I’m pretty sure I remember it being a known Roku problem, which is the reason for my suggestion. There are far too many posts about this issue for me to pull the information easily, but as far as I recall, it was something ROKU said they were working on a fix for. I gave up my Express because of this thought.
Regardless, we’re at the end of 2024, so this is either no longer a priority, or there isn’t a fix from either end. Getting a different STB isn’t an immediate fix, it appears to be the only fix.
As in any case, I could be wrong and always enjoy when facts change my mind.
(And don’t get me wrong, I’ve about had it with my Tablo as well, but because Tablo has their head up their butts with the things they DO control and choose to change.)
Again, it would be more credible, if… if… this was a problem for other DVRs. Now, perhaps there is a “Roku problem”, but we can say for sure that others have worked around whatever that issue is. So… perhaps some blame can be laid at Roku, but it would sure have more teeth if it were some kind of ongoing issue for other OTA DVR providers.
It wasn’t a DVR issue, it was a video playback issue. For me, TabloTV was the only app affected.
I’m not digging through these posts to find the info. TBH, I really don’t care if this person decides to change to a different DVR company entirely. I only responded because in my memory it is not Tablo’s fault. If it was Tablo’s fault, I would have laughed and moved on with my day.
Is there anything Tablo can do? Who knows at this point. I don’t care to see the wrong people get blamed.
Here’s an additional tidbit: From back in June, on the Roku Community site, there’s a post in which a user says this issue appears only for live tv and that recorded (DVR’d) 480 & 720 channels play back in full screen.
I have not test his myself, FWIW here’s the link to that post:
If you are using an older Roku Express, set audio to Dolby only and restart the Roku. I had the same issue and this worked. I have 2 Roku TVs and the recordings all show correctly. I also have a newer Roku Express 4k that worked just fine. Hope this helps.
I hadn’t thought of this until I read this post… I have one Roku/TV setup, with a Roku that is more than five years old, that does this ‘picture squished in the corner’ trick often. I’ve kinda gotten used to it, and just reboot the Roku and it solves the problem for a while.
Johnnyh66 says that he found that switching the audio settings to Dolby solved the problem for him.
Here’s the observation that I just put together… The OS14 fix, through firmware 2.2.54, implements a fix through changing the audio format that the Tablo uses. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I don’t think that TV is squishing the picture since I got 2.2.54 and turned on ACM. I will keep an eye on it and try to report back here.
The shrinking screen was the first Tablo 4th gen issue that I searched for a hack. I was reminded of the issue after a Roku software update last week when the phenomena began to reoccur. On my Tablo, I’d play a 720 station video and it displayed fully but the next video is shrunken. I’d have to exit the app and restart the tv for it to go away but it would eventually return again. ATM I can’t find the post that suggested a solution. It worked for me earlier this year after I set up my 4th gen unit. The post solution recommended changing the Roku’s "Display type’ setting from Auto 1080p to manual 1080p. The recent update may have reset it to ‘auto’ reintroducing the issue. I adjusted the setting and have not experienced the issue (yet?). I have a 3900X OS 14.0.4.
I spoke too soon. Today I tried to watch recordings from one of those low-resolution channels and again the picture was squished into the upper left of the screen. As before, a simple reboot of the Roku solved the problem, at least for now.
I work for a non-profit with thousands of members and an active web site. When our tech people first set up the website there were issues with non-apple devices. Their answer was that all members should “upgrade” to apple or iPhone. This problem sounds similar with the “It’s not us, it’s them” excuse. Tablo should not have rolled out a program that doesn’t work properly on all devices. I also want it to work, but it’s just not ready for prime-time.