Recording being broken in multiple videos

What are the reasons why the recordings are bring broken in multiple video files, signal is at 72%, quality of the signal is at 100%, Tablo connected via Ethernet to the router (ASUS RT-AC5300) and I am using a USB 3.0 Toshiba 1TB HD, any guidance on what to look for as a root cause will be appreciated. I have a brand new Tablo Lite, thanks

It may not be anything you can controll. Summertime we get a lot of interference from tree leaves. Good strong breeze can stir them enough to block your signal.
I set my up in Feburary 2017, perfect signal despite being 56 miles from broadcast. Went crazy trying to adjust but am resigned that i will get some breaks

The most likely cause is a signal that’s becoming intermittent at times and the tuner is stopping, then restarting recording. The interruption could be from weak signal or from a signal that’s too strong or from a signal that’s becoming distorted from bad amplification/cabling issues or even from multipath interference.

Is the trouble limited to one or a few channels or is it affecting recordings on all channels you’ve tried?
What is your antenna?
Is it mounted inside / in your attic / outside on the roof?
How far are you from the transmitters (https://antennaweb.org/ is a great reference).
Taking the bearing(s) from your home to the transmitters, are they all in the same direction and are there obstructions outside your home such as trees between the antenna and the transmitters?

Just went through the same issue w/ Tablo support on my 2-tuner unit. I am in a forest where the signal can be at 100% signal strength, but it will drop to zero when trees move in the wind. The unexpected surprise is that a “bad” signal sometimes causes the Tablo to reboot. This causes fragmented recordings on “good” channels being recorded simultaneously with a bad channel. Reboots also kill anything you are watching. After the reboot the Tablo will retry scheduled recordings sometimes causing a reboot every couple of minutes. This is a case where “good” might not mean a “strong” signal.

The same TabloDVR worked AOK in the Denver metro area with less frequent signal issues. In Boulder CO I still have to re-point my antenna when the summer foliage fills in. I also select the UHF feeds for 2 of our VHF primary channels. I also select local low power translators for the 2 PBS channels. I’m down to a few days a year where recordings are degraded or failed.

At my forested rural location, I installed a 2nd 2 tuner Tablo to record my reliable PBS feed while recordings are hit and miss on my weaker stations on my primary Tablo. Using 2 Tablos is not ideal, but it added 2 tuners and allowed me to point antennas in two directions, one with a clear shot without trees. More importantly I have one Tablo that behaves on my “good” channels.

This is probably a firmware issue for the 3rd party tuner chip that Tablo uses. A “bad” signal should never cause a reboot which causes the fragmented recordings… A “bad” signal should cause a poor quality recording, or a “failed” recording like I sometimes get. Tablo could improve their software to stop trying to record after one or two reboots, vs. generating multiple fragments. Tablo could also post-process the fragments into on recording w/ large gaps in the content.

Similar issues are reported for Tivo et al… and the old SimpleTV had a very poor tuner.

I had this kind of problem during summer (see my post summer interference), 100% strength but didn’t know the quality %.

The problem, caused by the trees, was worst because my signal is splited (Tablo 4 tuners).

I added a Channel Master CM-3410 Preamp and my problems are now gone.

Hi nmathon, I just checked your post “summer interference”, did you finally buy the CM-3410 or CM-3412 (as it is in the post)? Where did you connect it, close to the antenna or close to the Tablo?

NOTE: I have the Tablo Lite who comes with an amplifier, do I still need the CM-3410?

Hi,

I am not sure about the Tablo Lite, I have a Tablo 4 tuners only. I bought the CM-3410 because I needed 1 input (only 1 antenna).

I installed it directly from the antenna, just a little 6 inches coax cable and then my 100 feet RG6 coax cable from the CM-1410 to the Tablo.

Today I decided to remove all channels and keep only 1, I’ve been recording for the last 6 hours on that channel and not a single reboot, clearly there is something wrong with the error/exception handling in the Tablo device, later today if all goes ok with 1 channel, I will add a second one and perform similar tests. I hope Tablo will address this as a firmware update soon, the low reliability makes the device unusable to me.

Did you try pluging your coax cable directly into your TV Tuner (if it has one)?

If you see inteference (but probably less), try adding an amp.

Do you have the 2.2.20 firmware update yet for the Lite?

When I was setting up the antenna I performed a very extensive site survey to determine the right location at home and for that I used the TV tuner who provided me with signal power and signal quality, the power was between 70-80% across the board and quality was 100% across the board.

Yes, using the lates FW as of yesterday, nothing changed, same issues so far,

I am using the Antennas Direct ClearStream Eclipse Amplified Sure Grip Indoor HDTV Antenna with USB Cable and USB Power Adapter

https://www.antennasdirect.com/store/ClearStream-Eclipse-Amplified-Digital-TV-Antenna.html

OK, just checking. I haven’t had this issue on the Lite, but usually it is a signal going in and out during a recording.

Yes, if the Tablo recieves a weak broadcast signal it tends to crash, and reboot.
If it was in the middle of recording a channel, then you’ll probably end up with an extra recording for each time the Tablo crashed, and rebooted.
Keep in mind it doesn’t matter how many channels you have that broadcast a weak signal, it matters if the Tablo attemps to use any of those weak signal channels.

so that means if I am not watching or recording on the weak channel nothing should happen?

Ideally, yes. Tablo is actually pretty stable. I haven’t even had a crash due to “weak signal”. But YMMV.

Correct.
I have a couple weak signal channels that I keep, but only record or watch live TV on those channels when I know the signal will be strong enough.
I don’t bother trying to record, nor watch Live TV on those channels when I believe the signals will be weak.

How do you know when the signal will be weak? Is there a tool/device/software that will allow me to monitor live the signal/channels?

It’s pretty unpredictable and tuner scans often times take too long. There are devices out there I believe. But it’s just too variable. Having a strong signal “now” doesn’t mean it’s strong 2 seconds from “now”.