My First LPW Ever

General Discussion
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Last night I had my first LPW ever! My wife was watching a recorded show (480 SD). I noticed it because I had just booted up my iPad and it was logging into my network. At the same time the Tablo was recording another program.

I remember the moment oh so well - it was like the first time one had sex! No longer the Roku virgin - an LPW :hushed: It left both of us a bit shaken. Golly Andy…

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There are so many variables… You can get these using Netflix, Amazon Prime, anything that is a network streamer because that by definition cannot be constant. Perhaps there are extra variables with regards to Tablo that make these happen more often, I’m just saying nothing is immune. And the “deity” players (Nexus and Shield) can’t fix this by magic or voodoo. Because it’s not something they can control.

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Normally we don’t view recordings using the Roku Tablo client. My Tablo recordings are post-processed into a Plex server every night. So this “viewing” was an anomaly for us. The wife wanted to see a show that had just been recorded without waiting for it to be transferred to our Plex server. So it was kind of a shock to our system to see this LPW (the only one that evening BTW).

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Been asking myself if the Roku-Tablo interaction is a push or pull protocol. Does the Roku signal the Tablo when to stream blocks making it a “pull” from the Roku side? Or does the Tablo “push” blocks to the Roku until the Roku says, “Hang on a minute?” What is the “conversation” between the two?

There is a website that has analyzed the initial (on startup) interactions between the Tablo and a client but not the overall flow from beginning to end.

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I could only guess… I think @TabloTV would have to answer that.

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What is an LPW?

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Loading Please Wait. Video stream pause during a dark screen while something “catches up.”

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@CraigRoyce - The Roku requests segments from the Tablo. Generally it builds up a buffer of segments so that things can play smoothly. However, when you see a one-time LPW like this, it’s generally a blip in the network which results in less segments being available than Roku wants. The Roku sees that it’s running out of segments and says, “Hold on, give me a few seconds to catch up on my buffer” before it continues the stream.

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And I remember the exact moment it happened very clearly. I was booting up my iPad which was doing some network startup procedures. So there was network negotiation and activity at that moment. That was before the latest Roku firmware upgrade - since then I have booted up my iPad at the same time the Roku has been getting Tablo streams and all has been well without any interruptions.

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So it’s a pull model, thanks. The onus is then on the client in controlling the stream. Which explains why different types of clients have differing performances in controlling the stream.

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