If only Apple wouldn't lock down their products you could get a native Apple TV app.
That would be amazing.
However, I think we’ll be waiting a while more on that one.
I have 2 AppleTV’s and they started giving me issues. We have ipads, iphones, mac book pro, mac mini, imac, 2 mac pros so we’re heavily into the Apple Products. I got the Roku and had no issues, my appletv would go to the main menu even when watching stuff I was streaming from itunes to my appleTV.
If you are wondering why I have 2 appleTV’s if they gave me issues. They used to work fine and one of the updates messed them both up. I did a clean restore several times while connected to my mac. They were both out of warranty so Apple was no help. I had them both a little over a year when the issues began on both. I kept tell Apple the issue started after the update. I got pissed and bought a Roku, best decision ever.
I got a Roku and used Plex on the same mac pro to stream my media to the roku. No issues at all. This was nearly 2 years ago and it still working great. I recently got a win8.1 Asus Vivo PC and migrated my plex server, it still works great even though it’s a lot slower than my mac pro.
Great input - it’s hard to convince Apple lovers to jump ship. I have an iPad Air, iPhone 6, iPhone 5 but I never would go back to Apple TV. Too many limitations and bugs. Yes, it’s great for Netflix but so is the built-in app on many HDTVs. Apple TV does not add value in my opinion. For something as new as Tablo, Roku or Fire TV is where it’s at.
Agreed - I have two ATV, and was in love with them. Slowly, Roku started stealing me to the point where i hardly use my ATV anymore. I only use it when there’s something i want to watch live (Fox Sports) that i can only get on my TV via airplay.
Update:
its been a few days, and overall its much better but not perfect. still dropping here and there, a few spinners. but basically 1000X better than it was. getting maybe 1-2 drops a night (4-6 hr night), and 2-3 pauses, but it catches itself. might be my hard drive too, I’m using an old USB drive i had, should probably use a better one.
Why do we use ATV?
I actually do own a ROKU as well. We prefer ATV because:
1) everything is in one spot, the iPad.
2) the user interface is faster and better on the iPad.
3) all our subscriptions, amazon, netflix, hulu, and tablo are all on one device, all have similar interfaces, and all have superior user interfaces than available on ATV or ROKU direct. much faster and easier to find shows and find info about them. no menus to flip around through.
4) being able to airplay to any of the apple tv’s in any room from the same device.
I’ve tried ROKU, and quite frankly, for our purposes, it didn’t work out. too much explaining to family members to back out, pick another option, wait for data etc… now they grab the iPad, and everything is consistently the same.
Give Amazon Fire TV a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. Has all the apps you listed above and you’ll get better Tablo performance.
If you don’t like it, return it.
@karlGive Amazon Fire TV a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. Has all the apps you listed above and you’ll get better Tablo performance.
If you don’t like it, return it.
No kidding - nothing to lose at all. If it’s not to your liking, box it up and send it back to Amazon.
Even with the side-loaded existing Android app for Tablo it’s very stable and fast, IMO. It’s got great specs, great processor, more “memory” than other options and the thing operates as if Tablo and AFTV were built with each other in mind. The sync issues pretty much go away. A brand new FireTV stick sync’d to my Tablo which had been up for about 2 months and has a number of recordings on it sync’d to the FireTV stick in like a minute or two and I was off and running. Accessing anything Tablo is very fast, almost instant when you hit FF while watching a recorded show. It jumps ahead and resumes almost as fast as you let your finger up so skipping through commercials even just 30 seconds at a time is better than using FF on a show recorded to DVD or old VHS tape.
I thought Chromecast was ok but this has that beat unless or until Tablo develops an app more aimed at Chromecast itself.
Noob alert, 4 ch refurb ordered. Bummer no native app - ATV’s here but will probably look into Roku3 and dump one ATV to a back room or something.
Roku3 still the king for HDMI viewing?
Go Tablo go!
The “new” Roku 3, Model 4230 released April 2015 has the exact same internal hardware as the Roku 3 Model 4200 released in March 2013. So I would say either invest in the new Roku 2 Model 4210, or for $99 get an Amazon Fire TV.
You will likely get a better Tablo experience on the Fire TV than the Roku 3 (4230 or 4300).
I just tested the Roku 3 (4200) side by side with the FireTV box for 2 months.
My 2 month old FireTV box is for sale. All original packaging included.
Thanks kind person - very enlightening! I’m such a noob at this but willing to learn and tend to enjoy the process along the way.
Being that I’m still “all hat and no cattle” until refurb Tablo arrives, I’ll wait until I’ve actually played around with the ATV “world of things” before dumping more noob questions into the pool.
But thanks again and I will definitely give the Amazon FireTV a closer look for the interim.
@enyapeojThe “new” Roku 3, Model 4230 released April 2015 has the exact same internal hardware as the Roku 3 Model 4200 released in March 2013. So I would say either invest in the new Roku 2 Model 4210, or for $99 get an Amazon Fire TV.
You will likely get a better Tablo experience on the Fire TV than the Roku 3 (4230 or 4300).
Having used Roku 3, FireTV box, and FireTV stick, I can tell you hands down, that CURRENTLY, Roku 3 is the best performing device for the Tablo app.
While I thought the FireTV would spank the Roku 3 (given the much stronger internals), the reality is that the software makes a huge difference in actual performance, and currently, FireTV lags behind Roku 3 in the performance department with the latest available Tablo apps.
You can only mirror the Tablo app to the Apple TV on an iPad or iPhone. I assume you have one of those.
Most certainly. Got much to learn but I have a pretty good idea how to get rolling. I’m sure I’ll be back with better informed questions soon.
Thanks again to all for the advice!