How to access live tv and dvr without live internet connection

Support & Troubleshooting
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Hi Folks,
I’m a first-time poster so be gentle with me.

I live in Florida; although I’m sure it’s not mutually exclusive to this area, we have frequent thunderstorms this time of year where the Internet goes down. Not a primetime happy place. Typically the only resource for entertainment when the cable goes out is live tv via the OTA which is how I found Tablo in the beginning. That and escalating Cable TV prices. :wink: Although new to Tablo (+10 months) I was quite set back when the cable went out the other evening, and I could not access my Tablo Live TV and or DVR to keep the entertainment rolling.

Fortunately, this doesn’t happen very often so it may be trivial on my part, but then we have hurricanes down here too where everything goes out, and the generator kicks in. Now I want my entertainment and no excuses, The only thing you can do is make a plan which is what I need to do now.

You might say, well, you could always use the TV’s built-in tuners, but in case you haven’t noticed many of the newer TV’s out there come without a tuner as evident by my primary display. However, I do have a couple of TVs with built-in tuners, but I would have to run a cable to whatever TV that has a tuner from my outdoor antenna. My Tablo devices are kept in a central location remote from the TVs where the antenna leads terminate. I’m hoping this is not my only alternative and it still doesn’t get me to my DVR on my hard drives (not a cloud). I’d hate to think this is an omitted feature. If so, At the very least it should be corrected in future upgrades.

I think you can see I need to resolve this and I apologize for all the verbiage.

In and of itself this wouldn’t be so bad, but when you add to that lack of quality audio it has me contemplating alternatives.

However, I’m hoping there is a way to fix this issue and give some help to others with similar needs.

To Be Clear;

I have two Tablo Dual tuners in my setup the original and current model w/built-in storage. Yes I know there is a four tuner model, but One connects to an outdoor antenna pointed NE and the other to the SE where the stations I want is located. So there is a method to my madness. Also, both have external 1TB SSD’s

Both are Ethernet cable connected to a Linksys 8 port switch connected to my Linksys Router (WRT1900ACS) which connects to my personal Arris Modem SB6141

All TV’s are connected by Ethernet Cable and none operate with WiFi.

Call me a control freak but I likes my equipment to do what I want and I’ve tried to make it as good as possible.

I’ve made no attempt, yet, to access my Tablo devices when the cable is out but I’m certain there must be a way to do so.

Any help in this regard would be appreciated.

Keep in mind I want to do this from the couch, not my cell laptop or PC.

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If you search the forum you might find a number of posts on this subject.

It’s pretty hard for a tablo app to function if the actual device requires a WAN connection to bring up it’s basic UI.

It’s also very hard for any device to function if the device has lost it’s IP address and the DHCP server won’t work without a WAN connection… Many DHCP servers exist on the ISP router. For router behind router configurations where the DHCP server doesn’t reside on the ISP router that needs to be tested.

So if the WAN connection has been lost but the IP address is still good (ISP drop) or a power failure and on return the local DHCP works without a WAN connection, the Roku typically works. You just need to select proceed when the internet down message appears.

It easy to test, just unplug the ISP router for test one. And then unplug ISP router and reboot the ISP router for the functional DHCP server.

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What streaming devices are you actually using? Your (long) post doesn’t say.

4

“the Roku typically works”

But I’ve only tested using a 4200 and 4210 because these are still fully functional. So I haven’t had a need to upgrade.

It does require you have an understanding that your device needs an IP address to function and if on a power failure situation your DHCP fails to work without a WAN connection you are SOL.
.

5

I have a Roku 4200 as well and the annoying part of the Roku internet connection is that it will not connect to a WiFi network if that WiFi doesn’t have a live internet connection. It just fails and doesn’t connect. This aspect of the Roku has nothing to do with the Tablo device or Tablo channel / app on the Roku.

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Mine does. But all of my conections go through a secondary router. There are a large number configuration combinations. So there is probably no single answer. Each user must test their own setup.

My IPS router is an old PACE router which contains the DHCP DMZ, parental controls, and ISP logon. But I have a router-behind-router setup where all user connections (wired/wireless) go through a second router.

Many people pick a setup like that because they consider the ISP router to be under powered.

