Some time ago (8 months or so) my Roku streaming stick could never find my dual Tablo on the first try. It always found it on the second try. Support at Tablo investigated and found that my Roku was, I think simply put timing out before it found the Tablo. It was corrected for a few days but then started back again. Until now, I’ve just let the Roku look a second time for the Tablo. But Now, since the last Tablo update (about three weeks ago) the Roku has to look twice without finding it and then a third time that it does find it. It’s consistent in doing this but it just takes three times of trying to connect to the Tablo. Also note that my computer (w10) and iPad always connect on the first try.
Tablo is hard wired to router.
Roku stick is WiFi.
I have two old (4+ years or so) Roku Sticks in bedrooms that are quite a distance from the WiFi router and both perform poorly with Tablo. Well pretty much any app. To the point of getting so frustrated I just give up and go to one of two TVs with Roku Ultra’s that are wired to the router. I plan on replacing the old sticks with Sticks+ eventually when they go on sale. They’ve probably reached the end of their life. How far away from the router is your Roku and how old is it? I assume it’s not a + version.
The biggest challenge for any device is connectivity, and wifi is the weakest link. If you have the “standard modem/router combo” from the ISP, chances are it doesn’t have great wifi connectivity. This is common across the USA.
Getting a good wifi router, preferably a “tri-band” router that supports MU-MIMO is the best bet (dual band routers are good, but not as good as the tri-band).
Before you buy anything - first thing is to look at your wifi signals throughout the home with a wifi analyzer (many free downloads on phones - both IOS and Android) - and find out where the dead zones are. A better router may help, but you may need a mesh network (if you can connect them with an ethernet backhaul this works the best). It really depends on the building materials of your home, interference from electronic equipment, electrical lines, HVAC and other items, and even your next door neighbors using the same wifi channels can create dead zones.
And if you buy a mesh router, and place it in a dead zone, it may not connect - you have to place it in an area that gets signal, and then it broadcasts to the dead zones (this is why I suggest an ethernet connection to the main router to the satellites).
To add to my initial response, I also have two Fire Sticks that perform great at the same distance as the old Roku Sticks. And they are on a different floor than the router. So I know the signal coming from my Netgear R6400 is plenty good.
It isn’t always “distance”. There could be a source of interference (neighbor’s wifi, electrical wiring, a bad LED bulb, microwave oven, cordless phones, etc) that could be causing the problem.
I haven’t tested the older Roku devices (I have 3 streaming stick +, and I purchased them because of the better wifi capabilities).
You could test the interference possibility by switching the Fire Sticks with the Roku Sticks and see if the problems continue or are solved.
BTW - I found out my Waterpik toothbrush/water flosser causes problems with both wifi and TV signals in my home. I have to time my brushing/flossing just right…LOL
Yeah been there sorta. We had an old wireless home phone that when you would use it, it would completely block WiFi signals to any other device in the room.
I planned to swap a Roku Stick for a Fire Stick one of these days to test what you suggested. Like I stated earlier I plan to purchase the Stick+ models the next time they go on sale. With better WiFi performance and a faster processor I would expect them to work much, much better.
I swapped the old Roku with a Fire Stick and it performs beautifully like it’s 4 feet away from the router when it’s actually on the opposite end of the house. So like I said the old Roku I think has reached the end of its useful life and that’s ok. I had to retire my old (original) Roku 2 a while ago due to the end of support. It was actually working pretty good yet LOL.
My Tablo is connected via Ethernet and I use 2 Amazon FireSticks. They very often fail to connect to my Tablo on the first try and its really annoying. I’m a recent cord cutter, and coming from a cable-provider DVR I can say that using the Tablo is just not as smooth.
@TabloSupport: as an end user, I just want to access content without having to care about the underlying connection mechanism. IMO you should implement a more robust algorithm that doesnt require the end user to click “retry” a few times, the code should do that. And also, make it work faster!
Does anyone have info on how the Tablo discovery algorithm works? I’m curious to see how its implemented.