Sync'ing

Can someone tell me what is actually happening each time a sync takes place?  It is one of the most frustrating aspects of the Tablo that I can’t wrap my head around. I’m usually not using a tablet or laptop to access the Tablo when I’m at home, that’s what the Roku 3 boxes are for connected to the TVs.  So when I’m on the road, trying to access recordings or even live TV and I haven’t sync’d up via wifi in a week or so the tablet or phone says it no longer knows about the Tablo and tries to resync again.  This fails when I’m not on the same network as the Tablo, so that means I have to be cognoscente of syncing before leaving on a trip.


When I get back and carry out a sync, it takes forever.  Why can’t the clients just access the media on the Tablo directly rather than going through the sync process?

What kind of smartphones and tablets are you using? What version of the OS is running on said devices? The most recent Tablo firmware update improved sync times with Android devices.

I have never had sync problems with my iPhone 5 or iPad Air, but running iOS 8. If I do not sync either device frequently then Tablo Connect sometimes does not work outside of the house. Remember to use Tablo Connect to connect to your Tablo remotely it needs to be paired with the Tablo locally - I don’t know how often this pairing needs to be refreshed. Now I just sync locally or remotely every 1-2 days and I have zero problems. Sync’ing takes about 30-60 seconds each time.

I’ve tested all this on a Nexus 5 running Lollipop and it works fine with the web app.

Sync time seems to be fairly long regardless of device (HTC One M7, iPad 2, any laptop running Windows 7/8 and Chrome) where it will take up to 10 minutes. I’ve paired my devices locally, many times, the issue is that if I don’t continually pair them over and over and over again every few days it’s like they forget (and this isn’t just one device, it’s all devices that were previously paired with the Tablo).


Anyhow, back to my original question, why sync?  What’s the purpose of it?  I have other media devices that I have far more content on than I do with the Tablo that I can access remotely without ever having to pair or be sync’d to, so I can’t imagine the rationale would be for some form of optimization.

@virtualuk, where do you get schedule changes, dynamic graphics?  I think this is a lot of what the syncing thing is about.

Now… could all of that be done “live” with pulls on demand?  Perhaps so.   Just might take a bit of rethinking on the design side.

And again, I’m just taking a wild guess…




@cjcox - If I go to any programmer website for their live schedule or Netflix/Hulu for their VOD I don’t have to cache anything. Why would Tablo be any different?  I would argue that those have far greater data volumes than the Tablo is retaining, they’re remote, they don’t require sync’ing and they are a hell of a lot faster in terms of rendering the UI.

Netflix isn’t OTA, neither is Hulu.  Just saying.  Tablo uses an external provider of guide data (and other things).  Again, I’m just guessing about why the sync is needed… but not really sure if it can be designed around or if it’s required.

The guide data of yesterday may be inaccurate with regards to guide data today.  Of course there’s always the new things, but even changes in schedule and other data can occur.

Could this all be done “live” somehow and still give people what they want?  Maybe not.  I mean, Tablo presents things in a “friendly” way… if the details were not given and you had to drill down on each thing, then maybe there would be no need for the sync thing.  But since it’s all posters, etc… that info needs to be up to date.

(and again, I’m merely guessing…)

What has external guide data got to do with sync’ing between the Tablo and the device?  I thought (perhaps wrongly) that poster art, etc. comes via the net not OTA.  Either way, if you’re turning on the device that hasn’t been synced in a few days and you have to wait 10 minutes it’s a huge source of frustration and definitely not an attractive “feature”.  I would rather them present old data and correct it after the fact than miss 10 minutes of a game, program, etc.

@virtualuk, I agree this needs to be sped up, but it also syncs recordings, scheduled shows. So if while it is syncing if you dive into recordings you will see older data until the sync is complete.


While it’s sync’ing I can’t get to any other features (the menu bar disappears while it’s syncing).  I just sync’d my laptop just a couple of days ago and now it’s sync’ing again :confused:


BTW - FWIW - totally different topic, I signed up for the lifetime subscription yesterday.  For as much moaning about the product, I am hoping that it can be polished.  I just wish the Tablo folks would open up the APIs (I’ve been too busy/lazy to put wireshark on sniff traffic between the Roku and the Tablo) so we could attempt to put something together that’s more aesthetically pleasing than the current Roku app (yes, I know they’ve hired a dev, but seems like that’s moving along at glacier speed).

