Just to give an update, my 100% redundancy saved the day again this morning. Good Morning America (ABC) had video delayed out of sync from the audio during playback on my Tablo 4th Gen Quad, but played back just fine on my AirTV Anywhere feeding off the same split antenna signal.
This is in Houston, where I’m guessing the broadcasting codecs sometimes might be more cutting edge than elsewhere. So far at least, AirTV has never exhibited this problem, and I’m sure Tablo will eventually fix it, if/when so inclined. I’ve offered to allow the developers to log into my system, but so far, they haven’t reached out to me.
Update: Happened again with ABC World News. Once again, my AirTV Anywhere saved the day.
Hi, I’m looking for help for these issues as well. I had to buy a Roku as Vizio doesn’t have the Tablo app (4th gen) and am wondering if there’s just too much “stuff” that my ota channels have to go through. My ota channel recordings are horrible, the video freezes after 1-3 seconds, but the audio is fine for a few minutes, then it stops unless I rewind or FF. Online channels playback fine, Guide works fine. Trying to watch live tv (ota) through Tablo has same issue, video freezes, audio keeps going. I have to unplug my coax(?) from Tablo and plug straight back into tv to watch live ota channels. Signal is great 98% of the time.
I just found out while tinkering around that I can watch ota recorded shows & live ota channels on my Tablo app on my iPhone. It seems to playback just fine, so I screen mirrored it to my tv to watch. Of course now the problem is I can’t use my phone at the same time. This makes me think the problem is it’s having to play through the Roku Express- again when I playback through my phone it seems that it recorded fine, so no antenna/signal problem. Apparently I just need the Tablo app straight on my Vizio tv- please add the Tablo app to Vizio tv’s soon!!! @TabloTV
Personally, I have been using FireTV Cube and/or Firestick 4K Max for all my Tablo viewing – generally no issues, other than a bit of reception-related pixelation on really windy days. I understand Roku devices are very popular, but there certainly seem to be more issue discussed on this forum with Roku devices than any other. Good luck.
I use a Roku Express 4K+, Roku Ultra, Roku Streaming Stick 4K and a Roku Soundbar (now called Streambar Pro). None of them have experienced sync issues unless the recording was bad due to poor antenna reception, usually during a hard rainstorm. It’s never happened to me during live TV.
If it works streaming from your phone but not the to the Roku Express you might want to check if you have good wireless connection it. inSSIDer is a great program to check this. I’ve also heard that the older Roku Express units didn’t have the best WNICs in them.
When I first bought my Tablo 4th Gen Dual in January, the Tablo website showed the Roku Express as compatible. Wrong. Didn’t work. Tech support said I needed at least a Roku Express 4K+, and after I howled about the deceptive website, Tablo removed the Roku Express from the website’s list. (I’m sure I can dig up the screenshots and e-mails if anyone would like proof.)
When I looked it up a few weeks ago, I believe it only had Roku on the list of devices, but not a specific type of Roku which would have been helpful. Nevertheless I’ve got to find something that works while I can still send the Roku Express back! Hopefully tomorrow I can research & order something else.
Update: I bought a Fire tv stick 4k Max, hooked it up last night and everything seems to be working great! I’m still learning some things about it, but I recommend using it if you’re having playback issues or trouble watching live ota channels.
This sync issue still exists. It happens mostly to Houston-area broadcasts on channel 13.1 KTRK (ABC). But tonight, it also happened on channel 2.1 KPRC (NBC). In all cases, the audio is fine, but the video gets behind the audio, making the show unwatchable.
My workaround of having an AirTV Anywhere as a backup has served me well. It gets the same antenna signal off a splitter. Not once has the AirTV had any sync issues, unlike Tablo 4th Gen Dual and Quad.
So I record everything on both DVRs. If it’s watchable on Tablo, great, because I prefer its playback controls. If it’s not watchable on Tablo, then I watch the same show, recorded off the same antenna at the same time, on my AirTV. That unit always works.
