problem with tablo playback when actively recording

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Level 1

4 points

problem with tablo playback when actively recording

This is an apple TV specific issue with the Tablo app as it does not happen with Google TV or Roku and am hoping Apple can fix this issue with the specialized player they require app developers to use.

I have an Apple TV 4k 2024 model with TVios 26. I use my Tablo to record local news so I can go back at my leisure and watch it. Sometimes I go in during the middle of the news show (while Tablo is recording) and attempt to rewind it or start it from the beginning. I can not do this in Apple TV, but can with Google TV and Roku. When I asked Tablo support about this, they provided me the following answer:

"Thank you for reaching out. I understand that you're experiencing an issue with starting in-progress recordings from the beginning on your Apple TV. Unfortunately, this is a known limitation with the Tablo app on Apple TV. Unlike other devices such as Roku and Google TV, the Tablo app on Apple TV does not support starting in-progress recordings from the beginning. This is due to the specialized player software required for Apple products, which cannot differentiate between live streams and in-progress recordings." .

Furthermore Tablo support page says Apple products do not support the playback of MPEG-2 video natively. For this reason, specialized player software is required.This player software isn't able to differentiate between live streams and in-progress recordings, as they both do not have specific start and end points. Therefore, playback of in-progress recordings can’t be started from the beginning of the program on those devices.

Posted on Sep 24, 2025 8:54 AM

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Answer 1

Urquhart1244

Level 10

146,112 points

Sep 24, 2025 10:47 AM in response to Ozarkham

This is a user-to-user support forum. Please note that you are not addressing Apple staff here.

While Apple tries to make it easy for developers by supplying a default video player, there can be reasons to want more or different things from a player than what this player offers. The remedy is then for developers to include their own video player programming code in their app. Yes, that is extra work for them.

You can try giving feedback to Apple, but I would expect that Apple’s reaction (if any) is to leave the tvOS player (like QuickTime) and the developer IDE (Xcode) as-is, without catering to any specific developer.

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