Tuner Still in Use after I Stop Watching a Channel

Hello,


I am having a problem where the tablo stays tuned to a channel after I’m done watching it.  I have a 2-tuner tablo.

If I watch channel “A” for five minutes from 6:45 - 6:50, then channel “B” from 6:50 - 6:55, these two channels are still shown as flashing red in the live TV view at 6:56 after I’m done watching.  Additionally, if I have a recording set for 7:00 on Channel “C”, it will fail due to “no tuner is available” even though I am not actively watching channel “A” or “B” anymore.

I have a similar problem if I start watching channel “A” while I am already recording one show on Channel “C”.  If I close channel “A”, and try to start watching channel “B”, I will get a “no tuner is available” error.  One tuner is recording channel “C”, and the other tuner is still set to channel “A”.  Channels “A” and “C” are flashing red in the live tv view.  

When I am done watching a channel, how do I properly “quit” the channel so that a tuner is not still being used?  My roommate and I are using the android app, web app, and plan to use the amazon fire tv app whenever it is released.  

Also, is there also a way to manually kill all tuners currently in use?   

This is absolutely ruining my Tablo experience because I cannot count on any recording to actually be made if I am watching TV around the same time as the recording.  If it cannot be resolved, I will be forced to sell my tablo and move on.

And a somewhat related question related to tuner management - 
If I am watching channel A, my roommate is watching channel B, and we have a live recording that is set to start on Channel C, is there any way to ensure that one of us is at least initially kicked off a tuner to ensure that the recording starts?  If we don’t want the recording, whoever got kicked can then manually stop the recording and keep watching. 

To add, I just experienced a related problem.  I was watching channel A about an hour ago.  Just now, recordings were set to start on channel B and C simultaneously.  Recording only started on channel B, but failed on channel C because “no tuner was available”.  


Right now, the tablo is only recording on one channel, but if I try to watch a 2nd channel, I get a “player error”.  

The Tablo is designed to keep tuning to a channel even if it isn’t being watched anymore.   That allows quick channel surfing between two channels (on a 2 tuner) or up to four channels (for a 4 tuner).  


However, the Tablo will give up a non-recording channel so that it can start recording on other channels.  I just did a quick test using my Chrome browser on my PC.  I had two shows set to record at 4:30 AM, and I was watching a different channel.  At 4:30 AM, my show just stopped (screen froze with a circling icon), and the Tablo started recording the other two shows.  It probably should have a better way of doing that.

@pfobs, what you are describing almost always happens if you don’t have a working hard drive.  When the Tablo doesn’t recognize a plugged in drive, it is limited to a single tuner.  Can you into settings and look to see if your hard drive is there?  

+1 to snowcat.


The Tablo releases a non-recording tuner for recordings.

What is the brand and model of your HDD?
I am using the following old hard drive that I had lying around:
http://www.amazon.com/Maxtor-OneTouch-FireWire-Desktop-External/dp/B000VB5MZG

I now realize that it is not on the approved list, and also uses an ac adapter, which is additionally not recommended.  
I just did a quick test using my Chrome browser on my PC.  I had two shows set to record at 4:30 AM, and I was watching a different channel.  At 4:30 AM, my show just stopped (screen froze with a circling icon), and the Tablo started recording the other two shows.  It probably should have a better way of doing that.

Sometimes my hard drive will work exactly as intended and as you described.   And sometimes it won’t.  But it’s not predictable when it will work or not.  


I am able to watch two shows most of the time.    I only sometimes get errors.  

If tablo ever comes out with the fire tv app, I’ll invest in a new hard drive and try to get my tablo working as intended.  

The FireTV app should be out next week!

@pfobs Sorry to hear that you had some issues with your drive. On the bright side, the Fire TV app is now available :slight_smile:

I’m having this exact same issue.


i was watching channel A for over half an hour, then all of a sudden, I get a “No Tuner Available” message. I go look and at the live TV channels and I see two channels, B and C, “active”, pulsing red color.

I have nothing being recorded or scheduled to record. Both screens are empty.

How do I deactivate these two channels, B and C, that I’m not watching, so that I can go back to watching channel A?

@gth181a

  1. Do you have a dual tuner or quad tuner?
  2. Are there any other Tablo users in your household? Could someone have tuned to those other 2 channels on a iPad, Android tablet, smartphone, other Roku, etc.?

@gth181a, the only way that should happen is if both B and C are recording shows.  If they aren’t recording anything, then going back to channel A will allow you to watch that channel.


Did you look at your recordings and see if there were shows that you didn’t realize were recording?