Just ordered a Tablo 2 tuner and have a question before it arrives

New to the forum and the Tablo. Taking the first step in cutting the “Dish” cord, and eliminating $240 monthly TV bill.

As a rule, I like to get acquainted w/ any device I order before it arrives. So I have been doing plenty of reading and video watching on setting up the Tablo.

I have two LG sets w/ Amazon Fire Sticks I’ll want to set up. All the setup videos I’ve seen show PC’s or tablets using the Tablo app to set up the interface between the router and the PC or Tablet… Therein lies my confusion.

Can I just use the app I have loaded on my Fire Sticks to set up the Tablo? I’m not understanding the use of the PC or tablet for the set up process, since the end result of this process allows you to watch the OTA programs on those devices…which I do not want. I want to view the OTA programing n my LG using the Fore Sticks.

I really unclear on the “Why” for the PC or Tablet use in the set-up process…

Best I can guess is that the PC/Tablet is only used to connect the Tablo to the router and as a side benefit during the setup process it connects and will play on the PC or Tablet. But wonder why the Fire Stick Tablo app cannot do the setup also.

I’m guessing again (after setting the Tablo up with a tablet or PC) when I open the Tablo App on my Fires Sticks, the app will connect that Fire Stick to the Tablo on the network and allow the Tablo to function on the TV. Again, these are best guesses. Being a bit OCD, I hate to rely on guess when setting up electronics. LOL

Can someone clear this up for me please. Thanks

Your logic is correct. You’ll need to use a web based version of the app (PC, Android or iOS) to connect the Tablo to a wireless network, and I think to do the initial channel scan. Perhaps you can bypass this if you connect via ethernet, but I’ve always been wireless.

Once the Tablo is on your network, you can just use any browser and point to my.tablotv.com to configure (or the Android/iOS apps). Then, yes, any Tablo app on your network should connect easily.

Congratulations on your savings. Payback on the Tablo is only 1 month!

I’m not sure about setting up the Tablo on fire stick because I have Apple TV and I phone. If you have a iPhone or android phone I know you can download the app on your phone and set up your new Tablo. Is pretty simple just follow the directions on the phone it should not take that long. The longest part is when the app tell you it formatting the hard drive depending on how large the drive is. I have a 4tb and it took maybe 5 minutes I don’t really remember. One other thing is you have to use your phone to set up the Tablo on your wifi network. You open the Tablo app go to wifi setting on your phone and look for the Tablo wifi connect to the Tablo wifi and it will ask you for the network you want to use click on your network put in you router password if you have one and hit connect. Next it will download the program guide which will take a little time no more than 10 minutes. You get to try it for free for 30 days then you will either buy the guild you don’t. But I would recommend it because the show you want to record will record with out you having to do anything no matter what channel or time it will record. I bought the life time guide when I purchase mine and it think it will take 2 and a half years for it to pay for itself which I have already passed so I don’t pay for the guide. Hope you enjoy your new Tablo. All so I forgot to mention that it if you buy the program guide you have the option to stream your Tablo out side your home While away on vacation.

Thanks for the feed back. So I guess I shouldn’t try to figure out the “why” I need to use a PC or Tablet to set up the Tablo wirelessly, but rather just do it as directed and see if everything goes as expected.

I could go the Ethernet route, but that would entail having to run 25 feet of either coax or Cat 5, as roof antenna enters home on opposite side of the room as my modem (which for me is usually the case regardless of project…LOL)

Router Wifi signal works fine on all my TVs in house. Tablo will be placed about 30 feet from my modem/ router (to pick up the roof antenna lead. which I’m hoping won’t be an issue w/ the wi fi built into the Tablo. Guess I’ll find out.

I have the Tablo app down loaded to an android tablet, and both of my Fire Sticks at present. In reading some of the comments and directions for setting up the Tablo, it appears I will need a hard drive if I want to record any programs. At first, I though I’d skip that since I don’t foresee recording any OTA programs, however I do like the ability to pause and resume live TV, so adding a HD would be worth doing. if only for that feature. I’m going to go w/ a 2 TB Seagate backup plus portable drive from Costco.

The guide does look quite nice indeed. I will have to play with it to determine if it’s something I will actually use.

We currently have Dish Everything package, and after adding in monthly charges for each receiver (Hopper and three Joeys), Local channels ($12 extra- which dish conveniently decided to charge for as it was included in my package originally) , a movie pack, equipment insurance, and taxes, it’s a boated cow, especially considering we only watch a handful of channels routinely.

Even cutting back to their least expensive package (which doesn’t have many of the channels we watch), my bill would still be $100+.

