Our friends at Roku were nice enough to push this channel update late Friday, so apologies for the tardiness of these release notes.
The analytics we added in the last public channel update helped identify a few required fixes so this update should provide a better experience overall. That being said, data is still being collected particularly around network discovery issues.
We have also made some tweaks to help manage the app’s memory usage on the Roku, so those of you who’ve been experiencing blank Fast-Forward Preview frames may see some improvements there.
Here’s what you can expect…
Tablo ROKU Channel Update (v. 2.5.0)
Adds keyboard functionality
Fix for issue where some text could appear jagged
Bug fixes and performance improvements
NOTE - Minimum system requirements have changed. Requires Tablo firmware 2.2.16+ and Roku firmware 7.7+
It seems that overnight someone gifted me a new version of the Roku app - v2.5.0.
Of course I haven’t found any information on why I was blessed with such a grand gift.
But I did notice that when I try to exit(back arrow) a tablo unit there is now a title only banner at the top of the menu. It says “Exit Tablo?”. The traditional three selections still exist - Disconnect, Exit, Cancel.
So what does “Exit Tablo?” mean. If you have multiple tablo units only Exit really exits the tablo app.
I didn’t have any issues. But it showed up on both my 4200 and 4210.
To me it now appears the app load time and tablo server discovery times have doubled. But I have multiple tablo units. It’s almost as slow as that of the Amazon Fire Stick.
I have a 4200 and a 4660. I hadn’t thought about the load time but you might be right. Not a show stopper.
I think there is an improvement in the display of the preview panels when fast forwarding. I had been having an issue with blank panels, especially on the 4660. It looks to be improved. It will take a few days to be sure. Sometimes in the past they would clear up for awhile and then get worse. Tonight they look really good.
Luckily for me I bypassed all the 2.2.18 issues and stayed on 2.2.16.
Maybe that has something to do with the app load times. But there is an obvious pause between the app load and the discovery phase. The screen even has a mild flash/flicker between phases.
And Amazon Fire Stick discovery for multiple tablo units is s-s-slow.
The 2.5.0 update definitely added a delay when opening, like an extended “discovery” phase. Close the app, and immediately reopen - quick just like before.
Running the app again, let’s say 1 hour later, the same thing happens - delayed app opening. Not sure how long the app needs to be closed to make this happen.
You don’t have to wait a hour to see this behavior. I have multiple tablo units. Since you never know which tablo you want to use or who was the last to use the Roku, the specific tablo is always disconnected before the app is exited.
I rarely use my Fire Stack. Otherwise I would have mentioned have slow it’s discovery was compared to Roku and WEB.
But now the Roku app has partially achieved the ultimate goal of parity with the Fire Stick. Now if only the WEB app would also match the Fire Stick . . .
It’s worth noting that the first connection after an update will take a bit longer as items that are usually cached are erased. This means that these items need to be reset during that first connection.
The second (and subsequent connections) should be just as fast as usual.
It appears to be peforming the way you described, but not just after an app update, it’s doing it every time I use my Roku Tablo app after my Roku wakes up.
My Roku was not in screen saver mode. I don’t know if it has a true sleep mode.
It’s just moving from an OTT app to the tablo app,etc.
I would also watch for the dreaded player stall. I’ve seen two of these in the last 3 days. In this condition you are sitting in the Recordings menu on the show of which you wish to watch an episode. You use the play button to play the current episode. The Roku video player stalls (times out) with the spinning wheel of death. No message just a pop back to the recording menu. Retry fails the same way. A third try causes the Roku to reboot. After the Roku reboot life is good.
This problem is like the movie Back To The Future. It’s now 2015-2016.
One other reason why you might see startup taking longer…
Each Roku has a finite amount of memory for apps (aka channels). If you go over that finite limit, you Roku will actually keep the app/channel icon in place, but delete the app itself. Then when you do launch it again, it will re-download the app contents from the internet and then launch.
So if you do have any unused channels on your Roku, try deleting those and seeing if there’s a change.
8 channels too much for my Roku 4?
I bet the real reason the new Roku Tablo app v2.5.0 takes to long to connect is after the Roku is either rebooted, or after it wakes up from a sleep state.
I appear to be having a new issue (may be related to Roku 2.5.0 update). Now when I try to rewind live TV it always jumps immediately back to live TV when I press play.
It doesnt appear to be a duration of live TV issue, as it doesnt matter if I have been watching it for 10 seconds or 10 minutes.
I only have 19 channels and the Roku app had been rock solid for over a year.
Roku doesn’t have any sleep mode or sleep mode settings that I can find. Screen saver - sure,
If you want to observe real sleep mode then on a Fire Stick go into setting/device and select sleep. The device is really asleep and receives no updates.
If the past is any indication of the future, Roku OS 8.1 is slowly rolling out. That’s almost always a rocky road for the tablo app.