Someday, the Tablo programmers will fix the problem. Until they do, I’ll keep this thread alive with an occasional update.
Hang in there Art! Since my last update over a month ago, I’ve only had one playback issue that I can recall- the audio was sped up and out of sync/ahead of video on the program I record 6 days per week. No matter what I tried, it just wouldn’t get back in sync. I believe it happened right after a Tablo update. There’s been a couple of little quirky things when pausing & replaying live ota tv, & idk how much is Tablo & how much is the Firestick. Overall I’m 98.5% happy, but I believe it will be even better when Tablo will have apps available for all tv’s and we can bypass playback devices.
Thanks for the update. Here in Houston, the sync issue happens mostly with KTRK channel 13.1, the ABC affiliate. But it also happens (albeit more rarely) with other channels.
This morning, it happened with KPRC 2.1, the NBC affiliate.
Key points:
The video is a significant number of seconds behind the audio, making it unwatchable (although it’s still listenable).
Once it’s recorded out of sync, that’s the way it plays back, no matter on what device. In my case, Roku, Android phone and Galaxy tablet. They all show video behind audio.
I have an AirTV Anywhere whose antenna signal comes off a splitter from the same indoor antenna that feeds the Tablo 4th Gen Quad. My AirTV Anywhere has NEVER shown this sync issue, even while recording exactly the same antenna signal that feeds the Tablo. This sync issue is a purely Tablo issue, not a transmission problem.
Tablo support has NEVER contacted me to ask to log into my DVR so they can examine the raw data files.
I’ve seen this exact issue on all four Tablo 4th Gen products I’ve bought (one Dual and 3 Quads, all but one returned).
Happened again on KPRC 2.1, the NBC affiliate, in addition to the usual KTRK 13.1, the ABC affiliate. Again my AirTV recorded everything just fine on the same antenna signal. I never retain those defective Tablo recordings because no one at Tablo has ever reached out to me to examine the files.
This issue (video way behind audio) occurs about 30% of the time on Houston’s ABC channel 13.1 and about 20% of the time on Bounce, which is Houston’s channel 49.2. In each and every case, my AirTV Anywhere records the same program at the same time off an antenna splitter.
I’m now to the point that I have to set all ABC and Bounce recordings to start 10 minutes early, and I have to set my alarm to check that recording within those 10 minutes. If the recording is bad, I delete it and start a new recording. If I fail to catch it in time, I still have my AirTV recording.
I was forced to move to Tablo after my TiVo 6-tuner Roamio OTR system failed, and with TiVo no longer supporting OTR DVR systems. TiVo was certainly more stable without the many problems I see with Tablo. One big nuisance issue is occasional audio/video sync (or intermittent audio) issues. Never saw this with OTR TiVo. TiVo Support claims that this is an antenna issue, but this unlikely since I never had any issues with my antenna while using TiVo. This problem appears to be a readback issue of the recorded file because playback intermittently change when replaying - some spots that previously had no sound plays when replayed. I’m wondering if I’m seeing a recording in a memory location with bad data, that their product testing doesn’t perform a thorough memory test to catch bad hardware.
I’ve had this problem for over a year, usually with Houston’s ABC affiliate KTRK 13.1. But tonight it happened on the CBS affiliate KHOU 11.1. So it’s not a KTRK issue. It’s a Tablo issue.
It recorded perfectly on my AirTV Anywhere fed off an antenna splitter from the indoor antenna. When I discovered the problem on my Tablo, I stopped the recording and restarted it, and the restarted recording was just fine.
I’ve talked about this issue until I’m blue in the face, and this is the LAST time I’m going to offer Tablo to log into my system to see what the defective raw files look like. Next Thurday, the 8th at 8:00 AM I’m deleting it, so time is limited.
I’m still learning some things about it, but I recommend using it if you’re having playback issues or trouble watching live ota channels.