There is a 30 minute show that airs from 4:30am to 5:00am on Tuesdays on our local PBS station. When I selected the show in the guide to record, I ended up with 4 entries in recordings for this title with the same description (day, date and time), but when clicking on them for more detail they have lengths of 2 minutes, 1 minute, 1 minute, and 1 minute. And none of them can be played. This happened two weeks in a row, so I then deleted the schedule for this and created a manual recording schedule (channel, time, length). The same thing happened with this one. I do not believe it is a weak signal since I have my Tablo (Table Duo Lite OTA DVR) and my TiVo 12 inches apart connected to the same antenna via a 1-to-2 splitter, and the TiVo has made perfect recordings of this program every time. (I am fairly new to Tablo, and therefore comparing it to my TiVo while waiting for the ATSC 3.0 Tablo). I can watch this PBS station live via my Tablo with no problems. (I have not tried watching it live during the 4:30am show though.)
Any ideas?
I’d open a ticket with @TabloSupport. I know you don’t think it is a signal issue but they would be able to confirm that. A common cause of multiple recording “segments” is signal issues. Maybe it’s an signal problem isolated to certain times of the day or weather?
OK, I will open a support ticket. Thanks!
Well, I did open a ticket and was contacted by support, but I never could really get beyond the basic scripted responses. I still think that there is some incompatibility issue between my Tablo Dual Lite and my local PBS station since:
- My TiVo has no issues with this PBS station and shows that this is a high quality signal
- My TV tuner has no issues with this PBS station
- My new Zapperbox M1 has no issues with this PBS station. The Zapperbox show the following information for this channel:
Lock status: locked
Frequency 177 MHz
Signal Strength: -49 dBm
Signal/Noise Ratio: 28.7 dB
Signal Quality: 74%
Hopefully the upcoming Tablo ATSC 3.0 Quad HDMI box will have improved tuners.
I have the same problem, constantly, on multiple stations. One station antenna is 10 miles from my house so it’s not a weak signal issue for sure. Sometimes recordings are fine, but most times I get the 4 very short recordings on all my stations regardless of broadcast antenna location. Two local stations broadcast from the same exact tower with transmitters equal in power, one station records fine and the other fails, with programs airing on the same date and at the same time! Last night, when trying to view a program that recorded fine, the Tablo kept freezing and disconnecting. These problems have been going on for months now, I already replaced the internal HD and the power supply and installed a fan based laptop cooler under the Tablo to ensure it’s not a heat issue. I’m done even trying to use this anymore, I’m going to subscribe to YouTube TV and put this piece of trash on a shelf.
I have the same problem. It started a few months ago with multiple 1-minute recordings. For the record:
- I have 5 star signal strength with an external antenna.
- Happens to several stations not just one. I have rescanned and tried an alternative station without success.
- Doesn’t seem to be weather related
- Have a two-channel recording system that using direct Ethernet for TV access.
- Have related all recordings, recorded channels and recreated the list without success. It happens enough that I’m paying to watch failed recording on Amazon Prime. Getting to the point Tablo doesn’t seem worth it.
- Again, NOT signal related. I have two large cities (North and South) and have tried multiple stations with the issue continuing periodically.
Wish Tablo had a better solution to these problems other than saying it’s signal related.
Sigh.
Does your antenna have a signal booster or amplifier? Tablos can’t handle too strong of a signal and it may cause your unit to stop recording if the incoming signal overwhelms the tuner. If you do have an amplifier try turning it off if possible or disconnecting the power to the amplifier.
Also, you didn’t mention what type or size of harddrive you are using. Is it possible that your harddrive is having trouble writing to the disk and causing it to break up into multiple segments?
I had the same problem. A one hour long program would be broken up into three or four snippets. None of them would play on my Roku TV, but I could watch them from a tablet. Yesterday, I followed the factory reset instructions here: Factory Reset
Since then I have made five scheduled recordings successfully. I’m hoping that this has fixed the problem.
It has been 24 days since my factory reset and the Tablo has worked perfectly ever since.
I’m having the same issue that also started months ago. I think it might have to do with a software update or something like that because nothing has changed on my end and everything had been working ok for years prior to a few months ago. I think Tablo saying it’s due to a signal issue is a common copout companies use to cover an error on their end they are not aware of yet or don’t know how to fix. Trust me, the signals at my house have not changed from the time things have been working to the time I’m getting these multiple short recordings. I also have an old Channel Master DVR+ I actually prefer because it also will record and play if the internet is down, the only problem is they discontinued it but mine is still working. I have recorded the same TV programs on the Tablo and the CM and the CM records ok when the Tablo does not. I might just scrap this Tablo if they don’t fix this soon. Does anyone know of a OTA DVR that will record and play without internet and no monthly fee?
Do you have any trees or anything that could be interfering right now? You mentioned the issue started a few months ago, which would be about the time trees are starting to leaf, etc. We have a station that is on the very edge of our antenna range that has reception issues, but only when the trees are full during that part of the year.