Because Tablo just completely screwed us.
@jserrano336 is having a problem with the ‘non-beta’ version from Tablo (2.2.10), and we’re working on it.
Beta users (2.2.11), should be fine as I updated TabloRipper to the new API months ago. Nuvyyo warned us the API change was coming.
I’ll be back from my trip later today and will confirm both the newTablo beta and TabloRipper work together. If not, I’ll fix it.
UPDATE:
I just updated my Tablo to 2.2.11 (beta), and can confirm that TabloRipper 2.1.6 (the current version) works just fine.
Thanks. Maybe I don’t have the current version. I’ll check.
I am now accessing the recording after assigning a static IP address. Thanks to CycleJ
1 Like
Hi, I’m just wondering how the tablo ripper decides what’s a “new” eposode or not? I ask because I noticed when I told it to start in the “foreground” that it was working videos that were already in the library.
I suppose one solution would be to tell tablo ripper to delete the program from Tablo after it’s ripped so it can’t try it again, although I wanted to avoid that to prevent Tablo from recording the episode again next time it airs (I have a few series that are set to record both new and old episodes when they air). Anyhoo, thanks for the help understanding this little nuance.
It’s pretty simple. When you rip a particular show, either in the foreground or background, it’s added to a list of completed shows. Next time the ‘automatic’ cycle starts it checks to see if that show is on the completed list before selecting it (as ‘new’). Of course, you can still select previously completed shows manually.
PS: If you want to start over, you can safely delete the Completed_XXX.xml (where ‘XXX’ is your tablo name) file in the “C:\ProgramData\TabloRipper” folder. Or, you can set all current recordings to “completed” by clicking the “Sync” button inside the program.
Will Tablo Ripper work with the “new” Cloud Plex? I’ve been a Tablo user for a while, and curious about Plex for a number of reasons, but never had the time/money/surplus hardware to fire up my own Plex system. Their Cloud version might get me off the couch.
What sort of CPU / Memory resources are needed for Tablo Ripper / MCE Buddy to have a good experience?
Thanks -
Personally, I have an old notebook (Dell E6430) that sits around doing very little, so I run both TabloRipper and MCEBuddy on that PC.
I’ve scheduled TabloRipper to run “after” all my shows are done for the day, so it kicks off around 10 PM. MCEBuddy monitors the TabloRipper output folder and wakes up as each show is ripped. Both are done before I wake up and might want to use the notebook for “something else”.
TabloRipper takes less than 5 minutes per 1 hour show to “rip”. Then MCEBuddy takes about 1 hour per 1 hour show to strip commercials. Like I said, an old notebook. But plenty fast enough for me.
There are plenty of people running this combo on newer systems with much quicker processing times (I expect they’ll chime in if you ask). But even a slow PC gets the job done.
PS: I run Plex on a Synology DS713+ with great results. And yes, this combo works fine, but have no experience with the new “cloud” offering. I have TabloRipper save on the PC, then MCEBuddy saves to the NAS.
I’m running the combo on a Dell i7-4900 desktop. It takes about the same time as CycleJ to rip the show with TabloRipper. Then MCE Buddy takes around 5-6 minutes to remove the commercials from a one hour show and save the video to my media server. One thing that is really nice with Tablo is that you can set what resolution that you want the recording to save in. So if you are ok with the resolution being less then 1080, you can set it to 720 (3 or 5mb) and then setup the MCE task to do MP4 Unprocessed. This drastically cuts down the MCE processing time because it does not have to re-encode the video.
I have not tried Plex Cloud yet but setting the resolution within Tablo to 720-3mb will also help with upload times. I’m assuming that Amazon Cloud has some sort of Windows app that will watch a folder on your PC and then automatcally sync the files in both directions (similar to how Google Drive and One Drive work).
1 Like
Thanks for the comparisons … I currently only drool and dream of i7… 
but have a Core2 Duo laptop who’s lid is broken and is permanently in the “open” position, which may be useful here.
So in this scenario, where Tablo Ripper and MCE Buddy are running on a PC, then just uploading the “final” output product to Plex, there really is no transcoding being done by Plex? Or is the transcoding done on the play-back based on the device being used?
Probably 98% of our viewing is done in-home on the Android TV (Nexus Player) which is why this has been a low-priority issue for me, but it would be nice when I’m over at the grandkids house to be able to watch what I want / have recorded, rather than another episode of Barbie or Strawberry Shortcake!
Again, thanks for the input / insight.
My Plex files don’t need transcoding (which is something to be avoided at “viewing” time). So @tickko is most likely correct in his assumption that you’ll create them locally, then sync with the Plex cloud (somehow). He’s also correct that if you can avoid transcoding in MCEBuddy (by selecting your final resolution in Tablo), that’ll speed things up 10x.
Broken lid laptop? Sounds perfect!
PS: You don’t need to wait for your Plex cloud to give this a try. Set things up, run it a while, see what you think. Then worry about Plex.
Ripping as we speak
So noticed on MCEBuddy, they have gone to a subscription base, and 2.3.13 is the last free version. Is it sufficient if I just want to use it to strip commercials? Or are there other competitors that are free?
Not just to be cheap mind you, but currently without a job, so really trying to limit any expense.
You know the problem with buying something? Once you buy, you stop shopping. I bought the paid version of MCEBuddy more than a year ago, and haven’t looked for alternatives since. If you (or anyone else that’s still shopping) find something, please let the rest of us know.
Speaking of saving $$$, depending on your internet speed, you might want to try hosting Plex on your laptop. It’s free, and might be good enough for your purposes.
MCEBuddy had a premium access special on their Facebook page that gets you the premium version for $20 instead of the usual $30. That’s what I did several months ago, and found it to be significantly faster than the free version. It really was worth it, and I have yet to find anything that’s as good a value for removing commercials.
2 Likes
Here’s that link MCEBuddy Discount
TV without commercials jest ain’t TV. Famous (hall of fame) words, “And now a word from our sponsor” just like “three score and…” or “when in the course of human events…”
This must be one of the fabled “deplorables”.
1 Like
Volunteers? I’d really appreciate if a few brave individuals helped test the latest beta version. There are no functional changes, just cosmetic improvements. But several of those changes required some under the cover changes to the code.
My goals are to make it more useful, while not breaking anything.
You can find it here. I’d really like to hear your comments and suggestions (use a PM if you want to remain anonymous).
Thanks!
Volunteer here. If i miss out on any Wed night fav shows I will be back and bitching about it. But only gentle bitching…
Just a quick comment. It doesn’t seem to resize correctly, i.e. the contents of screen don’t seem to scale/resize correctly when making the window smaller/larger. When I full screen it the box on the left (Tablo Recordings) is full size but the box on the right (selected recordings) gets chopped off. Also on the config tab I can only see the link for “Log File” when I full screen the app or make the window large enough.