I have a QUAD HDMI unit that was recently updated from firmware 2.2.40 to 2.2.42. Since this update I have a very annoying problem at the same time each day.
I have a program set to record between 5:30 pm and 6:00 pm and I am watching that program while it records. At 6:00 pm I start to watch the next program on the same TV channel but it is not being recorded. At about 6:01 pm my program watching is interrupted by a message about the recording that has just ended.
I have images showing the scheduled recording, a frame of the 6:00 pm start program before it was interrrupted, and the message that caused the interruption. This did not happen with firmware 2.2.40.
I am only allowed to post one image so only the end of recording message is included.
Please fix this quickly or give me the option to revert to 2.2.40.
Are you watching the program by clicking on the program itself in the live TV guide? If so, playback ends when that program ends. In that case, try clicking on the channel name instead of the program name and see if you still get the same message at the end of the recording.
I have always selected a program that I want to watch by clicking on the specific program in the program guide. I can then watch all the subsequent programs and live viewing is not terminated when the clicked program ends.
In this particular case I was watching the next program, and had been watching it for over a minute, when it was interrupted by the previously posted message.
Odd, the way it’s always worked for me is like noted in this knowledge base article (i.e. clicking on the program stops live playback after the program ends)…
On my HDMI unit clicking the program always allowed watching that program and all subsequent programs. It still does after the update to firmware 2.2.42.
What appears to have changed with 2.2.42 is that watching the next program is interrupted if the clicked program was also being recorded.
I may have to learn to click the channel not the program but I’d much prefer it to have uninterrupted viewing if I click the program.
Think of it this way. If you want to watch a particular program, you click on the program. If you want to watch a particular channel, no matter what program is on, you click on the channel.
The network connected Tablos have operated this way for many years. It’s possible that the HDMI connected Tablos were not originally programed that way, but Tablo tries to keep their products as similar as possible.
I clicked on a program that was active (current time was within the program time span) and selected record this program. I then clicked the channel for the program that was being recorded and watched the program that was being recorded.
When the program ended the screen reverted to the program guide but there was no message about the end of the recorded program. When I select the current program for viewing I found that the buffer started at the time I had selected the program and the beginning of the program had been lost despite the fact that the channel was still flashing red. (flashing red normally indicates that a tuner has been allocated to that channel and the program is being buffered)
2.2.42 does not allow me to continuously watch a program I am recording and the program that follows it.
I contacted Tablo support and received instructions to put my Tablo in troubleshooting mode. I did that and reproduced both cases of the reported problem. Still waiting for support to answer if they captured the events.
I attempted to reproduce this problem on a second Quad HDMI unit using a hard drive that had been previously been formatted and used on the same Tablo. Long story cut short but I could not set up that unit without wiping the hard drive with DISKPART Clean and a fresh NTFS format.
Then, starting with a hard reset and with the freshly formatted drive connected, I took the Quad HDMI through all the setup steps. I then found that clicking on a program in the guide did not offer the option to wach the program. It only allowed setup for recording. That is consistent with what earlier posters had reported.
I’m not going to type up all my notes but it became very clear that Tablo Quad HDMI unit has very poor handling of any hard drive data errors and can produce completely different user screens than a unit with the same firmware and a freshly formatted hard drive.
In short, Tablo handling of any HD data corruption is very poorly implemented. The Tablo could say "Hard drive is corrupted. Attempt reformat?. No, instead of doing that it goes off into some area of the code that produces completely different user dialog and different functionality.
Note that here was nothing physically wrong with the hard drive.
For the other Quad HDMI I’m faced with the choice of accepting the strange but totally repeatable way it works, or cleaning the hard drive with the loss of all recorded programming.
Tablo support blamed the interruption of the next program on hard drive corruption that could not be corrected by remote diagnostics. I was instructed to replace the hard drive.
As well as the initial problem that started this thread I have found that some programs that were scheduled to be recorded (all episodes) have been dropped off the recording schedule. Multiple attempts to put them back on an “all episodes” recording schedule have failed. Only recording of single programs works for these dropped programs.
I can still record programs, playback programs, and rip recorded programs to my PC hard drive all without error.
The inability to schedule programs forced me to change my Tablo Quad HDMI configuration. Note that this Tablo has an active program guide subscription:
I cleaned and formatted a hard drive.
I performed a hard reset of the Tablo Quad HDMI with the hard drive attached
I went through all steps of the setup which included Tablo formatting the drive without any reported error,
I clicked on a program that was currently playing.
I was given the options to Watch or record.
I selected record and then selected the program again and selected watch.
When the recording ended my live watching of the next program was terminated by an end of recording message.
All of this is exactly as I described previously. I think it is improbable that this freshly formatted drive was corrupted in the first few minutes of use.
I performed the same test series on a Tablo Quad HDMI that does not have a program guide subscription assigned. On that Tablo clicking an active program only gave the option to record and no option to watch. I could only watch the program by clicking the channel.
