Tablo iOS app stops randomly during playback (but IOS thinks it's still playing)

Support & Troubleshooting
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I’ve read a ton of similar issues on this forum, but nothing exactly like this…

I’m playing a recorded program on my iPhone 7plus (iOS 11.2.2) using the latest Tablo app, and it just stops playing randomly in the middle of the program. It doesn’t show any indication that it’s buffering, and it’s still indicating that it’s playing (by that, I mean that the “pause” button is an option in the control bar at the bottom of the screen which only happens while it’s in play mode. If you actually pause the program, the pause button goes away and is replaced by a “play” button).

So the program stops playing (screen is frozen on current frame, and no audio), but the iOS app shows that it’s playing. I don’t believe that it’s a buffering issue because I can resolve the issue by hitting the pause button, then hitting the play button. It will continue playing OR I can just fastforward for a split second and it picks up playing where it left off.

Does this sound like a hard drive issue? If so, I’m willing to upgrade to a supported harddrive, but don’t want to unless that sounds like it would reasonably fix the issue.

Setup:

  • Leaf Antenna
  • Tablo with 2 tuners (about a year old)
  • Directly connected (via cable) to my router
  • Router: Linksys Velop (just a few months old) - mesh network with 3 nodes
  • Playback on iPhone 7 plus (iOS 11.2.2); Tablo app (2.2.16)
  • Hard Drive: Seagate Free Agent 0132 (500GB)

Additional info:

  • I also watch a lot of Tablo via my various Rokus. None have this exact same issue, but from time to time a have some serious buffering. This is usually resolved by restarting my Roku, Router, and sometimes my Tablo.

  • I haven’t verified if this issue also happens while playing live TV. My quick test of playing live TV didn’t duplicate the issue, but I almost always watch recordings rather than live TV and I the issue happens regularly with recordings.

Any other thoughts on troubleshooting?

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Does this occur with only one specific recording? Or all recordings?

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It has happened many times on different recordings – but definitely not all recordings. Let’s say I watch 10 recordings in a given week – it might happen on zero, 1, or perhaps 2 of them. When it does happen it seems to happen repeatedly. I’ll fast forward it to get it unstuck, it will play for another minute, then get stuck again. Then again and again. If I switch to a different recording, I’ll get it on that recording too. Then the next day, it doesn’t happen at all.

I haven’t specifically gone back later and tested a specific recording that had the issue the previous day to see if it happens again. I could certain do that if you think it would be helpful.

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