I have an episode of Law and Order organized crime that recorded fine (NBC being my strongest channel) but simply will not play. It just has the neverending spinning blue circle. I can fast forward through the whole show and see each scene, but no matter where I stop in the recording, it just gives me the endless spin. I did all the usual…reloading, clearing cache, rebooting, etc. Nothing in fact, everything I do on the Tablo is very slow with a spinning circle at each stage. But it is just this one recording that won’t play. I’ve experienced this sluggishness issue before and it generally ‘fixes itself’. But this one episode being unplayable is new to me. I truly hate this device and use it only as a dvr now - and of course that is even letting me down.
Have you tried to see if you can view that recording on a different device, like a phone?
I’ll try that, but I won’t watch it on a phone. I’ll watch it on the NBC app (not peacock, which charges). I’ll report back on the phone experiment. Thanks.
There was the typical long load time, but once it loaded, it did play on my phone. I’ll recheck the Tablo unit on my TV in a bit and report back again.
Why not also indicate what device/model doesn’t work.
It still does not play on my Tablo 4th gen using an ONN streaming box. All other recordings do play.
I don’t think I ever went a whole month without an issue since I owned this device. Which is since it first came out, BTW. I no longer watch tv through it - I have a splitter so I can watch with much better reception on my TV. I only use it as a dvr now, but even then, these nagging issues crop up. I really dislike the product, BUT it is the best available (affordable) option for recording OTA TV.
Thanks for letting me vent. I’ll watch that non-playable episode on the free NBC app now. I can’t believe they still have one! Thanks again.
I just started having the same issue on my Tablo 4th gen on all three of my different Roku devices. I have one recording that locks up after a few minutes of play. The same problem started on another recording but if I closed the recording and then opened it to resume play I could watch it…but I had to do this repeatedly through the whole recording. This is a new problem for me. Anyone have any suggestions?
There will be no answers forthcoming, just endless things you can try. Bottom line is those recordings can’t be fixed. I hate it as much as you do, but it’s a flawed device. There’s just no better options. I wish you luck.
It would be helpful if you provided the model number(s) of the Roku devices.
If it makes you feel any better, i have seen this happening several times on my HDMI Tablo version, you can tell right away there will be a problem with the recording because the audio and video are off, then just freezes after a few minutes and won’t play anymore.
I think this is the first time seeing mentioned but yeah it happens even on the older models, I thought it was a problem with the TV station signal but recently i had this happen again on the HDMI version so i went to check the 4th generation recording of the same show show and the recording was fine on that device.
Mine is occurring on the 4th gen Tablo. I was able to play it on my phone but there was no audio! It’s pretty obvious Tablo failed to properly record it - the reason doesn’t matter. All my other recordings from that evening (same channel) were just fine. It could have been a reception issue, even though that channel has my strongest signal. However, the difference between viewing ANY channel through Tablo rather than directly on my TV is quite stark. I cannot even watch Fox most of the time through the Tablo, but if i switch over to my TV, it is problem free. At this stage, I only use the Tablo as a DVR, but in some cases, even that fails me. It’s not the end of the world - it’s just tv entertainment - but it is frustrating and disappointing.
Your TV has a much better tuner than the Tablo. I occasionally have audio and or playback issues. Usually specific to one certain channel even though I get strong signal. Do you have a poster on your antenna? Do you have the antenna booster on in Tablo Settings? Sometimes if both, they can tend to over boost the signal. Experiment with toggling off. Also do you have more than one splitter from the antenna in to TV and Tablo. I have also known splitters to fail, so look at replacing and only split once if possible.
I’ve always believed the primary cause is the inferior tuner(s) in the Tablo. I have an antenna on my roof, and it is amplified. In fact, I also have a rotor and a TV that allows me to aim to the north and automatically scan those channels, then move the antenna south and manually scan for those channels. With the Tablo (and most TV models) you have to choose your direction. I find no difference in performance whether the Tablo built-in booster is on or not. Logically, you would think it would over-boost and cause issues, but it has not been my experience. Perhaps it is making up for the minimal loss from my splitter. I use a single splitter, by the way. After using this thing (4th gen) since its inception, I’ve decided it’s best to watch TV the ‘old-fashioned’ way and use the white box as a DVR. It mostly fulfills that function.