When I haven’t used the Tablo in a while, it can take quite a bit of time to get a connection going, and I usually have to exit and re-enter the app a couple of times when I try to connect. Eventually the Tablo connects, and then the Guide may or may not be filled out. Sometimes I have to exit the app and re-enter it to get the Guide filled out. Once the Tablo’s ready to go, it’s fine, but it can take long enough to get it going that I give up on it and go and use the HDhomerun that I have set up just because of these problems.
For background, we’re using an NVIDIA Shield that’s normal in all other aspects. My home router is an Asus RT-AX88U (although I had the same experience with the eero) on gigabit fiber, and the Tablo is hard-wired to the router via MoCA 2.5. Haven’t tried the Tablo on wi-fi, but generally the hard-wired connection works well using MoCA. The HDhomerun is connected via the same MoCA network, much less problematic starting up.
I’m wondering if this is a common experience…the main reason that I’m using the Tablo at this point is for recording and playback. The live TV part is often too frustrating and time consuming to get it going. Although once it’s going, it’s fine.
Guess I’m wondering if this is a common experience, or it’s something about my configuration here. If there are any tips that people who have worked through this sort of problem themselves have, I’d be happy to hear. By the way, I’ve been using the Tablo for about two years now. The only change I’ve made was a couple of months ago “upgraded” from a 4-tuner old-style Tablo to the current 4-tuner current style one.
A wired connection is nearly always better than a wireless Wi-Fi connection, however, I have never tried using a MoCA connection. My Shield is wired via ethernet cable through a switch to the router.
Are you using the most recent Tablo app (version 2.0.1) on your Shield?
I typically use my Roku Ultra for watching my Tablo content, but I just switched to my nVidia Shield which hadn’t been used for Tablo for 3 or 4 weeks and it instantly connected and also filled in the live TV grid within 4 or 5 seconds of opening that tab.
And a MoCA connection is like an ethernet cable with a couple of ms. of extra latency due to the adapters. Internet speed testing over MoCA shows full speed at the other end. The eero was happy to treat MoCA like a cable connection, showed up as “wired” and worked well.
I don’t think I’ve ever had an instant connection when it’s been a while since I connected to the Tablo, Always takes some time here, unless I’ve been using it recently. Unless you’re talking about how quickly the circle-y “waiting” thing comes up :-). That comes up immediately and stays a while. Unfortunately.
The HDhomerun is much better, the app with the Guide comes up pretty quickly, although it may give a quick message about the tuner not responding…and then the video comes up much faster than the Tablo as well, but that’s most likely because the Shield is doing the transcoding, and the Shield can do that a lot faster than the Tablo.
Anyways, I’m talking about the time between clicking on the app and having the Guide appear and be useful. The transcoding time is what it is.