My router detects this situation and self-configures itself. Internally I suspect it considers itself a wired access point. But all LAN data only flows through this secondary router.

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I searched the forum before posting
I use Roku Ultra on 2 TV’s including the primary one w/Ethernet connection + 2 Roku Smart TV/s +1 with Roku 3
I did not check my Roku 3 box.
I clicked proceed w/o success.
Both my Tablo’s have an IP address, Are you saying I need to make reservations for their IP’s on my router that feeds them?
I use more than one router in a large home to spread wi-fi most efficiently, three in all. Each has its hardwired connection from the base router with a different MAC address, but I don’t understand your config of a router behind a router or if that solves the problem here.

8

In your configuration, only the base router is actually a router. The other ones should be in bridge mode for use as wifi access points (only). Zippy actually has the ISP “router” in bridge mode, using his own behind it. That also works, if the ISP insists on giving you a router instead of just a modem.

So on the actual router (not the ones acting as access points) you should set up a DHCP reservation for each Tablo so that their IP addresses don’t change.

Independent of all that is the issue of using the Tablo app when you don’t have an Internet connection. That’s really a streamer box issue. Some boxes work fine without, some don’t. As I recall, the FireTV boxes insist on talking to Amazon before they’ll do anything. I don’t use Roku boxes, so I can’t help with those.

9

Yes, they are bridged and no my main TV and associated Roku Ultra does not connect through either of the bridged routers.
To be clear, I want to do this from the couch, not a phone laptop or PC app as stated in the OP. I should not need live internet to access my DVR and for that matter live TV. If I do this is a flaw with Tablo that needs to be corrected.
We’ve all seen the downloading of the guide through the GUI it should be accessible locally otherwise where is it down loading too. The same is true with recorded shows they are saved locally. I should have access to them without a live internet connection. If not it too is a flaw that needs to be corrected.
There is any number of ways to do it not the least which is a local OS onboard Tablo. Stored files could be accessed locally in spite of no connection and seen as a local network share,

Edit:
I have my own modem not rented from my ISP again Arris SB6141.

10

No you don’t need to reserve an IP addresses. Reserving an IP address doesn’t eliminate the need for a DHCP server. It just tells the DHCP server which address to feed to the device.

I have one Roku 3 connect WiFi 5G. I also have a wired tablo and Roku 2 going through a 4 port netgear switch which is then connected to powerline adapters, which are connected to my wired access router.

And yes it is actually considered a wired access point since all extended functionality is disabled. In bridge mode most of the extended functionality is available. And then there is a whole discussion where everyone gets confused about whether the WAN router is in modem mode. But dare we not go there.

And the 14 day guide is on the tablo so there is no need for a WAN for guide update unless you are expecting 14 days of outage.

If your Roku has a valid IP but no WAN access the Roku should output an internet unavaliable message. Since this message could be different on various Roku models you should be able to click for a proceed message or to proceed. At which time the tablo app will load and be functional.

And no I don’t want to talk about DHCP IP lease renewal - read the DHCP standard. Basically you need a functional DHCP server.

I last tried this on Roku 8.0 release and it worked. But not the 8.1 release which my Roku 3 and 2 just got.

Otherwise I suspect you are just SOL.

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I agree with the SOL part. Clicking proceed did nothing for me. Looks like I need a Plex Server with Digital Tuners. It would appear, I made a mistake investing in Tablo.

12

I’m sorry to hear that. If using the Tablo without internet connect was so critical why didn’t you ask this before purchasing?

13

The proceed option works for me on my Roku ultra and 3, both running 8.1 They are both ethernet connected via power line adapters (thank you theuser86). Before giving up, I would open a ticket with support and see if they have a solution.

1 Like
14

I have have seen situations where you have to click OK more then once and wait for a TCP/IP timeout which could take 1-2 minutes.

Some of this depends on whether the WAN router has a link to the local node (or not) and if the link to the local node is good and the uplink from the local node is down.

It appears you got the internet down message, so your Roku has it’s IP address. Maybe you are not effective in causing the proceed to happen and instead retrying the internet connect.

You got to do what you got to do.

15

Most Tablo apps offer a fallback to your local network in the event the external internet isn’t accessible:

https://www.tablotv.com/blog/tablo-faqs-do-i-need-internet-use-tablo-ota-dvr/#discovery

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