I have a Sony Bravia XR-77A80K TV. I recently replaced my defunct old generation Tablo with the latest 4 channel version. When playing recorded shows the app frequently crashes.
This happens in one of two ways: either the app shuts itself down and I go back to the TV home screen or the video stops and it shows the ‘Resume’ menu but as soon as I hit OK on the remote the app crashes.
Sometimes this happens every 10 minutes or so, sometimes it will go a few hours with no problem. I have tried clearing the cache, re-installing the app, etc., with no effect.
I see an earlier report (Tablo (4th gen) app crashing watching recordings on Sony Bravia - #2 by Lenlabnj) but no solutions.
Any help?
I run it on a Sony Bravia 8 and a Sony Bravia 3. Both are Google TV (Android). Both are ethernet connected to my home network. No real issues beyond the “normal” Tablo “features”. 
I know that doesn’t help, other than to say it works on both, so not a compatibility thing.
The only advice I have is to ensure everything is up to date. Make sure the network stuff is solid. There is a Google TV speed test app you can install that provides some help on confirming network performance to the TV. It’s called “Internet Speed Test” on the Google TV app store.
Of course, the other side of the equation is the whole RF signal thing, including antenna, coax, splitters, amps, yada yada. Confirming you have good RF signal quality to the Tablo can be done by simply running a coax directly to the TV and running a channel scan. Sony Bravias have signal diagnostics that can be helpful.
I should add that marginal signals can cause Tablo app crashes. Once that happens, you need to go in to the Google TV app settings and clear the Tablo app cache. Exiting the Tablo app in any way besides the “Yes, exit Tablo” button can leave trash in the cache as well.
Sorry, read your post again. If you have external storage you need to check that for compatibility. Tablo is picky about that.
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No external storage, however, the Tablo is connected by WiFi, not Ethernet.
The way operating systems are supposed to work they should not be able to tell whether I am using WiFi.
Just to be clear: this is almost certainly the Tablo app which is crashing, not the Tablo itself. No other app on the TV is even remotely unstable.
Still, I will connect via ethernet and see if that helps
Thanks
Agree it is the Tablo app that is usually the culprit. It is very picky and does not handle any sort of video or audio anomalies in the data stream well at all. At least in my experience. I have seen recordings choke the app on occasion. Live TV can be running fine on a clean feed. Recordings from the day before can contain data issues from poor reception the day before (sunspots, interference, aliens). Sometimes very hard to debug what’s actually going on.
I suppose it’s possible your Tablo has something wrong with its internal data storage. You might try recording something live that you know has a clean signal. Then play it back. If it chokes, that would at least eliminate a “bad signal” related issue. Then maybe see if it’s a wifi thing. Again, if you can get clean live feed and crappy playback of same, wifi is probably also ok. I think at that point I would suspect something in the internal data storage may be the problem.
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Thanks for the reply. I haven’t noticed any relationship between bad recordings (with artifacts) and crashes but I think what I will do is see if re-starting the recording from an earlier point leads to a crash at the same point.
I do have a couple stations I know to be flaky, especially with rainfall, but these crashes are not happening on those channels.
It does seem rather odd that Tablo is happy with the fact that (apparently) a bad feed causes the app the crash. That is rather poor software design …
I have posted more than once that the Tablo playback capability (both live and recorded) should be at least as robust as a typical modern TV tuner. All 4 of my TVs have direct coax connect for OTA TV, and I have never seen any of them “crash” because the live signal feed is crap (weather, aliens, whatever). They just pixelate and move on.
However, the Tablo “tech” (hardware/software) is much less robust and can easily be crashed by signal quality issues. This includes both RF (antenna/coax) and network (usually flaky wifi). These are always the top 2 causes for issues with the Tablo in my experience.
I have high-end gear on both the RF side and the network side, and have spent many hours trying to optimize such. Generally, Tablo is pretty reliable in my house and the wife and I use it almost everyday. My wife sometimes records dozens of shows she later “FF’s” through to catch up. BUT, Tablo still has bad days sometimes. Sort of frustrating.
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I almost never watch live TV and if I did I’d use my TV tuner to do so. My WiFi is strong in this room. I can’t do much about the TV signal because I am in the country. That said, all the channels I record (except 1) are generally pretty strong.