I’m running on a synology DS413j. Someone on their forum asked if synology would work with it, and they stated that synology is an officially supported NAS. I’ve owned a few different NAS and so far synology is my fav. It has a ton of built in functionality. They have a new media version that is beefed up to transcode. I would get that if I were to buy a new one.
I just looked up the specs of your NAS, it wouldn’t be fast enough to host a Plex Media Server to transcode the video stream from the HDHomeRun’s MPEG2 to h.264 to get playback on a Roku. Well maybe one stream but you definitely would not be able to view on multiple devices at one time with a 1.6 GHz CPU.
I’m just pointing out anyone would need a very powerful NAS for HDHomeRun DVR and Roku compatibility.
I have no interest in getting HDHomeRun. I’m an avid Tablo user. I’m just excited about the activity in the space.
Yeah, my model isn’t the fastest. However It does run plex server on it without a problem. It does have all my ripped movies on it and has no problem streaming that to roku. As i mentioned above, if i were to get another, i’d get their DS415play
Does your Roku Direct Play all your files hosted on your Plex Media Server? Or does the PMS actually do some transcoding once in a while?
not mkv or avi, which is a drawback. Thankfully, i have a WD TV stab which covers my bases there. I’m not sure, but i think the synology play transcodes all those though.
Thats why i’m chomping at the bit for an apple tv app. Tablo on apple TV plus the VLC app should cover my bases and only need one STB (hoping)
Roku can direct play some MKV files, but it is very picky. But if you’re using a WD TV it can play everything.
I’m assuming your Apple TV is the ATV 4 then?
3rd gen right now. Holding out for tablo to release their app. Plus there’s rumor that a 5th gen is in the works. Rumor only, so we’ll see
The standalone app for the Apple TV will be available through the App Store, which I believe will only be on the Apple TV 4.
The 3rd gen doesn’t have an App Store right?
Correct. There’s no real compelling apps that drive me to 4th gen just yet.
I bought a gen 4 to see how I liked it, but I’m really waiting on the Tablo and Amazon Video apps to decide if I’ll get more or just stick with Rokus. I picked up a Nexus Player to test, but it’s not really compelling for me. Doesn’t do Amazon Video, and it doesn’t have an ethernet port. I prefer to keep all my streamers hardwired.
Same reason my ATV4 is still in the shrink wrap… waiting for the Tablo app…
I have been using the Channels app and it works great! It tunes in channels almost instantly (unlike my experience with Tablo – at least on iPad), and can pause, rewind and fast forward directly from buffer on Apple TV without any additional equipment or setup. Plus it pulls in program info/details with no monthly fee required. This app is well thought out, tested thoroughly and really works well. The developers did a great job.
By the way – it works perfectly with a HDHomeRun device I picked up on eBay for only $40.
Sine I use Hulu commercial free, I hardly need a real DVR for broadcast TV, so I am starting to think the Channels app may be all I need. The only thing I wish it had at this point was an ability to view what’s coming on later in the day (it currently only shows what is currently on and wha’t coming up next).
I still may consider Tablo for full DVR (assuming the app allows full futures of DVR, tunes in fast like the Channels app and overall works well), but am just not sure right now that I need it. We’ll see. Looking forward to trying it.
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The Tablo app on any device will NEVER tune instantly. The 10 second delay is by design.
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How much does your Hulu subscription cost monthly?
Hulu without commercials is $12/month (although I got it at a discount by paying for a full year) – and it is totally worth it IMO. The convenience of no commercials (not even needing to lift a finger to fast forward) is great. It also includes a lot more than just broadcast material – including Comedy Central, Cartoon Network shows, Nick shows, originals, a good selection of movies from EPIX, etc.
Even though it is a bit more costly, overall it feels like a much better value to spend $s on Hulu than just broadcast guide data.
Although, I will say I am not real confident this deal will last. It’s almost too good to be true – and there are rumblings that next day streaming of shows may be in jeopardy by media companies who are concerned about the cord cutting trend.
Not bad, at the cost of the Tablo $299 and the lifetime sub $150, at $12 per month, it’d take 37.5 months to break even.
I’ve had my Tablo for 2 years so in a year I will break even with that comparison. Given the cost savings of cable TV though that only took 6 months.
As well, Hulu is not even available in Canada.
I was paying $80 for cable, so it didn’t take me long to break ever. Although break even got pushed out a few times due to trying different setups like WMC with Xbox, then simple tv. Tablo has been a long standing setup in my house now since it ca,e out. Just about the best solution I ca,emac cross so far
I have WMC on an old PC with HDHomeRun Dual Tuner, before I purchased the Tablo. It was and still is an excellent DVR solution, and pretty cheap to setup if you already have an old and unused PC running Windows 7/8. What I really like is that the WMC recordings (i.e. wtv files) can be played directly using MX Player on my Shield or tablet thru my home network (no transcoding needed, but you don’t see the program info about the show though). One nice feature on the WMC (which is on my Tablo wishlist) is that you can set the limit to how many shows you want to keep for a particular series; and there is really no maintenance work needed to clean up the hard drive. I still have all my recording schedules on it just in case I need to catch up on stuff that Tablo fails to record for whatever reason, or when I need >4 tuners (that one hasn’t happened yet 
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