6 months ago I upgraded equipment (which was a huge mistake). The new Hopper shuts off at 1AM for updates w/ no way to change that update time. Being a bit of a night owl, oftentimes TV goes dark while I’m watching. This is a PITA. It will cost me approx $300 to get out of my commitment, w/ them which I am willing to pay (as I’ll recoup that amount in 2 months by dropping them rather than continuing w/ them for the balance of the contract).

My plan is to try DirecTV now for $35. It will stream all but two of the channels we routinely watch to my Fire sticks and I can add HBO for $5 and Show Time for $8. So for $47, I can have plenty to watch at a fraction of the cost w/ this package. I looked at all the others (Sling Orange/blue), YouTube, and the others, finding that DirecTV actually provides the most of what we routinely watch at a great price ($35). One other nice feature, all my TV will be accessible using just one remote. I picked up one of these:


so I can control everything w/ my Fire remote (TV on/off, volume.up/down, and HDMI inputs.

I have Netflix and Amazon Prime anyway, so having something to watch should not be an issue.

If anyone wants to weigh in on my plans feel free to suggest or provide guidance. Always open to other ideas or points of view.

Thanks again

You have to use a web based app for initial setup, thus a PC, tablet or phone - the Fire Sticks can’t perform the initial setup. But once the initial setup is complete the Fire sticks will be able to connect. Just to be clear, I assume since you say Fire stick you do not have the latest generation Fire pendent. For these have a major issue with buffering at the moment. Hopefully they are close to resolving this, but at the moment I believe it is still an issue.

If you don’t intend to record much &/or merely record-watch-delete, then a 2 TB HD is overkill. I have a 1 TB HD & I record pretty much daily, but because I record-watch-delete I have never come close to filling up the storage. Anytime I have ever checked I have over 900 GB of storage free. Since the 1 TB drives are cheaper…

Lastly, you may want to make sure DTV Now is truly what you want. They still do not offer DVR functionality, but have announced it is coming soon, but from what I have read the beta DVR is very buggy. Also, with your subscription you can only watch 2 simultaneous streams at the same time. So, if your household consists of multiple TV viewers this can be a problem. PSVue allows 5 simultaneous streams, Sling is one with orange & 3 with Blue I believe. I don’t know about any of the others, but the number of simultaneous streams needs to be considered if you have multiple viewers in your household.

Thanks very much for the reply. Yes, I realize there are compromises w/ every choice. Fortunately, it’s just me and my wife. Usually watch together, but when we don’t, I rarely watch local channels. I’m usually on Netflix, Amazon or something else. W/ DirecTV Now, we are covered w/ the two streams should we be watching their programing separately. UR likely correct w/ a 1 TB HD being sufficient. I haven’t checked pricing lately at Costco between the two drives. If it’s only like $10 or so, crazy not to get double the storage even if I don’t need it. But I will see.

Thankfully, I went w/ the actual Fire Stick rather than the new (hangy down) Fire TV. I likely would have gone w/ the Fire TV if they included a USB port on it, but that was deleted on the current Fire TV version, I went w/ the $39 Fire Sticks, which work great. Added an OTG cable to integrate a USB, so I’m covered w/ a thumb drive and plaing movies off it. Hoping the Fire Sticks continue to work well with the Tablo.

I’m really pi$$ed at Dish after getting the last price hike this past January.

Just checked amazon & yes the price difference is only in the $10-$12 range, So I suppose the 2TB makes sense. There was a bigger gap last time I purchased one.

Something I failed to mention earlier, DVR features differ between the different providers as well, i.e. storage. So another item to keep in mind in your comparisons.

It sounds like you have done the research & have found what fits best for you. Happy Trails in your new TV entertainment adventure.

Thanks so much for the information. Was a Costco and got a Seagate 2TB for $69. Thought that was a decent deal for a 3.0 USB drive.

So I finally set up my Tablo. Wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. Set the Tablo in my kitchen near my set (about 30 feet from my Router) and when through the set up procedures IAW w/ the instructions. I was using a tablet to get it connected to my Router/Modem. It was going well until I hit the part when I where I had to put in my wifi password. After I did, I got a message that Tablo failed to connect, check my network. I tried multiple times to no avail.

Went to the troubleshooting and tried other things, reset the Tablo (blue button), re-scanned network, connect, nothing same message. tried it dozen or more time w/o success.

I finally got fed up and took the Tablo to the same room as may router. I tried to connect and it did on the first attempt. Of course I didn’t have the antenna attached, LOL, but at least it could connect. Fortunately I was able to put the Tablo in a spot in that same room w/ the router where I had access to my outside antenna. Imagine that. Lucky me.

