Hi All, I don’t mean to be long winded here, I think that I have tried almost everything, except the fix that I need.
I run my Tablo 4th Gen 2-Tuner with the antenna booster on, through a wired internet connection from a wireless Amazon fire stick and also at times through my new wireless Samsung 4K TV Tablo app, and other TV’s throughout the house with the same issues including a Roku tuner. I am getting a lot of buffering and sometimes going to the blue screen on all of my over the air channels at one time or another while recording one show at a time, or not recording at all. I have all green dots next to the channels when I run the scan. I have a 3 foot coax to my flat Channel Master non amplified antenna. It is placed high in the room. I live on a hill. I have reset my router, although I am not sure if it has anything to do with the over the air channels. I am using an external 2.5 inch external hard drive. I have also gone without it, with the same issues. The one thing that I have not tried is a factory reset. Do I really need to do that?
Any buffering issues I have usually come from router issues. As I have increased the number of devices in my household I had to switch to a router that had more throughput so my devices could communicate without getting congested. I went from an AC3000 router to an AX5400 to a BE11000. Also checking for interference on the network has helped a lot. We no longer have buffering issues.
I would not recommend resetting the Tablo until after you have analyzed your network. If your devices are far from your main router, pay close attention to what your routers capability is on the 2.4 GHz bandwidth as that tends to be the most congested.
@MonkeyMom - I wish a lot more people would do what you have done. That is super crucial.
Thanks for your reply, I am in line with your thinking and the WIFI. I have a WIFI 6 internet here through Spectrum, with a WIFI speed of 300mbps. This morning I turned everything connected to my WIFI and ran my Tablo and it has the same buffering condition. My Tablo is less than 6 months old and I have had these issues from the start. I wanted to mention earlier that when I get the buffering, it has a roughly one second pose in the video, and sound. It’s hard to describe, but when it poses and returns, its as if I don’t loose anything and it picks up again just before I lost the signal.
Hello @Endmiller,
Are you using external storage and if so what kind? While poor Wi-Fi connection is the most likely cause of buffering, sometimes unsupported storage can be the culprit.
This article may help.
As much as I agree with both of you, most consumers would not be able to that kind of analysis. I am reasonable tech-savvy, and it would take me a bit of research to figure out how to do that. I would probably end up calling in a friend.
I love my Tablo, but it is not simply plug-and-play.
A simple way to test if wifi is the issue is to hard wire a tv to the router via ethernet. Most smart tvs have an ethernet port. Most wifi routers have a few ethernet ports (small switch). Run the cable across the room or down the hall or move a smart tv near the router. Just get a cheap 50’ (or whatever length you need) patch cable from Amazon.
If buffering still happens over ethernet, then wifi is probably not the issue. If things run “clean”, then focus on improving wifi or better yet, run ethernet permanently if possible. I personally hate wifi and have everything possible hard-wired in my house. I know this is not practical for some.
People tend to mistake Wifi as an “infinite” point protocol where each and every WiFi device gets “full advertised bandwidth”. It’s shared.
Reasonably ok switches will at least give you port to port consistency (full bandwidth).
Thanks for your input. That was going to be my next attempt here, and hard wire the internet to the back of the TV. I have a hard wire adapter for my Amazon Firestick as well as I like the interface better than the Samsung. I still don’t understand what my internet has an effect on my TV signal and how if I make this work by hard wiring one of my TV’s will effect the other TV’s in the house that are run on WIFI. I need to get things together here. Thanks again…
Using a temporary hard wire connection is just a way to figure out if you have a wifi issue or something else.
If you think about how this system works, it’s really 2 systems.
