Intermittent issues are the absolute worst… So hard to diagnose.
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New info: Here’s this morning’s issue, a bad recording at 6:50 AM, which I stopped, then restarted, yielding a good recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b-aHG5UxahgE13qK0p-SnoOGpbSGFv28/view?usp=sharing
What’s new is that I’ve quantified the delay. The video plays for 1 second, then it hesitates for 1/2 second, then repeats over and over again. The audio continues playing in real time. But these 1/2 second hesitations of the video keep accumulating very quickly to make the recording unwatchable (it’s listenable, but not watchable).
Here’s a 5-second clip unedited: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EVfO3D2D-qh7o6JCXp3IlDK9FaUwobKl/view?usp=sharing
Here’s that same clip with the 1/2-second hesitations removed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E1Q34tHwptPC_pqjD6LjHSJE6iP3mc7n/view?usp=sharing
You can see that removing the 1/2-second hesitations almost completely makes the video smooth.
My hope is that this additional information will help @TabloTV @TabloEngineering @TabloSupport figure out the root cause. Thanks.
I had to watch it twice. I was expecting to see lips not syncing with the audio, but that was not relevant here. I watched the first clip again and could see the freeze and move issue you were talking about. I can see how that would be annoying.
It’s more than annoying, it’s unwatchable. Please see that first (long) clip for a few minutes, and you’ll see that it’s completely unwatchable.
Now that I’ve quantified the hesitations, a 60-second clip will have 60 seconds of audio playing just fine, but 90 seconds of video. Those 60 seconds of video get spread out to 90 seconds, because every 1 second of video also gets a 1/2 second of hesitation.
Thanks very much for replying.
For the first time, I captured the transition from a good recording into one with the 1/2 second delays. It starts at about the 15-second mark of this video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AkRK-c0HOD9_BXUL7S-FTcNd1ThXK7CA/view?usp=sharing . In the “Beauty Myths” segment, notice the hesitation of the beach’s waves. From that point on, these 1/2-second hesitations keep accumulating until the video is badly delayed from the perfectly good audio, ultimately failing with a spinning circle.
Until now, I had believed that if the recording starts out good (not out of sync with 1/2-second hesitations), that it would stay a good recording. This is my first captured counterexample.
Not sure if KTRK 13.1 switched from one codec to another mid-broadcast, or if the Tablo software is the issue.
As stated previously, this issue occurs mostly on Houston’s KTRK 13.1 channel, but I’ve also seen it on others.
I’m sorry you’re still, after >1 year, experiencing this same issue. Have you considered starting at the beginning to reassess signal reception, hard drive, and network and concentrate on fixing this issue for one device? …like a mobile phone or tablet because they’re portable and remove the audio devices and streamers from the equation.
Good luck.
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Here’s the exact same broadcast recorded at exactly the same time on my AirTV Anywhere. It and my Tablo 4th Gen Quad are fed off a splitter from the same antenna: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dqav62kuMmtZCy4qIxZ7BHyrid72M7la/view?usp=sharing . Looks perfectly fine. No change at the 15-second mark.
I don’t think anyone can solve your problem by looking at the sync issue videos. I didn’t read the entire thread so I’m sorry if this is a rehash…but did you already swap the two device locations?..swapping only the Tablo devices to see if the problem moves with the device or stays at the same location might tell you if it’s the device or the infrastructure.
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Big discovery: In addition to the 1/2-second video hesitations, I just discovered that the audio speeds up a little.
Here are both the Tablo (left) and AirTV (right) recordings on the same screen. The Tablo audio is in the left stereo channel, and the AirTV audio is in the right stereo channel: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LxSprNwWbjfS1a8NrbA3HoRHjjUVEkZ0/view?usp=sharing
Notice that they’re exactly the same until the 15-second mark. Then the Tablo (left) starts hesitating the video with a slightly faster audio, while the AirTV (right) continues just fine.
Maybe this additional information will help the Tablo personnel figure out what the problem is with their product. Hopefully someday.
I should ask, what do you think the problem is? Because I don’t think anyone can solve this problem by looking at out-of-sync videos. Otherwise, you’d have had a fix long ago.
I would try isolation testing on a single, problematic device. I would completely remove the other devices from the network and antenna or power them down. Minimize the amount of RG-6 cable between the antenna and Tablo, remove all splitters and connect directly to a Cat6 Ethernet cable to your router and let that run for a few days/recordings. Finally, test with a mobile phone or tablet on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, not a TV or streamer app. Hopefully you’ll have acceptable results.
We had similar issues here in the D/FW area with our CBS affiliate but it seems to have resolved and I don’t think any of us know why or how.
I quit posting here when Houston’s KTRK channel 13.1 (ABC affiliate) has this sync issue. It happens about 10-15% of the time. My AirTV Anywhere provides backup recordings which have never shown this pesky sync issue.
However, this morning, it also happened on Houston’s KPRC channel 2.1 (NBC affiliate). I’ll provide the footage of my findings later this morning.
I appreciate your advice, but it’s misplaced. This problem has existed on all four of the Tablo 4th Gen products I’ve possessed in the last year and a half (3 Quads and one Dual). Without spending yet more time explaining all my tests all over again, let me just say it’s clearly a Tablo DVR issue. Happens mostly on one channel, but as I reported today, it’s happened on a variety of other channels, albeit rarely.
Again, thanks for your well-meaning advice.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the Tablo & AirTV recordings: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Z5lrdKEGygXvuSa4Zi-ffzeTL1DjUnQ/view?usp=sharing
Notice the Tablo recording’s video has half-second hesitations once every second, but the audio is slightly speeded up a bit faster than the AirTV’s audio. So Tablo’s video is slowed, but its audio is accelerated.
On the right side you see and hear the AirTV’s perfect recording at the same time and off the same indoor antenna using a splitter. Both DVRs (Tablo & AirTV) are ethernet directly connected to my Verizon 5G router.
Here’s all the raw footage that I used to create the above composite video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xu3QXGUn_OFboVzt8DKRGjGfO3es5tIU/view?usp=sharing
You see two Today Show recordings, because once I discovered the initial Tablo recording was faulty, I stopped that recording and started a new one that was just fine.