into my pocket I’m okay with it. That being said, I am only okay with this if the ad can be cleared by clicking the EXIT button. If it is persistent and blocking the screen, then I would have a serious problem with it.
To be fair, I am able to clear the screen and see the frame that’s paused, but the GUI and behavior has changed and it’s not consistent. It’s no longer as simple as it used to be, at least not with my setup.
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Looks like plans changed since then…