2 Weeks In and VERY Disapointed

General Discussion
1

Well I have to say that so far I am extremely disappointed in this unit and support has not been very helpful or useful. Lots of people say things work but nobody can give clear examples of how to make it work.

Purchased my 4 tuner unit about 2 weeks and and was impressed at first. Setup was easy and getting the recordings going from my iDevices was very simple, however that is where it stopped. Seems that recording content is very easy and the guide / search is very helpful however WATCHING the content is such a pain in the #@$.

First my household is big Plex Server user so when I went down this path I figured I would just use the Tablo channel in Plex to watch my content. Everyone says it works well however it proved to be nothing but headaches and disappointments. Constant buffering and stopping and starting. I can understand this somewhat as the Tablo channel in plex is not directly supported by Tablo but they have their name on it and list it on their website as a method to connect, so again not very pleased but can’t hold this against Tablo directly.

Then I figured i would just use the Tablo app directly on my iPhone to cast to my Chromcast but then found out that it’s not supported. Seriously! One of the biggest communities out there for devices and it’s not supported! So again, very disappointed. So I figured I would try the chrome browser on my iPhone and the my.tablotv.com interface. Well to be honest it’s horrible. Way to slow and clunky and does not pass the wife test.

Then I read that casting is supported from Android devices so I acquired a Samsung tablet running 4.4.4. Installed the Tablo app and fired it up and there IS NO OPTION to cast despite everyone talking about it working and being available. Even Tablo says on their Website cast from the Tablo app. Whiskey Tango Tablo!

So here I am, serious money invested in a solution that is supposed to save money and allow cord cutting and all I keep doing is wasting more and more and get dirty looks from my wife cause this was supposed to help us save money.

I think it’s time to kiss this thing good by and return it to Amazon and call this grand cord cutting experiment an abysmal failure.

So anyone reading this thread and have any suggestions? I’ve listed below what I have and perhaps someone can offer a suggestion.

Tablo 4 Tuner (hard wired network, 2.2.8)
Plex Media Server (hard wired network)
Samsung Smart TVs (UN40H5201 & UN60F7050, 40in WiFi, 60in hard wired)
iPhones and iPads (5s, 6s)
Android Tablet (Samsung 7" E Lite, 4.4.4)
Chomecast (on both TVs, 1st and 2nd generation)
Router (Netgear N4500, latest firmware, A,B,G, 2.4&5Ghz)

Thanks

2

It really works better with a full client player at the TV. I use a Nexus Player. Since the last Roku update that also is working good. Not a good answer for you, but that is the sate of it right now.

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Thanks that I what I am finding out as well.

However Tablo should be accountable for what they state on their website as being supported. However I guess there is a HUGE difference between supported and working well. Good, Fast, Cheap; pick any two.

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Your problem begins with Chromecast. A serious underperformer with Tablo. I know your frustration cause I had a similar experience with Chromecast. Made the switch to Nexus Player and all’s well. Reports of good results with Rokus as well since their latest update.

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I can’t speak to your particular configuration. I use Chromecast with Nexus 7 tablet and it works. As @nicholb commented the most positive comments come from Nexus Play users. Roku’s are very popular too although there was a roku firmware version that caused problems for a short while.

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How does it work from your Nexus 7? Are you using the native Tablo App or Chrome with the my.tablo.tv web interface?

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I use the tablo app from the google play store. Start a video and the chromecast icon appears in the upper right. One important thing to consider is that the chromecast needs to be detected by the android device before the icon will appear. If you are not seeing the icon double check that with the google chromecast app that the tablet is communicating with the chromecast device…

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Okay, so it shows up in the NATIVE tablo app. That is what I was expecting when I purchased the tablet. However, for me, it does not. I can see the Chromcast just fine from Plex and the Chromcast app but not in Tablo. Thanks, your one post has been the most helpful in the two weeks i’ve been doing this!

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It gets the job done. Tablo appears to have chosen a development platform called phonegap/cordova. This essentially allows the web version to run on the device. It does not appear that the interface layer used in phonegap has solid support for Chromecast and it can get wonky. Some days it works brilliantly.

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It plays excellent on my Nexus N9 tablet. It is Android the way it was developed without any vendor “enhancements”. It does work on my Galaxy S7. What router do you have? If wireless, AC is best.

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I do believe that I have seen comments from samsung phone and I think also galaxy tabs. They may be able to chime in with more specific ideas.

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I have Galaxy S7, which is the newest and has fastest processor and comes with 32 GB. Maybe problem is older phones / Tablets have slower processor.

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Granted the Tablet I have is not uber, super dooper or anything but it should still work or show the option to cast. It seems to me given what I’m reading that the Tablo apps themselves seem more of an after thought despite them being proposed as the main viewing experience. Just my $.02 on that.

As long as my tablet meets the requirements posted by the developer it should be there. If not there is something screwy with the app. Other apps work just fine as I mentioned. Plex, Netflix, Youtube all give the option to cast and work just fine with no issues. No buffering at all.

To beastman my router is a Netgear N4500 unit. It’s about 2 years old.

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This is probably the same thing that nicholb is saying but here goes. I had issues with the sticks. Chromecast and Roku The buffering issues you describe. I now mainly use the Roku 4210x and an older Roku box. They rock with Tablo directly.

I have recently begun trying to understand what Plex is and why and when you would want to use it. I have the Plex Media Server on my not so great laptop. I have the clients/app on the Rokus I mentioned. I mainly use it for playing playlists from my Itunes library as it has more features than the Roku Media Player app.

Back to your issue. As an experiment, I tried Tablo, through Plex, through Roku on 2 TV’s. I picked 2 of the wife’s HD OTA hunky men shows - 1080p. No buffering, no long delay, sound was great. So, in my case, Plex rocked Tablo.

I do agree with you that a big sign that says “Tablo does not play well with underpowered sticks!” would have saved me some blood pressure issues.

15

Chromecast is rubbish. If you want to use it, lower your recording quality. The Chromecast doesn’t have the networking beef to run the high bitrates the Tablo uses.

I use the Roku3 and an ipad2. I had to replace my old wifi router before I had a good experience. Maybe check out your router’s specs.

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I completly hear what you are saying HappyUser and nicholb.

My point here is that Tablo says it works and all other apps work just fine as I mentioned. It seems that Tablo needs to own up and start saying what is preferred and what is just kinda there. The thing is that this is supposed to save money and integrate into what you have and replace expensive Cable and Satelite providers. It’s hard to justify that when you have to go out and spend serious cash to replace everything you have just to get minimal functionality that is touted as being working by the vendor.

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JohnLuther, I hear what you are saying but again not what I am saying. I don’t have any issues streaming from any other application to the chromecast at all. No buffering at all. I fully concede that sticks are not going to perform as well as a more robust device. I am not arguing that point in anyway.

What I am saying is that Tablo doesn’t support casting from iDevices and their android app that is supposed to work as everyone says does not despite my devices meeting the requirements and then some.

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The problem is Tablo can not be tested with every phone and tablet, especially no name brands. But Samsung is a major brand and should work and be tested.

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I tend to agree with you on that point. Even if the tablet can’t be tested the version of Android i am running should be. The app is the same regardless of tablet vendor unless the vendor sets up their own walled garden for apps like Amazon and such. Since I’m getting the app from the offical Google Play store I would have to conclude that its the offical Tablo app that was published by them for my version of Android.

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To be honest I can’t say how the released version works. A update is coming soon, but before it is released the beta testers are getting most of the problems fixed.

If you want to try the beta Android, you can ask @TabloTV. I’ll warn you though…sometimes beta breaks something even though it was tested in house first. But it was found and fixed prior to release.