I found the idea of an OTA recorder to be a great idea and even a way to purge the ISP supplied DVR. Testing the Tablo Gen 4 with 4 tuners on a RoKu 3 is a total failure, even a RoKu Ultra is problematic. It hangs, Video goes away and the RoKu 3 even reboots. Moving to the latest Firestick it works a tad better but still has many of the same issues. IF you have a perfect 1080 OTA signal it may work somewhat better. My impression is this device was not tested well at all. I keep reading there is new FW after the holidays, but I have until Jan 13th to return it which is currently my plan. This device is NOT READY for actual use. It does work a tad better if you do NOT use it for OTA watching/recording and use it to watch the 20 or so added streaming channels. NOT what it was purchased for. I am just not impressed and think this thing was shoved out the door.
I donāt have Roku but it sounds like the Roku app has been affected with one or more of the most recent firmware updates. I noticed Roku 3 and ultra are discontinued manufacturing models according to Roku although they can still get the latest updates, so you might want to check what version of the OS your running (12.5 is the latest, released mid-Oct ā23)
Iām sure Tablo is going crazy trying to fix things but it couldnāt have happened at a worse time. Hopefully they figure out and correct this quickly.
Just an FYI.
I have been using the Gen 4 with 4 tuners for over a week. Although I had some issues initially with the 2 tuner which I had prior to thanksgiving, Iāve found that the Tablo 4 tuner works very well with the 16GB fireTV that I just got and my iPhone (iOS 17.2.1). I have a 4K max Clearstream antenna and a strong wifi (600-750Mbps). I get a total of 105 channels but determined that I only wanted about 90 channels so I reduced the list in my guide.
Iāve been recording lots of OTA and streaming content (90+tv shows/series, 25+ movies and 18 sports with the extended viewing) I have found a couple of streaming channels that have issues either viewing or recording but the OTA have been working excellent, including recording, viewing and deleting with my configuration for the last week in testing. Iāve recorded over 150+hrs of content without any issues (including over 8 NCAA and 7 NFL games with extended time). Sports games Iāve recorded and deleted most after viewing. I have tested recording 8 simultaneous channels (4 OTA and 4 Streaming) without issue several times while watching previously or currently recording content.
I have attached a 2TB external drive and I initially had a brand new 5TB which turned out to be somewhat bad and I returned the drive for a 2TB that Best Buy had available and now things are working very smoothly.
Iāve noticed that the guide matches the same TV guide that the network channels use but unfortunately the TV guide service doesnāt always get changes in content from the networks so what is being broadcasted doesnāt match the guide listing once in a while but thatās not Tablos fault. I have found in one particular instance the scanned Chanel displayed a channel that was supposed to be broadcasting one network but the guide has content from a different network and channel (not sure whatās caused that) but Iāve done repeat scans and guide updates and always produces the same results.
I know Apple TV is not supported yet and thatās another group of users that Iām sure Tablo wants to get up and running. I have a couple of Apple TVs but I got a couple of fireTVās Black Friday when they were on sale and look forward to when I can use my Apple TV with Tablo.
Roku is unusable with Table 4th gen for live
Try Chromecast with Google TV for best results.
Barrabing;
Thanks for the information. I may wait for the latest update and test it further.
I donāt remember seeing anything about a FW update for the new year, but for sure the Roku app will get the update they tried to push through just before the holidays.
As youāve read elsewhere, there are some big issues with the Roku app. It was updated but due to bugs in the that version, was rolled back to what you have now. Tablo was so quick to respond to these issues that between them releasing the update and my finding out, mine had been rolled back automatically.
As for watching live TV through the Tablo, things arenāt working right for many apps/setups. There was some mysterious second firmware update with the same version number, and when I updated both of my 4th gen 2-tuners (stupidly thinking it hadnāt gone through), something had caused buffering so severe that if I was recording even one show on that device, it was buffering more than playing! There was some odd Tablo light behavior after my last reboot (I think it rebooted itself mid-boot up) and the buffering has become less frequent.
