Google's latest Android releases (4.4.3 and 4.4.4) have
introduced some playback issues with HTTP Live Streaming.
We're aware that some users are experiencing playback issues
(typically "stuttering" and buffering) after updating to Android
4.4.3 or 4.4.4 OS releases. This issue affects other apps besides Tablo and it
has been reported to Google. https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=70877
The issue is being investigated, but there aren't any
workarounds to offer on this currently, unfortunately.
So what can you do?
1. If you have not yet upgraded your Android device, you may
wish to refrain from doing so if you stream content with Tablo (or some other
apps).
2. If you've already upgraded, you might investigate
downgrading to the 4.4.2 Android OS version.
@ChrisWilkes Unfortunately this one is in Google’s hands as the bug is on the OS level. That being said - we’re trying to explore some work arounds to see if we can mitigate this issue in some way - no details or ETA’s yet.
Just setup my new 4-tuner Tablo last night. After the 14 days of the guide was downloaded I went to setup some records using the app on my android tablet. The “record season” button did not always respond. I could select individual episodes to record, but nothing happened when I tried to record the entire season. It was hit or miss. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time it did not. Any ideas? Anyone else?
Hm… Just tried to reproduce this here, couldn’t reproduce. What tablet (and version of Android) are you using? I’ll see if we have one in the office I can test this on.
@MD2020Vision We don’t have one of these in the office, but we’re pushing a new version of the Android app out later today. Feel free to check and update this evening, and let me know if you still see this.
Due to an Android bug that affects video playback on KitKat (4.4+) devices, (which affects Tablo video playback on your tablet), we have added a new feature for these devices that will allow you to use a 3rd-party player of your choice.
If your tablet runs KitKat and you'd like to use this feature, go to the Settings screen and toggle “Launch External Player”. The next time you play live TV or a recording, and are not connected to your Chromecast, the video stream will launch in another app.
This does not directly solve the problem, but it does give you options to improve your experience. If you have not already installed a video player app, visit Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/search?q=video%20player&c=apps) and install one of your choice. There's lots of free options in there.
Once installed, the Tablo app will give you a listed view of all capable players when you play video from the Tablo app.
In our testing, we have found that the Chrome browser appears to still be affected by this issue, (it will be presented as an option to use) but MX Player (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad) and VLC (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc.betav7neon) appear to work well.
If you choose to use MX Player, you will notice a “H/W” button on the player screen. Click that button and switch to “S/W decoder”. This will avoid the video-stuttering bug.
@MD2020Vision We don't have one of these in the office, but we're pushing a new version of the Android app out later today. Feel free to check and update this evening, and let me know if you still see this.
@TabloSupport I updated the app on my ASUS TF300 running 4.2, and it opens okay, but the app now completely stops when I try to watch a recording or even live TV. I tried on a 2012 Nexus running 4.4.2 and it seems to work fine.
... The "record season" button did not always respond. I could select individual episodes to record, but nothing happened when I tried to record the entire season.
Had almost the same thing as described. 'record season' would work once per connection. That is, a disconnect and reconnect to the Tablo let the 'record season' button work just once more.
Performed yet another Factory Reset on the Tablo and after d/l and sync 'record season' worked once more.
@Pundit I believe the advice to avoid h/w in the MX Player video player to be incorrect.
I do recall that h/w (the default option) did not work well but h/w+ works fine. I really can’t imagine why Tablo seems to be constantly pushing (and forcing) various devices to use software decoding… It’s horrible on battery life and limits the devices that can be used.
There were about a half dozen settings in MX Player I has to update to get it how I liked it… But as I recall h/w+ was the required change to get it to work.
I will add… I love the touch control interface of MX Player on a tablet. OMG this is exactly how it should be throughout Tablo!
New user here. I have been enjoying my Tablo for the last two weeks and love it!
I use the Tablo app on my Nexus 7 (2013). As noted by TabloSupport, the default Tablo player has lots of stuttering after 10 min of playback. So I switch and now send the video to VLC player I had installed. But for some reason I lose the forward and rewind function in VLC for recorded material. Is this normal? Other then that the VLC player seems flawless for me.
I also have a ASUS TF700, I installed Android 4.4.4 (CROMBI-KK), MX player, and the stuttering drives me nuts.
There’s a lot of options to enable HW+ in MX player; do I enable all of them? Or just select ones? I’m trying to watch NFL football and my dream to watch it all around the house is fading fast…
Maybe Tablo is just not ready for prime time…brilliant on paper but just not there yet…hope someone can help because my Tablo is headed to eBay if this keeps up
@Barbz the stuttering is not the fault of Tablo, it’s all on Android. Playback on my Nexus 5 with the replaced libstagefright_httplive.so (as linked in an earlier post of mine) is flawless.
I have exactly the same setup as you (TF700, CROMBI-KK, MX player). I’ll double-check my MX settings this evening and post them for you. I still get some stuttering on occasion, but it’s dramatically reduced when using HW+ on MX player.