With the exception of the million dollar budget spots that air during the Superbowl, people generally hate watching commercials. Thankfully, about a year ago Tablo added support for Fast Forward Previews which makes it easy to quickly speed through advertisements and get back to the show you were trying to watch.

However, some users have been confused about why they don’t see Fast Forward Previews on all Tablo video playback.

The Question

Why don’t I always see Fast Forward Previews on my Tablo?

The Answer

You may not see Fast Forward Previews on the playback of your Tablo video for a few different reasons…

You’re Watching Live TV or a ‘Tape Delay’ Recording

Fast Forward Preview thumbnails are created once recordings are completed by re-processing the recording using one of Tablo’s tuners. That means in-progress recordings, as well as live TV, will not have this feature.

Your Recording is Complete, But There Are No Available Tuners

Since generating the preview thumbnails requires a tuner, if all of the tuners on your Tablo are busy with other tasks (like other recordings, live TV streams or out-of-home streams) your DVR will wait until those tasks are completed before processing the thumbnails for your recording. This is one of the many advantages of the additional tuners on the 4-Tuner Tablo!

You Haven’t Waited for the Process to Complete

When there is an available tuner, your recording should show Fast Forward Previews approximately 4 minutes after the recording has finished (for an hour-long show). Longer recordings will require additional time for processing.



Creation of Fast Forward Preview thumbnails are also completed in a serialized way which means if you have 4 one-hour recordings completing all at one time, it will take approximately 16 minutes for all four recordings to show previews.

There is an Error in the Recording

While not a common occurrence, it is possible for Fast Forward Preview generation to fail. This is almost always caused by an error in the actual recording, generally resulting from a degradation in the Over-the-Air signal during the recording process.

You can force Tablo to re-try preview thumbnail processing on a recording by quickly pressing and releasing the blue reset button on the rear of the unit. During the boot-up process, recordings without Fast Forward Previews are identified and a second attempt will be made; however, if there is indeed an error in the recording, it’s unlikely a re-try will be successful.