Tablo is switching itself back to the menu while the TV is on and a show is playing.
We’ve tried rebooting everything, etc. and it still happens.
We will be watching TV, step into the other room for awhile, and when we return, Tablo is back on the menu screen.
Ideas?
Did the show you were watching end? If you were watching live a specific show, rather than a channel, it’ll do that when the show ends.
Hi there @FlyingDiver, if you are watching a show live, it should make no difference whether you selected the show and clicked ‘watch’ vs. selecting the channel itself. It should never kick you out of the player in that circumstance unless recordings were scheduled immediately after, which would ‘steal’ the tuners away. As well, this can happen if you were watching a recording in-progress live, depending on the app used.
@DiverDan Can you been more specific as to what is happening and what you are doing? Are you watching a show live, or is it a recording? How long does it take to happen? As well, what device are you using the Tablo application on? (eg Roku, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, etc)
Sometimes she is watching a channel for a couple of hours and turns JUST the TV off to go work in the yard for a few hours. Upon her return, she turns the TV back on and The Tablo has returned to the menu screen.
Also, every night, the TV auto shuts off at 1:00 in the morning (We’ve set it to do that). However, we Never Turn Off Tablo for any reason. In the morning, when we wake up and turn the TV back on, it’s not on the channel that it was on when we went to sleep. It is on the menu screen.
Our Set-up is: Cable comes in from outside antenna, goes into the Tablo and then out, via HDMI, to TV input HDMI-2.
We also have a Roku which is connected to HDMI-1 on the TV and is completely Independent of the Tablo. (No subscription to Tablo any longer because we were thinking…Why are we paying a monthly charge for a TV signal that WE are providing via the outside antenna).
I hope this helps.
Granted, we are Old People and this new ‘stuff’ is sometimes confusing…[;-D)
Thanks.
Ah I see ok, so you have a Tablo HDMI model. I will clarify a few details for you then.
Just to make sure first, it never kicks you out to the menu while you are watching, right? Only during periods where you have left it?
The Tablo is always running while powered, and in theory if left playing a channel should stay on that channel. However if you turn off the TV, there is currently an issue where the stream, if playing will stop as the app on the Tablo itself stops seeing a device at the other end of the HDMI connection. Sometimes this can manifest as an error, and sometimes it just reverts to the menu. We are still looking for ways to improve this.
Also to note, overnight there is automatic maintenance done, which will stop all recordings and live streams occurring. (usually happens around 2 or 3 am, but can vary), so if left overnight, you will always see it back at the menu the next day.
For now however, you can simply make sure you back out to the menu when you are done watching, and then start fresh selecting a channel when you next use it. Was there a specific reason you were leaving the show playing when turning the TV off, or is it just for the convenience of having the same channel going that can be rewound?
OK, So fed up, I did this a little while ago for a test:
I have a TV in the living room and the setup is: Coax into a tuner box, out of box ‘through’ a recorder, and then to the TV.
I took my wife’s TV out of our bedroom and connected it along side of the living room TV and the setup is:
From the antenna coax (I put a splitter on the coax as to connect both TV’s from the antenna feed). Then into the Tablo and out of the Tablo to the TV.
I put Both TV’s on the same channel and started watching.
About an hour or so into the movie, the TV with the Tablo Froze and just showed a still picture for awhile and then a black screen with a rotating blue circle and then Back To The Menu.
The other TV never so much as hiccuped, as the Tablo did the above, and it recorded the show perfectly<<
The ONLY reason that we purchased the Tablo was because you have to physically push a record button on our living-room TV in order to record and the Tablo was said to be able to Program it to record.<<<Which would be great BUT the Tablo is CONSTANTLY not acting correctly and now is becoming a real pain.
Hope this helps because we are REALLY feeling Sc#%ed for the price we paid.
BTW: I put the Tablo TV back on the channel and about 10 minutes later, screen just went black and this came on:
Timeout Waiting For Video Data
This is usually caused by poor reception. For tips to improve reception bla, bla, bla…
Then two boxes:
Cancel
Retry Playback
Select Retry Playback and the program is back on.
AND The other TV is still just playing perfectly.
So IF for some reason the Tablo tuner is, less just say, not as good as the tuner on the other TV, Then WHY doesn’t it just stay on the channel (We aren’t recording anything on the Tablo)?
If the reception gets weaker for a split second, it will come right back. So WHY would Tablo just shut off?
After all, the second that I click Retry Playback, the picture and sound are back on perfectly.
Well there it is:
It seems that Tablo either has an inferior tuner compared to the 2 others systems in our home OR:
It has defective software that turns off the tuner and then back to either the guide or a warning screen of some type if it so much as detects a SLIGHT drop in signal for less than a second.
I HOPE it is the software and Tablo will correct it soon.
Every other tuner we have ever owned would just STAY on the channel we put it on. EVEN IF there was a complete loss of signal, the tuner would just stay on the channel that we selected.
Tablo’s software seems to think that it knows better…[;-D)
What do you mean specifically by 2 other systems? You mean directly connecting the antenna to the other 2 TVs?
