Recording cut off when network router rebooted

Still have 7 more minutes until the end of the show. I am waiting until after 10:30 to reconnect and see if it recorded anything at all.

Sorry, it is 1:30 PM here so I assumed your 10:30 was a while ago. Time zones lol

No worries. I am here in California. Results in 2 minutes…

The results are in. Both shows recorded.

They started on time with no active network connection and recorded the entire run time of the show (+ 5 minutes for some reason). So no issue there. Seems to be only when the network drops in mid recording. I will do more testing.

I got a reply from Tablo Support saying it was just a “coincidence” that the recording was split when the router was rebooted and that Tablo “was not able to get the current time until the network came back up to continue the recordings”.

I find this explanation highly dubious since I was able to recreate the issue with ease. In fact, if Tablo Support wants I can recreate it multiple times. Can’t do it right now (wife is watching TV). However, if I were to accept their explanation that would mean Tablo loses track of the time when the network drops which is a serious flaw in their design.

I sent a reply to support.

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Just another explanation of tablos failed recordings due to “time”.

Originally, tablo lost recordings due to incorrect time. When tablo was asked to allow manual time setting like most products, the answer was heaven forbid can’t due that.

Since tablo often had the incorrect time, the request was made to allow the user to select a more reliable NTP server. No can’t do that we don’t use NTP.

Then tablo claimed that the time was set based on the client. Of course no one knew how often it was collected - if it was set on every client connect,etc. So no user could determine what the issue was.

Then came a series of incorrect times settings when remote connect came from clients whose time was set to a different time zone.

How often do servers, like tablo, recollect the time when not rebooted? Once a week?

If I have a switch between my tablo and my router and I unplug/replug my tablo from my switch does it also recollect the time?

The Tablo should be able to hold the correct time for short periods of network outages and continue to record episodes at the very least.

I hope you get to the bottom of it. Snowcat was not able to replicate your issue when he pulled the network cable from his Tablo while recording so it is very odd.

“The Tablo should be able to hold the correct time for short periods of network outages”

Holy Cow this is 2017 not the 1960’s. What kind of CPU can’t hold or maintain the correct clock ticks so that system time can be calculated.

I agree, it is a serious design flaw if Tablo needs a constant network connection to know what time it is. Time is already set when it is configured and there is no need for it to check the time again unless the unit is rebooted. Does Tablo think I somehow changed time zone in the brief 5 minutes it lost network connection? Or that I was somehow able to travel to a different time zone without cutting the power?

This is why I don’t accept the answer Tablo Support gave me that it somehow lost the current time because it lost a network connection.

Just a note, pulling the cord is not the same as rebooting the router. Not saying that @Homer3D didn’t also do simple “unplug” cable and “plug” scenarios, just noting the the first scenario… it is very different.

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This morning, I had two recordings going and then I unplugged my router. After the network came back up, the recordings were still going strong.

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So… you may ask, “why is it different?” In the case of a full disconnect, there isn’t anything to respond to dhcp renewals. In the case of a router reboot, dhcp could be radically changed, and the Tablo will likely want to at least renew its lease. It’s just a different scenario as the Tablo will have something to hit against that is possibly slightly different than before.

For example, if the router blows away it’s leasing table on reboots, you might not be able to get back the same IP as all devices try to obtain them. Now… a decent router will honor the requested IPs, but you never know.

I don’t think the problem is cause by “change of IP” in this case, just saying there’s a lot of different stuff going on in the case of a router/gw reboot potentially (and of course, every router is potentially different). These router/gw’s also usually hand out the gateway and DNS and possibly more. Just something to keep in mind. You wouldn’t think it would matter, I’m just saying it’s “different” than just an “unplug”.

And what does the DHCP standard say a client should do if it can’t get a renewal?

“If the lease expires and no server has been contacted, the client must
immediately discontinue using its leased IP address. The client then
proceeds to follow the same process used during its initial startup to
obtain a new IP address lease.” I don’t see anything in the standard saying stop what you are doing and go get the time.

But since the user actually wasn’t accessing the ethernet, just wanting a scheduled recording to occur, why should that be impacted by a router reboot? Is there a specific message that the router would send to all clients?

If you sold routers for a living and you went to the CTO of amazon and told them that if the router was rebooted all the real and virtual OS’s in the data center would halt certain operations and go get the time of day what do think their response would be?

I see members of the amazon IT department hauling your routers to the 10th floor of HQ for a proverbial watermelon drop.

@snowcat do you happen to have the 2 or 4 tuner Tablo? I have the 2 tuner. Just seeing if that makes any difference.

Tablo support replied again. This time they are saying at both times, when router rebooted for firmware upgrade and when I manually rebooted the router to recreate the issue, that the reason the recording got split was because the antenna signal dropped. So just so we understand the story support wants me to believe.

When the router rebooted for the firmware upgrade at the same time the antenna signal died.
When the router came back up so did the antenna signal.
When I manually rebooted the router, at this exact time the antenna signal died again
When the router came back up so did the antenna signal.

FYI: I did a rescan and all channels that I have selected come in green.

I feel like support is just grasping at straws here and they don’t really know what is going on. First they said Tablo “lost the time” now they are saying Tablo “lost antenna signal”.

Anyways, I decided to reboot the Tablo because to me it is obvious Tablo is the one having problems. And you know, rebooting fixes everything right? So after I rebooted Tablo, guess what? I can no longer recreate the issue. I started 2 recordings, rebooted my router manually and the recordings were fine. I tried again the next hour with the next 2 shows. Rebooted the router once again in the middle of the recording and no issues. Both recordings completed just fine.

I am not sure what actually was wrong but it is clear my Tablo went stupid and it needed to be rebooted to clear whatever it was stuck on.

Maybe, just like a windows PC, if you don’t reboot it for a long period of time it starts to act funny. Who knows. This is actually the first time I ever rebooted Tablo since I first set it up, except maybe during a power failure. If this issue returns I will see if rebooting Tablo fixes it again. But for now, things are working at expected.

2 Tuner. I also have my Tablo set with a fixed IP address on my router.

I just saw your last post. Glad it is working.

As for rebooting the Tablo, this is why I got this lol

https://community.tablotv.com/t/smart-wifi-plug-25-for-those-who-want-to-remotely-reboot-your-tablo/

Just saw your post here, and reviewed your ticket with the team. We agree the timing is suspect here; we’re going to run a few tests here to see if we can recreate the behaviour you saw.

Just wanted to provide a quick update. I made a post here