It should be noted, though, that due to the compression that the Tablo 4th uses, they really do work better on a 5ghz network. Anything else will cause you an ongoing headache. Playing recordings will generally be fine on an older device requiring 2.4ghz, but as for live streaming, you really need the extra bandwidth. (Donāt ask me to explain this in any detail, there have been others in multiple topics that can do this better.)
Long story short, many things can factor into whatās going on with the Tablo at this time. A weird second 2.2.48 firmware update, a Roku app rollback, WiFi channel interference. We donāt know what Tablo considers minimum hardware, but it would definitely be helpful if we did.
In order of my best Tablo playback: 2nd gen Firestick 4k Max, 1st gen Firestick 4k Max, two Android TVs, Roku Express 4k+, and lastly an old Roku Express. As with any new hardware I purchase, I expect older products to become less reliable or stable. We live in an ever-upgrading world and Iām impressed that with how long companies will support old tech.
My advice is as @beatman and @Barrabing have suggested. Trying other viewing devices will help you find the problem. The newer the equipment, the better it will perform.
It was tested by a lot of experienced users before it was released. And there were still bugs when it was released (which is typical). Is it ready for actual use? Absolutely. And this was released back in September, so there have been a lot of firmware and app updates since the initial release.
Here is my setup which works with no issues.
Wifi 6 router (Xfinity combo modem/router)
Tablo on wifi (5 Ghz band), just using built in hard drive
2 Roku Ultras (somewhere between 2020 - 2022) - both hard wired into home network
1 Roku 4k Stick (2018) - wifi 5Ghz band
Android phone (Pixel 7a) - wifi 5Ghz band
iPad (at least 5 years old) - wifi 5Ghz band
Channel lineup - I mostly have HD channels in my channel lineup, with just 4 or 5 SD channels. I also have most of the FAST channels listed (but I rarely use any of them). So I donāt have channels with blank listings like some of you have.
I admit I use it almost exclusively for live sports, mainly because the quality is a noticeable improvement over the legacy Tablo on 1080i channels (because of the native MPEG2 stream). So when I do watch live tv, it is for several hours at a time, and I donāt have any dropouts or buffering (usually watch on one of my Roku Ultras)
My biggest complaint about the Roku app is the delay between live tv and when it gets displayed. It is close to a minute difference, whereas the stream on my Pixel is at least 30 seconds faster.
See pictures I posted. Maybe after holidays it will get fixed.
I do think using the internal hard drive is the best way to go. The compression is likely undetectable for most when recording an HD signal, but I thought the 480s felt different.
Iām trying to clear off one Tabloās external (which I think due to a lack of itās own power supply could be causing some of my issues) so that I can see if my second 4th gen is worth keeping.
There are so many different factors in everyoneās setup that itās always hard to pinpoint a general problem. The original testers could never imagine every possible situation that needed to be worked through.
While I can mostly agree with this statement, I can see how users receiving their Tablo as a gift can feel like itās not. There are issues that have been resolved, and new bugs will always pop up with any update. Unfortunately, many are dealing with an unstable Roku app, the working version held off only by poor timing and Roku āchannelā restrictions.
Thank you for reminding new users that there can be a lengthy delay while watching live TV on the Roku. In my recent testing, I couldnāt always get the Roku to pause live TV and my old Express+ wouldnāt let me pause at all. (On the Express 4k+, I had to use the rewind button before it would let me pause, not sure if this is normal, just hoping this might help others in a similar situation.)
Roku 3(4200) is from 2013. Mine still works with gen 4 on 5 Ghz WiFi with no problems. But other OTT app updates may send it to itās grave.
But I think there is some āissuesā with the 8.1 app release and a resource usuage insde the actual tablo firmware. How fast the problem builds up varies by usage.
Does the Roku always give you the āYour location has been verifiedā when scanning for channels through it?
Iāve never seen this before, but I use the Android app for my scans. I exited out of that screen (that order list was atrocious and made it difficult to find what I wanted to uncheck) and didnāt save it, but then scanning on FireOS, that message did not appear.