NEW - Tablo Firmware Release 2.2.26

Announcements
1

Happy Wednesday Tablo family!

A new Tablo firmware update is coming your way. Like all Tablo firmware updates, this is being distributed in a staged rollout over the next couple of weeks. A small number of customers will receive the update today, with more added to the rollout every weekday.

2.2.26 is now available to ALL Tablo DVRs.


When your DVR is eligible for the update, a notification will pop up in your Tablo app.

This release includes support for a long-awaited feature: Automatic Commercial Skip! It is firmware-dependent though so you MUST have 2.2.26 to start enjoying it. Your patience is appreciated.

For a full overview of the feature and how it works, head over to the Tablo blog.

Here’s what you can expect…


Tablo Firmware Release 2.2.26

• Adds commercial skip capabilities to TV apps on completed recordings
• Reliability and performance enhancements

NOTE: Post-upgrade database processes (if needed) may take several minutes to complete. During this time the LED will be blinking. Do not power down the Tablo until the LED is solid again.

roku_comskip_ready_markup
roku_comskip_ready_markup.jpg1296×736 166 KB


Also worth noting, the Tablo’s LED blink pattern for when it’s waiting to be added to your WiFi network has changed with 2.2.26. Details on that are on the Knowledge Base.

And for those using Tablo’s Cloud DVR feature, you’ll be able to enjoy some extra recording space (64
GB vs. 40 now) once your Tablo updates. We’re also aiming a bit further out than our original June 1st date for the switchover to Cloud DVR becoming a paid feature, so you’ll have more time to enjoy it too! Stay tuned for more info!


For tips and tricks on successful firmware updates head over to the Knowledge Base.

If you have any feedback or questions about this release, please post them below.

If you need support assistance, place a ticket and we’ll be in touch.

2

Will commercial skip work like fast forward generation. If the processing hasn’t started or completed(?) a reboot will restart the process?

3

Yes.

The Tablo Automatic Commercial Skip feature does include the ability to retain data in a buffer in the event your external internet connection temporarily slows or fails. Once internet access is regained, and after your Tablo is rebooted or begins its nightly maintenance period (whichever comes first), upload of recording data will be re-tried. If the Tablo is unable to upload the recording to the server for more than 3 days, the upload will be abandoned.

4

I read extensively about commercial skipping, where’s info about enhancements to performance and reliability issues?

5

I assume that’s your change log unless you work for Tablo lol

6

Pretty much…

Unlike some companies, if there’s a change that you’re likely to notice or a fix for something specific that people were experiencing with the previous version, we WILL include a reference in the release notes.

For us, ‘bug fixes & performance improvements’ are the laundry list of behind the scenes tweaks that would be gibberish to most people without an advanced understanding of HLS streaming or Linux. We choose not to expose this not just because it would be painful to read for most customers, but it can reveal trade secrets.

In the case of this release, those ‘improvements’ include tweaks required to add Tablo QUAD into the lineup, code to support manual recordings on Roku (which is in the Roku notes) and many, many other things.

2 Likes
7

@TabloTV Just curious why the Commercial Skip doesn’t work for the following types/categories of programs. I can see the news, that would be different in all regions. PBS, could be for public access TV reasons maybe. But what is the deal with 20/20, 60 minutes, and Judge Judy? Inquiring minds want to know.

Snippet from the Blog:

However, certain networks, program types, and shows are always ineligible for commercial skip processing including:

  • [NETWORK] PBS
  • [NETWORK] TVO
  • [PROGRAM TYPE] News
  • [PROGRAM TYPE] Manual Recording
  • [SHOW] American Dad
  • [SHOW] South Park
  • [SHOW] Family Guy
  • [SHOW] The Cleveland Show
  • [SHOW] 20/20
  • [SHOW] 60 minutes
  • [SHOW] Judge Judy
8

Third time I’ve been asked this already so I guess I need to add it to the FAQ :wink:

For PBS, there really aren’t ‘commercials’ per se on that channel, so to save bandwidth for everyone we block programs from that channel at the Tablo level.

As for the rest including Judge Judy, during testing we found that the characteristics of these shows weren’t interacting well with the technology that we use to detect commercials. We’re going to keep working to improve the algorithms but for now we’ve disabled commercial skip on those shows so you don’t wind up with a poor experience.

1 Like
9

Will the Automatic Commercial Skip feature be available in the future for the devices that are not currently supported?

10

To bad there isn’t a big red easy button where once you turn on commercial skip it schedules all the non-watched recording for commercial skip processing.

SNL should be interesting they use to have skits that looked like commercials and Jimmy Kimmel sometimes has commercials that look like regular show skits.

1 Like
11

Thank you for the explanation. Makes sense, it boils down to shows or channels that don’t work well with the commercial skip detection currently. Better to turn it off then to have a show that doesn’t function well with the feature.

12

How much data is uploaded for recording data? My upload speed is slow.

13

image
image800×450 55.7 KB

We are working to enable support for those using Cloud DVR and hope to add that in one of the next firmware updates.

As for providing it on web-based and mobile apps, it’s still unclear whether the player software on those apps will be able to support the skip playlists.

1 Like
14

That’s covered in the blog post here:

How much bandwidth will the Tablo commercial skip feature use?
Depending on the recording quality and audio settings of your Tablo, the commercial skip process will use between 100-200 MB/hour of recording in external internet bandwidth.

If you schedule 40 recordings in a month this will equal approximately 8 GB. It’s more than Tablo uses for regular processes but is still only a fraction of overall bandwidth for those with datacaps. If you’re concerned about datacap overages, you can disable commercial skip at any time via your Tablo’s settings screen.

What is the minimum upload speed?
In order to use Tablo’s automatic commercial skip feature, a minimum upload speed of 1 Mbps is required but 3 Mbps is recommended. The feature does include the ability to retain data in a buffer in the event your external internet connection temporarily slows or fails, however those with very slow connections may experience delays or issues with this feature.

15

Mine works fine at 6.144/0.896 Mbps (DSL) but it miss reads too many commercials.

16
  • Be created AFTER commercial skip has been enabled in your Tablo’s settings screen

This bullet makes me a little sad. Was hoping all the shows I already recorded would process. Then if I already have a show and it re-airs it won’t record and process. Bummer.

1 Like
17

Of course, I’m not most customers, that’s why I asked…
Your “generalized” laundered list at least tells me something - thanks, as for what you can’t say - I do appreciate a response.

1 Like
18

Disregard

19

Imagine the scenario that Tablo allowed us to enable commercial skip and it processed all of our shows we had previously recorded. That would be a huge amount of data both for them and for us. It would up their costs a lot, data caps would be hit, there could be slow downs. There are just a lot of what ifs to contend with.

I’m also sad that they won’t / can’t do this at this time. This feature is still considered experimental so it’s easy to imagine some of their reasons. Perhaps after they get things rolling and the feature is stable there might be some kind of option available.

@TabloTV Sometime in the future fingers crossed…
An option to mark x number of shows to be backward processed each month or an option to pay a reasonable fee to have your library back processed??? Sounds like a premium feature that could be used to support R&D to me.

3 Likes
20

Certainly a neat idea!

But yeah, we wanted to avoid a bunch of people bogging down the server with their 8TB back-catalogs of cheezy B movies from Comet on day-1.

4 Likes