We have Two outside antenna’s.
One is connected to a cook area in an outside structure. It has a tuner connected to a recorder connected to a TV.
The other antenna is connected to a living room TV and a bedroom TV.
The living room is connected to it’s own tuner, then recorder, then the TV.
The bedroom is connected to the Tablo and then the TV.
As a test, I put ALL three TV’s on channel 4. The bedroom TV with the Tablo cuts off at times and goes back to either the menu or some screen that says cancel or retry, etc.
Every time the Tablo TV cuts off, the Other two TV’s are still on channel 4 just fine.
So you see, three different tuners; three different recorders, and two different outside antenna’s.
And as you can tell by my previous post, as a precaution because the bedroom and living room TV’s are on the same outside antenna, I moved the Tablo AND the bedroom TV into the living room side by side as to eliminate any doubt that the feed to the bedroom could be the problem.
SO, from ALL of the testing we have done. It seems fairly obvious that it has to be either an inferior tuner problem in the Tablo OR Tablo’s software is telling it to kick off of the channel the second that it detects a signal drop. (It won’t just remain on the station like the other two TV tuners do)
Today we went so far as to switch JUST the bedroom Tablo and the living room recorders and now the problem is in the living room.
As you can see, with the Extensive work we have put into this, it is obviously the Tablo that is the problem. I just don’t know if it is an inferior tuner inside of the Tablo OR perhaps the software that makes it jump off of station at the hint of a signal drop.
Next I’ll probably just look at buying another recorder or perhaps a separate antenna on a higher mast just for the bedroom Tablo Tv.
But for the moment I’m not going to do anything<<<I’m just done with all of this work and testing…[;-D)
BTW: All of three of the recorders are connected to their TV’s via HDMI because someone mentioned that it could be the HDMI problem…It isn’t.
Hope that clears it all up. In the meantime…I’m going to just try and take my wife complaining that her ‘stories’ didn’t record in the bedroom Again for as long as I can before I get back to trying solve this nightmare…[;-D)
Thanks all for your help and ideas.
Dan.
I think where I’m getting confused is when you say “tuner, then recorder”. So it sounds like the tuner is a separate device from the recorder. What type of tuner is this? Do you have a brand and model? What I’m getting at is this may not be quite the apples to apples comparison you think it is.
One of the tuners is Ubishieng the other is Homeworx and then, of course, the Tablo.
The outside recorder and the living room recorders are also different models.
I’m not going to go into model numbers, etc. because it really doesn’t matter. Just switching the living room and bedroom setup confirms this.
Besides, we Love the Tablo (if it worked properly) and we aren’t here to ‘pitch’ someone else’s products.
I’m Hoping that it is just a Tablo Software problem that makes it switch off of a channel if it detects a signal drop. WHY? Because, Sometimes, when it drops off of a channel, one of the screens that comes on next is signal loss, bla, bla, bla, retry or cancel, [Retry ALWAYS Immediately returns back to the channel that was on].
And, if it is a software problem, I’m sure that Tablo will Fix the software glitch in the future…I hope…[;-D)
I know that this doesn’t matter at all but: The reason that we go from the antenna, through a tuner, through a recorder, and then to the TV is because:
-No matter what TV you are watching, IF you want to record something that happens to be on, you just have to hit the record button…done.
The ONLY reason that we purchased the Tablo for the bedroom instead of the tried and true methods that we have been using for ages is that the Tablo could be Programed to record at various times, etc. and my wife seems to NEED to watch her ‘stories’ no matter what…[;-D)
Again, Thank You All for trying to help us old folks.
Like I said above…I’m taking a breather from this little nightmare;)
I asked because my apples and apples comment earlier seems to be at least somewhat correct. It appears both of the tuners you mentioned are single tuner devices. I’m not saying it’s the root cause of your problems but that means those signals aren’t being split in the tuner itself. Both Tablo HDMI models have internal splitters because they are more than one tuner.
It’s possible that those in-tuner splits are reducing your signal to a given Tablo tuner just enough you are encountering the “digital cliff”.
If you open a ticket with @TabloSupport they could probably fairly easily determine whether or not that’s a factor in your situation.
See what you are saying, Nilex.
But my point still is: IF there is a slight drop in signal for a fraction of a second on the Tablo tuner, WHY does the Tablo turner IMMEDIATELY switch off of channel back to menu OR some kind of warning screen. Why doesn’t it just remain on channel like Both of the other tuners do?<<Seems to be a tuner or software problem.
Why? Because the second that Tablo jumps off channel and puts up a warning box asking you to retry and you click retry, it puts you immediately back on the channel and it works fine. My point is that It Should Just Remain On Channel even if there is a minor drop in signal for a fraction of a second.
IF it would just remain on channel (like the other two tuners do) there wouldn’t be the slightest problem at all.
Plus, Remember: Even IF that extremely slight signal loss do to the internal splitter in the Tablo box was the problem, then it should have completely disappeared when we cut out that extra 40 feet of coax when we moved it to the living room and did that side by side test.
