Direct (Non-Proxy) Connection to Tablo

Hi.

Is it possible to make a non-proxy’d connection to my Tablo? After using this for a couple of days I realize it’s very dependent on making a proxy P2P connection through Tablo HQ over the Internet in order to work properly.

I’ve read the chatter about how to use a direct IP address on port 18080 to directory /pvr/ That gets me recorded content but not live TV.

It seems very odd to me to have a device like this and not be able to pop open a web browser and start watching live TV even without an internet connection. But it’s not so. This will not work without a working Internet connection.

This seems like either an oversight or a bug. Or am I missing something completely here? I’ve read all of the material from end-to-end and just can’t find anything that tells me how to do this.

Thanks you for your insight and ideas.

John

Although I competently agree with you a gazillion percent, my understanding based on everything you’ve presumably read… their marketing demographic is the “general public” consumer. Targeting relatively less technical audience, they wanted to engineer a device that was as close to “plug 'n play” as possible.

This post from @TabloSupport kind of summed it all up for me. To paraphrase: Yea, we could have done a lot of advanced things to make it easier for those who’d understand these things… while inversely creating even more support issues on account of the user who “thought” they knew what they were doing.

Our focus is also on developing the product to be easy-to-use for the average non-technical user.

One great things tablo also does do it allow for 3rd part apps. Tablo Tools has limited function to watch live TV without needing discover via the internet. Although I do believe initially this my be the only discovery process.

Thank you for the quick reply and insight into this issue. It’s good to know I’m not crazy looking for a way to make this happen.

While I understand the need to dumb tech down to the least common denominator I don’t think asking for a way to watch TV in a way that does not require the Internet is a stretch. It doesn’t have to be like a YAML or XML edit.

It could just be an option (MyTabloTvs.TabloTV.com). Since they are already gathering data on my private network Tablo should also know that the IP address doesn’t change. I’m sure they reversed the IP too and know there is already a DNS entry for my device as well.

When I use my VPN it’s from a completely different network than my device is using. So my VPN default route is different than my Tablo default route. From what I can tell with cursory observation is that TabloHQ marries the request to “connect” to my device with the device heartbeat itself. If the public IPs match then they connect the private IPs used to make the request together. Like SKYPE would do when making a phone call. So in my case this process is “broken” since I’m using two different default network routes.

So here’s my rating for TabloTV:

8.5 out of 10 stars.

Add this feature and I’ll give it a 10 out of 10 and be the poster boy for Tablo.

It works perfectly (wonderfully actually) as long as you are inside the network where the device is located AND you are connected to an actual internet connection somehow. I connected it to my AppleTV 4K and it works great there too. Again, awesome actually. But I’m about to hit the road and I can’t get my VPN to work with Tablo. Big bummer.

Tablo, even if it was a “hidden feature” for those of us slightly above the statistical technology curve it would be an awesome thing to be able to have. I promise not to call support with mindless babble about why I broke my Tablo. Unless you want me to file bug reports and contribute to the development of the product. In that case I will give you constructive and thoughtful feedback. Please and thank you in advance.

John

If you’ve scanned the forums you’ve likely com across https://api.tablotv.com/assocserver/getipinfo/ (< this is actually a link to forums search results) my.tablotv.com request this, which return some JSON data with…

"http": port for remote connect,
  "public_ip": "WAN IP",
            "ssl": 0,
            "host": "giv",
            "private_ip": "LAN IP",
            "slip": port for remote connect,
            "serverid": "SID_Server ID",
            "inserted": "2020-12-12 13:50:27.349319+00:00",
            "server_version": "2.2.30rc2017417",
            "name": "tablo0", - on my network
            "modified": "2020-12-24 18:16:38.061680+00:00",
            "roku": 0,
            "board": "giv",
            "last_seen": "2020-12-24 18:16:38.044705+00:00"

Then all the activity in on the local network, besides any data mining.

I know. One hack away from taking total control. :slight_smile: reverse ssh … bam. Something I’ve thought about since I put this thing on my network.

It’s very clear they have my “private_ip”. Mystery to me why this can’t be store to work when I connect to my device. Might as well since they are storing all this already.

It’s a week until 2021. Most people have any number of devices from different manufactures to worry about: Google Nest, Amazon Echo, smart plugs, smart lights, security cameras, motion detectors, contact detectors, sprinklers controls, door locks, watches, robot vaccums, thermostats, etc.

The last thing I worry about is some secret tablo data mining. But if my echo show’s don’t stop telling me what to try I’m going to smash them with a hammer.

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I suspect this was not an oversight; the product was likely designed to require a connection to the network so that it could be diagnosed and data could be collected from it by Tablo, as well as offering consumers services like the guide and commercial skip capabilities. This is good for many consumers, and potentially good for Tablo as a way to monetize viewer preferences.

It’s likely too that they want to play a role in controlling how you distribute your Tablo signal and recordings remotely; imagine a scenario where a bar puts Tablo devices in remote locations to allow them to show out of market content to their patrons, in violation of retransmission agreements. While this is still possible with some creative VPN setups, it’s not the design point, and therefore someone who does it is complicit in the distribution, not Tablo.

Hasn’t this all been discussed before. Commercial businesses have been deploying their WEB apps to the cloud for over a decade. Why shouldn’t a consumer business do the same.

They have CYA clauses in their TOS to protect themselves.

It’s primary purpose is network device discovery, from my understanding.

Not sure any data mining is secret.
But what kind of horrible things are you being asked to try that causes so much hostility?

While many here have lease reservations, DHCP - dynamic, it may not always be the same (although algorithms generally assign the same IP)

Gee, decides being constantly ask by echo show to try just about every thing possible I think I had enough when I set a cooking timer and when it went off and I canceled it Alexa ask (gave instructions) if I wanted to watch a Flabio exercise video.

He has unexpectedly found one in the role of “Flabio,” who could be the latest male heartthrob. In coming weeks, stores are scheduled to start selling posters of Glover–all 6 feet, 6 inches and 400 pounds of him–sprawled on his stomach on a surf-washed beach, squinting at the camera from under a damp blond wig.

Yea, recently it suggested “ask me what to wear” Really, it knows I can’t dress myself? Bored enough to ask, since it knows the weather, it suggested a slicker and boots… because it was raining. Other than music, I find little productive use from them (some use getting around in the morning and turning lights off/on)

Ha. I don’t own one of those but, yes, that would bug me.

djk,

You gave me an idea that allowed me get to a solution. It turns out the API call is the critical piece to getting everything to be happy. If the Tablo device and your request to connect to the same all come from the same network Tablo HQ can connect the internal IPs via a proxy connection.

First I was able to route all API traffic through a common gateway that is consistent on my network. That fixed the immediate problem to allow me to connect everywhere including my VPN. Turns out all the other IP traffic to various places in the internet can go any route they want. It’s the API path that they get the public IP address of the device that everything needs to match.

That got me thinking. If you had an internal server that returned the proper JSON sentence (as you indicate above) wouldn’t that allow me to connect to this device even without an external Internet connection. I haven’t tried to set this up yet. Not sure how it will barf on a self-signed certificate (or not) or even if the API call will work without SSL. When I sent the request to the Internet on HTTP it sets up an SSL connection anyway. But I do know the structure and protocol now.

Something to chew on in my spare time. At least I have it working on my VPN now. That was my primary headache.

Well, that’s just part of the equation. You also need the .js web app to load, even though you tablo runs a web server it won’t load this.

I’ve only gathered info searching and watching networking network traffic. There are developers with far greater understanding building app, so we can export shows and not bother with concouring all this

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