My Tablo 4th Gen. is working perfectly EXCEPT every time I turn the TV on, the message “Playback Failed…Try again and/or check your TV antenna connection” comes on and stays on until I click on it. Then everything works as normal.
Signal strength on all saved channels is 4/5 or 5/5 using an attic-mounted Winegard antenna. Tablo and Apple 4K box are WiFi (strong signal) connected. Apple 4K box is HDMI wire-connected to a Sony (dumb) TV. It does NOT happen on my phone app nor on a WiFi-connected Roku TV…just the Apple 4K box-connected one.
I agree it’s a very minor issue that temporarily goes away with just one click but it’s aggravating. All ideas appreciated! Thanks!
Hmmm, has it always done this or is this a recent thing? My channels on my Android phone app and FireTV Stick show 4/4 green dots so you might want review if you have 4 or 5 total and what the channel strength is. It’s probably best to have 4/4 dots. Remember, this is not a real-time signal strength - I believe it represents only the strength at the time you performed the last channel scan.
You might also check your connections to make sure they’re tight and the cables aren’t separating from the connectors and be sure they’re RG6 cables.
You might also restart your device by briefly pressing the reset button on the bottom (<1 second press) to see if that helps.
Thanks for your suggestions! I’ve only had my Tablo for about 3 weeks now (started right after the guide meltdown issues) and it has been doing this from the start.
My mistake on the number of dots…all my saved channels are 4 green dots. The antenna is feeding another TV with excellent reception on all selected channels. I’ve tried this with the Tablo amplifier on and off…no difference.
I’ve done rescans, soft resets (1 quick click), and hard resets (held Reset for 5+ seconds) with no change. Again, it’s a minor issue that goes away with one click until the next time the TV is powered up. Tablo is always on so maybe it has to do with the Apple 4K powering up. It’s just aggravating but not serious. When I go to show friends how cool Tablo is and it starts with a FAILURE notice, it’s not a great sales feature. I was just hoping I was overlooking something simple.
Good to hear. It sounds like you’ve already done the basics. You’ll find the device works best with an attitude like yours.
You might search and find someone in the community that has a similar issue and maybe somehow solved their problem. You might also submit a ticket to Tablo Support to see if they have any helpful information on this specific issue.
If you are just turning off the TV, the Apple 4K box connection to Tablo is probably timing out hence the message. I would suggest exiting out of the Tablo app before turning off the TV.
This ^^ My Android Onn Box does this. My wife tends the turn the TV off and walk away. The next day I have to reboot the box or I will get weird funky responses from the Tablo APP.
My ONN device had a similar problem. Yes, we had to get in the habit of hitting the “Back” repeatedly until it exited Tablo. A bit of a nuisance, but it worked. I do not have a similar problem with my many Roku.
I see the same problem. My Tablo works fine, but nearly every time I turn it on I get the Playback Failed… warning. It does not matter how I exit the Tablo app on my Fire Stick 4K Max. I usually select ‘Home’, then hit the back button until it asks if I want to exit Tablo. I select ‘Yes’. It exits properly. The next time I start up the Tablo I get the Playback Failed… message, or I get the spinning circle as if it’s buffering. The screen stays like that until I press the ‘Back’ button, then I get the Tablo starting screen.
Because of that, now every time I start up the Tablo, I automatically press the ‘Back’ button to avoid the startup issue. As I said, I have tried other ways of exiting the Tablo app, but no matter how I exit, I most always have the startup issue.
It is not a big deal for me to press the ‘Back’ button when I start up, but it would be better if the Tablo would just start up properly.
Interesting. I’m almost always in the Tablo app when I power down, which shuts down the TV first and then the Apple 4K box. I’ll try exiting the Tablo app before closing down. LOL…that’s more clicks than the 1-click to just get rid of he message but at least it may point to the issue => the Apple 4K box. Thanks for your suggestion.
Totally agree. The 1-click “fix” is OK for now. Stay tuned for updates if I actually figure it out. I think it’s because of the Apple 4K and its native software handling/processing somehow.
We are not having any of these issues with our onn box(s). Back in our working days (both worked at the same company) we had it drilled into our heads that you have to properly exit programs before turning off your computers at the end of the day. People were simply pushing the off button and going home. This left programs open that would cause critical nightly processes to fail. My wife is the main user of our 4th gen and she always does the back button until it asks to exit.
Thanks! This seems to be the issue for sure. After some further testing, the only time I get the Playback Failed message is when i power down everything while in the Tablo app on the Apple 4K. If I move to a different app before shutting down, there’s no problem.
UPDATE: PROBLEM SOLVED
Thanks to everyone with your feedback and y’all were on-target with your suggestions. The “Playback Failed” notice only comes on when powering up the TV and Apple 4K box IF I powered down while in the Tablo app in the Apple 4K. If I switch apps before closing down, I don’t get the notice.
So…the “solution” is live with powering up, getting the notice, and clicking once to get rid of it - OR - remembering to click 4 or 5 times to back out of the Tablo screens and then change apps before powering down. It’s clearly an Apple issue, not a Tablo issue. Just knowing the reason makes it palatable. Thanks again for all your help!