The removal of that 40 feet of coax would More than makeup for any loss do to an internal splitter.
But, since you got into my head, I tried this: I added 4, yes 4 splitters on the living room tuner and it still preformed flawlessly.
LOL…I Have to quit trying things, I’m losing my mind…[;-D)
I’m fairly sure the problem is inferior tuners in the Tablo box OR their software should be fixed so that the Tablo tuner doesn’t revert to Menu or Warning Screens the moment that incoming signal drops slightly for a second or so. It should just Remain On Channel like every other tuner that I have ever had or heard of does.
I mean, heck, the other tuners AND their associated recorders will record the total pixalization to total freeze of the incoming signal during a sever thunder storm and then, as the storm passes, the screen will clear up. Neither just STOP. They just record the entire event.
And now we are talking about the Tablo jumping off channel if there is a less than second hiccup?..I’m still leaning toward weak tuners or Software problem.
The software problem would be simple to solve. Just KEEP the tuner on channel, even if it senses a momentary signal fluctuation.
But I Have To give up on this for awhile…I’m also trying to fix an old slot-machine<<<And that is another problem…[;-D)
The Tablo transcodes the signal to a streaming format. Because of the transcoding, when it drops out for a minute, the “stream” is stopped due to an error. If you retune the channel, it should come back up. This can happen with the signal becoming too low to keep the channel tuned, it could be noise interference (my waterpik will cause this to happen) or the signal can be too strong.
It is possible that there is an issue with the Tablo hardware - Tablo Support can remote in to your Tablo DVR and check the logs to see what is actually happening.
If the device doesn’t transcode the signal, it can retune the channel (like your TV).
This thread deals with the HDMI Tablo, so there is no transcoding. DiverDan’s issue is why doesn’t the HDMI Tablo’s tuners just remain on whatever channel they are on, no matter what else is happening (Tv turned off, loss of signal, etc). It is an interesting question.
If this is what is happening, Tablo could just easily correct their software.
How?
When Tablo kicks off and the screen comes up that says loss of signal, or some such warning screen, it gives you a choice to Cancel or Retry.
If you click Retry, the station Immediately comes back on. A simple software correction could stop that screen from coming on OR returning you to menu screen. It would simply auto click Retry and the station would immediately return.
This would happen faster than your eye would even detect a problem or, at most, a blink of the screen.
The Tablo SHOULD just Remain On Station unless told to leave by the owner.
Something is telling it to return to menu or put up a warning screen asking the customer IF they want to continue watching the channel. I’m just saying that it is the Software that is telling it to do that.
I would say Just Let The Owner make that decision and not the software.
Seems like that would be an easy fix (if that is the problem)
>>>In other words: When I am writing a puzzle game, if the person clicks exit, I program a screen to come up asking “Are you sure you want to Exit or Return”. If they click Exit, the program saves, and returns you back to desktop. If they click Return, it puts you back into the program loop of the puzzle game.
If I simply removed that section of code, the puzzle game would just immediately save and return to desktop the second the person clicked the exit button. (I simply removed their choice and assumed they really wanted to exit)
I’ve never seen or heard of a turner that ever did Anything but remain where the owner told it to. Like I said earlier, every other turner would just remain on the channel the owner put it on…period. It wouldn’t try and Think for them. Even if a tree fell on the antenna, that tuner would just remain on channel and when the antenna was replaced, the tuner would still be doing what it was told to do and the station would just come back on without anyone retuning, or clicking on anything.
Seems to me it would be an easy fix to just program Tablo to do what it was told and not ask questions…If that makes any sense.
Now granted, I probably don’t have a clue what I am talking about BUT if Tablo would just act like every other tuner that I have ever owned, this wouldn’t be happening. If the signal was interrupted for a fraction of a second or just went out completely, Tablo would just continue recording what it was told to record until it was told to Stop OR the End Recording Time was reached or had been passed.
Heck, for that matter, it would be simple to just add that option in settings: “If Tablo detects a signal loss, do you want it to just remain on channel? Y or N”.
Then, if the owner had previously clicked the “Y”, when Tablo detected a signal loss, too powerful, or static from a waterpik, it would just Stay On Station and not send you off on some subroutine to the Menu or Warning Screen.
Hope I’m making some sense…
And Thank You, Ron, for the idea. Especially the remote thing. I didn’t know they could or would do that if you weren’t paying monthly fees to them.
Something that I’ll look into one day.
In the mean time, I’m hoping Tablo will soon just have a software update to fix their software…[;-D)
Thanks, Snowcat.
LOL…Now all I need is an answer to my interesting question…[;-D)
Tablo, apparently, doesn’t have a clue!
Just sitting on a tuner and constantly writing to the disk 24x7 all the time is probably not good overall for the lifetime of the storage.
Now, if there was a lightning quick way to transfer from an in memory cache to disk, then as long as you never do an operation that triggers the save to disk, something like what you’re saying might work. But my fear is the latency of moving the buffer from an in memory circle buffer to persistent upon any interesting operation would be too painful. So, refer to my first paragraph.
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