Connectivity with Amazon Fire and Tablo

Tablo Apps Amazon Fire TV & Android TV
1

Hello,

I am not sure if this as been answered in any of the threads. I just bought the Tablo and am wanting to buy either the Roku or the Amazon Fire TV. I have decided on the Fire TV but want to make sure that the Tablo APP is available for the fire TV now. My Tablo gets here on Wednesday and wanted to be set up for it once it arrives. Thanks in advance for your help. 
2

Right now you have to side load the Tablo web app and have a Bluetooth mouse to get the for tv to work with Tablo. The official stop has been promised in the near future. You will want to search Fire in the forums to get further details about side loading. @jjg

3

Using Plex media server also works and may be easier.

4

Thanks for the help. I found a forum that shows how to do the side load and also the plex media. I am going to go forward and purchase the amazon fire. 

5

@JJG


You are going to have to use a computer with a Chrome browser, or an iPad, or Android tablet to set up the Tablo.

The native Fire TV app is set to be released by the end of Q1 2015 - search the forums for threads about this. In the meantime I can confirm you can sideload the Android Tablo Web app on the Fire TV and use the Tablo.

To be clear, if you have a Fire TV Stick then you’ll need a bluetooth wireless mouse, but if you are buying the Fire TV which has USB ports on it then you can use a regular USB wireless mouse.
6

Is the mouse needed because the display is on the TV - and you don’t use the Fire TV stick remote for Tablo?

Will the Tablo app use the remote? Or will the official release of the Tablo Fire TV stick or Fire TV support also require a 3rd party mouse?
7
@ShadowsPapa

Official release will work with the remote. Right now the Android Web app is designed for a touch screen. So unless your HDTV is touch screen you'll need a mouse :p
8
Official release will work with the remote. Right now the Android Web app is designed for a touch screen. So unless your HDTV is touch screen you'll need a mouse :p

Bingo. 


We’re working on finalizing the FireTV app. Everything is looking great so far… Just trying to squeeze one more piece of the puzzle in before we get to QA. 
9
@ShadowsPapa

Official release will work with the remote. Right now the Android Web app is designed for a touch screen. So unless your HDTV is touch screen you'll need a mouse :p

Good point. 


Put that one more piece of the puzzle in here and squeeze away…


10

OK. I received the Tablo yesterday and I bought the Fire TV. I did not sideload the app,  Decided to use PLex (which I never used before). It works but is not great. I can watch live TV but not recorded on the Plex channel (I know that it is third party and has nothing to do with Tablo). But on my PC i can watch recorded shows. So far it is working and I am very pleased with Tablo. The layout on the PC is great, but I can not wait for the Fire TV app.

11

@JJG - We’re working hard to get it to you guys! 


In the meantime, our resident Plex expert (Plexpert?) @DavidVR is working on a fresh rev of the Plex app. Check out the thread in the ‘Third Party Apps’ category. 
12

Is there going to be a public beta of the FireTV app? 

13

@bryantthesmith - All of our beta testing is by request only. You can send a note to @TabloSupport and request to be added to the beta team.

14

As Mark and Sting sang all those years ago “I want my Fire TV…”   :wink:


15

I just sent a PM for the beta testing. Let me know when I can get started!

16

I am considering getting an Amazon Fire TV.  Will it work better than the Roku?  I know there are some serious hurdles designing channels for Roku due to its ridged OS.  For example the new Tablo update for Roku is a whole lot better for FFW recorded shows, (THANK YOU!!!) but will not work for Live TV nor watching a recording say 30 minutes behind live, like I like to watch the NFL so I can FFW through commercials.  It only works once the recording is finished for a few minutes.  Bottom line, will the Amazon Fire TV app work better than the Roku channel?

17

@kbace6


Here is the sneak preview of the Fire TV channel:
http://community.tablotv.com/discussion/1533/roku-revamp-amazon-fire-tv-android-tv-sneak-previews

Currently, the FF preview thumbnails only work on the Chrome browser web app and the Roku. I assume in the future the thumbnails will work on the Fire TV channel as well, but we don’t know at this moment.

Thus, given the thumbnail preview only on the Roku at the moment, I’d say the Roku app works better.

18
For example the new Tablo update for Roku is a whole lot better for FFW recorded shows, (THANK YOU!!!) but will not work for Live TV nor watching a recording say 30 minutes behind live, like I like to watch the NFL so I can FFW through commercials.  It only works once the recording is finished for a few minutes.  Bottom line, will the Amazon Fire TV app work better than the Roku channel?

@kbace6 - The reason why we cannot do previews on Live TV or on ‘in progress’ recordings is a product of how Tablo works and how this feature was implemented. 


Basically what occurs is that Tablo takes a final recording and then pushes it back through a tuner to create the thumbnails. 

So this won’t function any differently on Fire TV. 

At the moment, Fire TV does have the fastest hardware on the market but there are rumors that a Roku 4 is on the way… 
19

I LOVE my AFTV stick with the side-loaded app for Tablo. It’s super super fast and really pretty easy to use, at least as I use it. It’s almost as if the FTV was developed along with the Tablo team and Tablo saw FTV coming, but I gotta know that’s not the case at all, it was just a great accident. 
Did I mention that FireTV stick is FAST?

20

@ShadowsPapa - I haven’t been following the FireTV thread although i should now that I have a FireTV, but does sideloading require the use of mouse and keyboard to use the Tablo APP ?