The Tablo itself is the first system.This part of the system has the actual tuners to decode the digital data from the RF broadcast signal, storage for that data, and the ability to broadcast that data over the “in house” network. It essentially creates an “in house” streaming service from the broadcast signals. It needs:
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a quality RF signal (broadcast towers, terrain, antenna, coax, etc)
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compatible storage (either the included internal or added external via USB)
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stable internet connection via wifi or ethernet (so it can communicate with Tablo servers)
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stable “in house” network connection via wifi or ethernet (so it can “broadcast” the program data streams to it’s “clients”)
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stable firmware to make all of this work (it’s a little computer)
The second part of the system are the “clients”. These are the “media players” that provide the user interface and also receive the network data stream (packets) from the Tablo. They need:
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a streaming platform (FireTV, Google TV, Roku, Apple TV, etc)
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a stable “in house” network connection via wifi or ethernet (same network as the Tablo)
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stable and reliable software for the user interface (the Tablo “app”)
The Tablo itself requires the most bandwidth, as it can stream 2 or 4 different programs at once to the “in house” network, and it needs to communicate with the Tablo servers. That’s why ethernet is best for this device, as it is very dependent on a solid network connection.
The “client” is only receiving one program at a time, but it is still very dependent on a solid network connection.
All of this network stuff can be a significant source of perceived “reception” problems. The “client” software (app) is generally not happy with network issues, and will do lots of bad things when data transfer is unreliable or corrupt.
Of course, the original RF signal from the antenna to the Tablo is also critical to good performance. The Tablo gags on poor RF signal quality coming down the coax.
Also, the Tablo is constantly saving data to storage, even when watching live TV. This is what permits rewind of a live TV program. It’s also the mechanism for recording shows to watch later. Therefore, storage issues can also present as “reception issues” as they can disrupt or corrupt the data stream.
This is a fairly complex technology, and everything needs to be working smoothly for a good user experience. Using an ethernet cable between the TV and the “in house” network only tests one element of the system (eg the wifi connection to the TV).
Yesss @classicrockguy. I’ve been thinking this for a while but hadn’t had an occasion to bring it up. Great points for those looking for answers to understand how these things work together.
Your info nailed it down for me, and I will use it for a reference. I am using a Channel Master flat panel antenna 4 feet from the Tablo box with great results. (All channels are in the green) It uses a standard Coax cable VS one with a small wire to the antenna. I will start with hard wiring the ethernet to the TV next to the Tablo. That will give me a place to start. If it works out, I will eliminate some of the WIFI receivers at the other TV’s by hard wiring them. I will reply next week. Thanks Steve
Great explanation. I could not have put it better!
Everyone should read this as getting things dialed in takes time, patience and knowledge.
Tablo, Networking, antennas, Towers, geography oh my!
So here are my findings. After hard wiring my TV and the Tablo to my internet. I ran a Spectrum speed test. According to the speed test, I have a 400 internet speed and receiving 479. After that, I did my best to nail down the reception issues, and the annoying buffering. So, I disconnected the antenna coax from my Tablo, and attached it directly to the back of my TV. I ran a channel scan. I get great reception and no buffering. HELLO tech support? My plan is this. I will get another antenna and use my Tablo for basic recording of TV shows with my fingers crossed that they come through smoothly, and use my Samsung TV tuner for everything else. I am done fighting with this thing. There are too many variables, and with the money that I spent here, I honestly think that I am going to wait for a serious software upgrade from Tablo, so it will at least work as advertised. Best to you all,
Are you sure this test was truly testing the hardwire ethernet connections? Both your TV (or media device) and your Tablo may still default to the wifi connection which was the last thing they knew. When you switch devices to ethernet, you may have to tell the devices to somehow “forget” the previous known wifi connection and establish a new ethernet connection.
BTW. The ethernet connection should be 100Mbps on both your TV and your Tablo. This is a connection hardware limit. As long as this is stable and your router/switch has the bandwidth (it should), then 100Mbs is plenty for the Tablo to work without buffering.
Some devices have speed testing built in. The Amazon FireTV devices have this. A 100Mbps ethernet connection should “test” at around 90Mbps. An HD TV data stream might need 12 or so max. The key is that this stream is uninterrupted and stable, which is where wifi can stumble.
If your network throughput is really ok, then the other place I would look is your external storage on the Tablo, and then the Tablo itself possibly being defective. If “all is well”, you should not be experiencing heavy buffering.
like @classicrockguy guy said… 400mbps is your internet speed, not your internal network speed. This is a direct client to client transfer.