Hello Support,
I have the 2 tuner lite DVR wifi connected.
Tried to watch the same live tv show channel on LG smart tv and an ipad mini at the same time in different areas in one room.
This method seems to lock up one of the devices…also the active channel on the tv list flashes red.
Can this issue be fixed with settings?
Or is watching the same channel simultaneously on 2 devices not doable.
Thx, subscriber.
Hi @josess11,
As watching the same channel on multiple devices still just uses one tuner, this usually would work fine. However in your case, the issue could be a Wi-Fi signal that can’t handle the amount of traffic. Is your LG TV on Wi-Fi as well or is it connected via ethernet? Because if the Tablo, TV, and iPad are all on Wi-Fi, that would be the likely culprit.
There are a few things you could try:
- The best thing you could try if you are able is to connect the Tablo to your router using an ethernet cable (then reboot using the blue button on the back)
- If that doesn’t work, or you are not able to do that, try lowering the Live TV quality in the settings menu
- As well, plug your TV into ethernet if it wasn’t already.
As for the flashing red channel, that simply indicates which channel has a tuner spinning on it.
All devices are connected via wifi…thats the reason i purchased the tablo as i did not want to deal with cables and wires.
I changed the quality setting for live tv to HD 720 @5Mbps. Was 1080 @ 8…
Started tv first…all good, then started ipad, in that sequence…ipad worked but very slow with buffering, tv continued fine.
Question, how do i find out the speed of my. current wifi setup?
You haven’t described if the various components(tablo, TV, ipad) are connect to the router via WiFi 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz
5ghz
How old is your WiFi router and is it ISP provided? When you are streaming to 2 devices you effectively have 4 media streams going over the WiFi at the same time.
2 streams coming from the Tablo to the router
1 stream to the TV from the router
1 stream to the tablet from the router
The WiFi router must juggle those streams at the same time. Older or cheaper routers don’t have the resources to do that well.
You can eliminate 2 streams from the WiFi by wiring the Tablo. Personally I have mine right next to the router so that is easy, but it may not be for you.
WiFi 5 Ghz doesn’t travel as far or through barriers as well. And I think it can be more affected by interference such as light bulbs,etc.
I don’t know if you have tried ipad playback standing next to the router.
The tablo device is 6 ft away from the router…a stairway is in between, inconvenient to use lan cable across.
The router is a 4 yr old Arris, works well.
LAN cable would be difficult to route.
Thought something could be done with current set up. Thx
As a test to rule out a possible hard drive issue, try watching live tv with no hard drive attached. See if the problem persists.
Hi mbellaire,
I don’t understand why but ur idea of disconnecting the hard drive works!
2 devices can show the same live tv show simultaneously thru Tablo.
Just to be clear, I can view 2 DIFFERENT channels on separate devices at the same time w/ the hard drive attached.
Thanks so much.
If it works with no hard drive attached, then I’d suspect that the hard drive may be having issues, or the USB cable (If external). I don’t know how many recordings you have, but you could try using a different hard drive temporarily (for a few hours). Just to test the live TV capability.
You won’t lose your schedules, because that information is stored in Tablo.
Just guessing but when watching two streams of the same channel that may put too much stress on a particular portion of your current hard drive, and it just can’t keep up.
You can always contact Tablo support if you have continued issues.
I have a 2T Western Digital hard drive that is less than 10% full…works fine writing and reading via their usb cable.
I did try another HHD anyway, with same result (buffering), so the earlier HHD and cable are fine.
I did contact support, but they recommended upgrading my internet svc or using a LAN cable which I don’t want to do.
So, for my wireless setup, I’m ok with your solution to disconnect the HHD when one show needs to be watched simultaneously on 2 devices.
Thx again.
This still points to an issue with the HDD. Just cause you can read and write recordings to it doesn’t mean the drive isn’t failing / dying.
“I did try another HHD anyway, with same result (buffering).”
Unlikely for 2 HHD (same brand and type) to be defective…
Also support recommended to lower the tv quality settings which i did…still no improvement.
Just tried it again…now it works with HHD plugged in,wtf?
Can’t explain…
It could be a flaky HDD cable or a weak power supply.
If it works with no buffering when no HD is installed you can rule out network as the issue. The difference between HD and no HD is when the HD is plugged in is it buffers live TV to HD when it is present.
The WD drive should be able to handle that and it is odd that 2 drives show the same issue. From what I read you also switched the cable when you tried the other HD. Is the HD USB powered or externally. If external did you change that too?
Also odd support recommended upping your internet connection as it has nothing to do with this. You might want to reply to them again and let them know the results of the HD/no HD test. That might point them down another troubleshooting route.
I tried 2 identical HDs (separately), but used the same usb cable…
The HDs were powered with the usb cable.
Aside from recommending a faster internet svc, they said to lower the tv quality service which did not work.
Since its not often that we watch the same show simultaneously on separate devices, I’ve learned to live with it if it happens again. Thx much
Swapping the USB cable would be an easy test if you wanted to try one more. Something appears to be slowing down your HD read/writes and a bad USB cable could potentially do that.