@virtualuk I agree, however, not fully knowing the development process for Roku I am not sure I am qualified to say that :wink:


And now the Sync you are talking about sounds like a full sync and I do not see that unless I go to the other Tablo I have not been to for a very long time. I wonder if there is some sort of, if it has been more than n number of days then do a full sync vs a quick sync.

@virtualUK - Thanks for investing in lifetime. :slight_smile: In exchange, I’ll give you a bit of insight into the Roku development process as well as info on the API.


We have hired someone who is 100% dedicated to Roku. What you don’t know, is that the majority of our other devs are also hard at work on the new Roku channel as well. 

Why does it take so much manpower? Well… Most third-party Roku channels use the ‘standard’ Roku interface which is what we have now. If you look at other channels (outside of a few big companies like Netflix) they all look pretty much the same.

Roku’s standard interface gives developers standard building blocks to create applications for the box and makes it fairly easy to create something that works. 

There is no framework for ANYTHING else nor can you really build a lot on top of those standard building blocks. 

So, if you want something that doesn’t look or work like the standard Roku interface (oh say, a LIVE TV grid guide) you’ve got to build it from scratch (literally telling Roku where to place elements and how they’re supposed to work). 

So needless to say, we’ve been working REALLY hard on making this happen and it’s looking really cool. (A recent demo of what’s done put a big smile on the CEO’s face!) 

We know we’ve been talking about this for a long time, but the reality is that it’s a HUGE amount of work. We’ll get there but some patience is still needed for us to get it looking awesome and still provide all of the functionality you’re used to.


Now, as for APIs… The basis of the new Roku app (and what took a lot of work as well) is a new (DOCUMENTED!) API. Once we have the documentation finalized and are happy with everything, we’ll definitely be looking at launching more projects like the one we did with Mike & Dave for Plex. 

Thanks for the update, looking forward to both the new Roku and APIs being made available :slight_smile:

@virtualUK - Thanks for investing in lifetime. :) In exchange, I'll give you a bit of insight into the Roku development process as well as info on the API.

We have hired someone who is 100% dedicated to Roku. What you don't know, is that the majority of our other devs are also hard at work on the new Roku channel as well. 

Why does it take so much manpower? Well... Most third-party Roku channels use the 'standard' Roku interface which is what we have now. If you look at other channels (outside of a few big companies like Netflix) they all look pretty much the same.

Roku's standard interface gives developers standard building blocks to create applications for the box and makes it fairly easy to create something that works. 

There is no framework for ANYTHING else nor can you really build a lot on top of those standard building blocks. 

So, if you want something that doesn't look or work like the standard Roku interface (oh say, a LIVE TV grid guide) you've got to build it from scratch (literally telling Roku where to place elements and how they're supposed to work). 

So needless to say, we've been working REALLY hard on making this happen and it's looking really cool. (A recent demo of what's done put a big smile on the CEO's face!) 

We know we've been talking about this for a long time, but the reality is that it's a HUGE amount of work. We'll get there but some patience is still needed for us to get it looking awesome and still provide all of the functionality you're used to.


Now, as for APIs... The basis of the new Roku app (and what took a lot of work as well) is a new (DOCUMENTED!) API. Once we have the documentation finalized and are happy with everything, we'll definitely be looking at launching more projects like the one we did with Mike & Dave for Plex. 

I also invested in a lifetime subscription yesterday, and did so largely on the hope that you indeed provide a much better Roku interface, and on your stated commitment to do so.  I can tell you that having regular communication and updates from Nuvyyo fosters a sense of community and trust (just ask the SimpleTV owners like myself).  So thanks for providing a confirmation that things are moving along, and you can tell your dev team that my $150 should be used expressly to further that cause! :wink:

@TabloChris - You’re welcome! We try to treat our customers the way we’d like to be treated and don’t want to keep you in the dark unless it’s needed. (A few surprises make life interesting… :slight_smile: )


You can be confident that part of your $150 will go towards our mission of making Tablo even more awesome. 

Hey @TabloTV , any news on the API documentation?

@virtualuk - Once Roku is launched we’ll be looking at next steps for this. We’re almost there, just need to get our ducks in a row and work on a strategy for working with developers. Stay tuned.