Today’s question comes from Reece who asks, “Support asked me to run and save a channel scan. I thought I had, but I pressed the Update Guide Now button instead. Is there a difference?”
There is indeed a difference between running and saving a fresh channel scan and simply updating your Tablo’s TV Guide Data. Keep reading to learn more.
Channel Scan vs. Guide Update
A channel scan initiates a full search and update of the broadcast and free streaming channels available in your area. It looks for new and discontinued channels, changes in broadcast metadata that can affect playback, rebuilds your channel lineup and fully updates your TV Guide Data.
Selecting UPDATE GUIDE NOW only refreshes the TV Guide Data for your existing channel lineup. This should get updated automatically during your Tablo’s overnight maintenance cycle. Selecting UPDATE GUIDE NOW will trigger that process to happen immediately and download broadcast schedule changes and any days of missing data since the last automatic update.
As you can see, running and saving a scan is a much more thorough process, especially when it comes to troubleshooting. But there are instances where it’s not necessary.
When to Run a Channel Scan
Channel scans are a valuable troubleshooting step when you’re encountering issues with playback on one or more channels, you have significant gaps in your TV Guide Data or your Tablo has been offline for longer than a few weeks.
Remember to select SAVE AND CONTINUE after your scan, even if you don’t edit your channel lineup. Failing to save the scan means any updates to the broadcast metadata or signal strength data will not be saved.
We recommend running and saving a new channel scan with your Tablo at least once every three months.
Head to the Tablo Knowledge Base for details, including step-by-step instructions for channel scans.
When to Update Your TV Guide
If you’ve run and saved a channel scan recently, there are situations when simply updating the guide by going to SETTINGS > GUIDE > UPDATE GUIDE NOW should suffice:
- Schedule Changes
Breaking news, sports playoffs and presidential addresses can throw a monkey wrench into regular broadcast schedules. When this happens, updating your guide can provide an accurate schedule if an update is available in the system.
- You Encounter Scheduling Errors
A scheduling error when trying to set up a recording usually indicates your TV Guide Data has missing or incorrect information. Updating your guide data should allow you to proceed with scheduling your recording.
- Your Tablo Has Been Offline for a Few Days
4th Generation Tablo devices download TV Guide Data automatically from the internet. If the device is offline overnight or even for a few days, you’ll find it won’t have a full 14 days of guide data, let alone any recent schedule changes. Updating the guide is a quick way to set things right.
Have a question about watching TV that you’d like answered? Send us a note and you may see your question on the Tablo blog and in an upcoming issue of our newsletter, Stay Tuned!
