Roku issues dominate this forum. As in a marriage incompatibility is grounds for divorce.
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My initial experience with 2.2.8 was disappointing. After rebooting my wireless router, the Tablo and then my Roku 3âs everything has been greatâŚno LPWâs, no sluggishness, no Roku crashes. Had that not been the case, I wouldâve been looking pretty seriously at alternatives like a Nexus Player.
Iâve read in another area on this forum that someone had a discussion with Roku and was advised to set their wireless channel to either 1, 6 or 11 - for some reason the Rokuâs prefer those frequencies. They also were told to not use a 5 Ghz network but to stick with the standard 2.4 Ghz setting. Hope this info may be helpful to some.
I give up. Whatâs the message?
I have the Shield tv and it is just outstanding. Roku does not play well with Sling tv either. Sling loads immediately on the Shield and I have no freezing issues. The Roku is another story though. I donât know what it is about Roku but a lot of things donât do well with it for some reason
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âxxxâ - x rated - his profile picture 
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@TabloTV FWIW I am getting a quick LPW about 2m10s after I FF though a commercial break. Happens nearly every time.
Ever since the 2.2.8 update I seem to be getting more LPW messages than I ever have. This is while using Roku 3 for playback. Iâve reset Roku, Tablo, etc⌠and I still get the LPW. My wife complained about it as soon as I got home from work today - saying sheâs been getting them all day.
It is quite cyclic for me. Last night we watched multiple shows and only one quick LPW. The day before, I was so frustrated I almost threw the remote. When it works, it is awesome. Tablo just needs to keep at these bugs, which I am sure they are.
Just to be clear⌠âquickâ LPWs can potentially be expected depending on network conditions. This is the intended function when Roku runs out of buffered video segments.
What we were seeing in previous firmware versions was a condition where the Roku would run out of segments and put itself into a âslow modeâ which meant minutes for resumes after FFWd and lots of LONG LPW pauses during video playback.
If you get sporadic short LPWs this is likely network-related. We are still poking around trying to find optimizations for Roku but the reality is that we are pushing the envelope on Rokuâs capabilities, especially at higher recording qualities.
I would equate it to taking a stock Toyota Corolla and putting it into an off-road rally race. Thereâs nothing wrong with a Corolla - itâs a very popular vehicle and works awesome for tooling around town. But if you try to take it offroad, through mud at very high speeds, youâre not gonna have a good time.
Long story short, if you want very high performance, you need a vehicle (streamer) that is built for it.
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If Roku is so weak, wouldnât it make more sense to stop supporting it?
Sure, youâd get some pissed off people initially, but in the long run all the Roku issues are causing the Tablo to have bad PR, and while I give Tablo a hard time on the boards, I do want you guys to succeed.
Wouldnât it make more sense to focus on the Android players, the Apple TV players, etc. and leave the Roku as is. For the people who have Rokus they can still watch Tablo through them, but they wont get all the latest and greatest functionality.
But going forward, you can recommend people steer clear of Roku.
My 2c.
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Not really⌠Roku is the most popular streamer. It works great when you operate within its boundaries and itâs got a great price point.
What we can do is provide guidance to users about how Tablo & Roku can work best together. SOME users with great networks can get away with operating it at 1080 quality. Others might have to sacrifice a bit and choose a lower recording quality to have it work well.
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I think this is good guidance. It might be worth a blog post similar to âWhich streaming device should I use with Tablo?â For people who are flexible, it would be great for them to see the best option, which would in turn make them happy and tell their friends about Tablo. I personally was always worried showing my friends Tablo when I had Roku because I was always worried a long LPW would pop up.
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@TabloTV, if network loading is possibly suspect, can you suggest what might alleviate that better? Either lowering recording quality in Tablo or going to a lower resolution 720p on the Roku?
I have tried both in the recent past without any noticeable difference in the quantity of LPWs.
I am willing to give up a bit on resolution if that would truly help.
Thereâs a few things you can try ⌠Lowering the recording quality on the Tablo. Tweaking settings on the Roku. Moving things to a different band (if your router is dual band)⌠Sometimes even moving the Tablo and the Roku further apart can make a BIG difference. So can improving your antennaâs reception if itâs sometimes spotty.Not sure how old your router is, but that can also be a factor.
Thereâs a lot of ingredients to the secret sauce for people who are able to get 1080 flawlessly through Roku/Tablo which is why itâs difficult to provide a specific ârecipeâ for greatness.
I am wired, not wireless, so that knocks out a couple things on your list. It sounds like the main thing for me to try is lowering the Tablo recording quality (I am currently at 5Mbps) which is shown as recommended in the list â are you guys doing some network testing to determine that or does everyoneâs show that?
âI have a roof antenna, all channels very good quality coming in.
âTablo wires into an ATT Uverse router/modem combo limited to 10/100 port speeds and one wired port on that goes to another switch that is 10/100/1000 and that goes to the Roku in my setup.
In the end, then, since I am already at 720p on the Tablo, I am theoretically pushing less data than a lot of folks having issues at 1080 on this thread.
@Corto - Everyoneâs recommended setting is 720 @ 5.
The one thing you didnât mention was the Rokuâs proximity to the Tablo⌠Is that a factor?
Wondering if the 2nd switch might be a problem⌠Weâve seen that cause some issues for others.
I have LPW on almost all shows, mostly in the beginning. My Tablo and Roku are wired and I record in the recommended record quality. With the same setup, I almost never had LPW when I was on Tablo firmware 2.2.2 and Roku fimware 6.x. Something must have been introduced with firmware 2.2.6/2.2.8 and Roku 7.0 that makes the LPW more frequent now. I will try to change my network setting or try to move my Tablo near my router to see if this will help.
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I get it in the beginning too. Didnât used to happen before either. I assumed Tablo changed something with the way theyâre buffering the show for playback.
I would agree, the only catch in my case is how recreate able it is. Something in the fast forward function causes a LPW that last about 5-10 seconds almost exactly 2 minutes after I resume from the FF.
It really would seem that its not a random network issue in this case as I can make it happen at exactly the same point on the same show time and time again. It acts like there is something in the FF function that breaks the stream (or something idk) and causes my buffer to run out 2 minutes later,
Two minute timeframe is based on the repeatable problem on one show, so the time frame may be different on other shows, Iâll test. Also, If it donât FF, the LPW doesnât happen. Now that I have found the pattern, random out of the blue LPW screens nearly never happen on recordings, but they do on Live TV.
Hope this info helps @TabloTV
P.S. Tablo is wired, Rokuâs are wireless on a 5GHz network, I will switch them back to 2.4 GHz to test as well. and I record everything at 720p
Your wish is my command: FAQs - What Streaming Media Set-Top-Boxes Work with my Tablo? - Tablo TV
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