Solving playback issues

[Magus]

Hi all

I have four TVs and four Roku Express devices. I recently acquired a Tablo 4th Gen 2 tuner device to add to my mix.

Recording is great and I love being able to watch my late night folks as well as other shows. Fast forwarding through commercials is addictive!

I tried to watch a recorded show shortly after it ended and things were terrible. After much troubleshooting it was revealed to me that after the Tablo records, the recording undergoes a transcoding process to convert from MPEG2 TO MP4 format.

Apparently the TV and Roku I use most frequently doesn't do well with the MPEG2 format. Pixelation and screen freezes galore.

Once transcoding completes the playback is great. Tablo forums suggested I add an external hard drive. I did and it was worse and more of it. Apparently when an external hard drive is attached, the recordings remain in MPEG2 format.

Here's where it gets interesting. Since I have three working TV/Roku setups, I tested on each. Two of the Rokus have the issue. But one is fine. 

This causes the following questions in my mind. What governs the CODEC used for video playback on Roku? Is it in the player itself? I'm guessing it must be, as all of them are using the same Tablo app. Perhaps the firmware? Oddly, I believe the Roku player that works fine is the oldest of the three.

For now, I've disconnected the external hard drive from the Tablo. But I'd really like to manage to solve the issue. It certainly seems to be indicating it's a Roku issue and not a Tablo issue.

advTHANKSance!

[renojim]

Roku devices support a very limited set of CODECs, but they all support the same ones.  An OTA MPEG2 stream probably uses something like 10 times the bandwidth of the pretty much equivalent MP4 stream.  Some Roku devices (even within the same model) have better Wi-Fi reception than others.

Roku devices are pretty much meant for Internet streaming and there are people that try to use them for other purposes, but I have no doubt that Roku has little to no interest in supporting those purposes (if they can't figure out how to insert ads and generate revenue, fuggedaboutit).  This is coming from someone that has purchased both the two and four tuner versions.  I'm honestly surprised it works as well as it does.  I'll be happy if it gets better, but I'm not expecting it.  It's really up to Tablo to find workarounds for Roku's many limitations.

[Magus]

I'm aware that Roku also sells a player that allows hard wired Internet connections. I'm wondering if acquiring one and connecting this way would help any. 

The folks over in the Tablo community seem to think my issues are likely due to bandwidth issues.

Thoughts?

[renojim]

A bandwidth issue would also be my guess, but it's only a guess.  Is your Tablo using a wired connection?

I have an old Premiere (3920) with very poor Wi-Fi reception and when I used it with a 2-tuner Tablo (that I later gifted to my mother) it didn't work well.  I just got the 4-tuner model, but I haven't had a chance to test it.  I don't know if I'll swap it with my mother's or keep it for myself.  I've noticed that the 2-tuner one sometimes struggles with live streams at my mother's, but the Tablo and her Roku are both connected via Wi-Fi.  I'd like to get one or the other wired to see if it helps, but it won't be easy to do.

I noticed something interesting last night when I was at her house and she was watching something live and the Tablo app crashed completely.  I went back into the app and selected the same show, but set it to record.  I was surprised when I was able to rewind to before the point where I started the recording and could watch right through the spot where it crashed without anything missing.

You'll see similar complaints about live streams from people using HDHomeRun tuners (which I also have).  In that case, I've always felt that it's the glitches in the stream caused by RF reception issues that trip up Roku devices.

[Magus]

Interesting! A short while ago I decided to perform a test. I fired up my TV and Roku and connected to the Tablo. I played about 20-25 minutes of live TV. No recording, just played it. And the Tablo allowed me to back up the play all the way to when I began watching. Makes me wonder how long or how far back it goes. It HAS to be recording this somewhere.

I'm headed over to the Tablo community to post this as a question.

Thanks... Rick 🙂