It’s not where I really want it, but it will work. I got 33 channels to show up in the guide and it seems to work okay. The Tablo takes a while to boot up when I open the app on my Fire Stick…probably about 20-30 seconds from when I click the app to actually get a moving picture on the TV. Not bad but not great. Picture on the sets looks very good. Only noticed a couple of times where it buffered for a second or two. Watching the Olympic w/o any glitches

I have the Tablo set for 720p @ 3 mbps. Wish it worked more like Pluto TV speed-wise, but hey, it’s better than what I had before…

Not sure if wife thinks it functions well enough to cut the cord or not. Personally I don’t. However, DirecTV Now does offer the big 4 locals w/ their service in my area ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, which could seal the deal for her viewing ease and me being able to dump Dish. I’ll keep the Tablo regardless as it provides more locals than DirecTV Now would anyway. LOL I like to play w/ this techie stuff anyway.

Now I’ll have to investigate how well the DirecTV Now app functions. If it works as well as Pluto TV, I’ll go that route. If on the other hand, it functions like the Tablo, I’ll have to go a different route altogether.

Thanks to all who answered questions and helped. Very much appreciated.

Cheers

Tablo has a lot of factors involved. Quality & proper position of antenna, quality of wifi network, & end streaming device.

First, connecting Tablo by ethernet can help, but if you had problems connecting by wifi from only 30’ away, I suspect your router might be part of the problem. What router do you have - make & model?

Plus, Fire sticks are not the most robust viewing client. They should work dependably but are rather slow/sluggish. I have 4 TV’s throughout my home & initially had 2 Fire sticks & 2 Fire TV boxes. I soon switched to all Fire TV boxes for the performance was significantly better/faster.

Tablo is first & foremost a DVR with it’s strength’s geared toward wireless flexibility watching from multiple locations on multiple devices throughout your home (with remote access another big pro). Unfortunately given it’s nature, it is not ideal for live TV viewing/channel surfing. My wife was not thrilled at first either, but given the savings we get over our old outrageous cable bill she accepts it.

Yes, for sure positioning and quality of antenna is huge. I have a Big Winegard Platinum series antenna. It is suppose to have 65 mile range (my stations are all less then 35 miles). and it is mounted on a tower outside the home w/o any high buildings obstructing it. (it is amplifed w/ the Winegard in line amp) I get all green dots when connecting the Tablo. The exception being three stations I’m not watching. They must be low power. All the 720P and 1080i stations are full green (as are all but three of the 480 stations)…

Prior to installing the Tablo (which is now on the first loop of the RG6 wire going through the house so it is basically a direct connect to my antenna)- I’m using the original cable loops that were installed when we built the house. Not the best set up for sure, but it’s what I have.

That beings said, Prior to the Tablo install, I had a RG6 coax plugged (from the wall to my 1st set (which would have put it on the third loop/split (so signal was split three times before being plugged into the kitchen set. I was getting perfect reception on all channels w/o pixelation or drops.

W/ the Tablo (last evening) on the bedroom set (furthest from the router (approx 60 feet), both Cozi and GetTV dropped on my set and got a message that signal was dropped. I checked the signal strengths on those channels in the set up (doing a channel edit and observing the signal strengths -all green dots). I am getting strong Wifi throughout my home. Smart TV’s work w/ Netflix and Amazon as do my Rokus and Fire Sticks. I have Amazon Dots in my garage and throughout my home which I stream music and they all work fine. Our Tablets stream fine in our bedroom and I’ve even played some graphic intensive games in that room w/ my laptop… So Modem/Router (which is a CenturyLink Actiontec 1900A) seems to be doing it’s job.

In defense of the Tablo, those two stations that were dropped may have been due to their actual transmission origins -lower power at night or what ever. Other stations worked fine…so this issue is a bit fuzzy to determine what the cause was.

At face value it appears to be the Tablo Wireless is the weak link in my setup, all things being equal… Yes I was surprised it would not connect from about 30 feet away (naturally there are walls involved), but it still should have connected IMO.

In its current location, I’d have to get 50 feet of Cat 5 to run around the perimeter of my room to the Tablo for a direct connection to my Router/Modem (easier that running the Coax the other way)… Again, that may resolve the some wireless issue, but won’t improve the way the Tablo acquires channels (responsive channel surfing)

Additionally, since the Tablo shows excellent signal strengths on the channels I’ve selected, it is receiving the maximum it can from my antenna. It seems to be failing w/ the way it’s transmitting those OTA singles to my two fire sticks via my Router.

Having used both the Roku (latest version) and the Fire Stick, I find that they compare favorably in performance. Interfaces are a bit difference, but as far as streaming application like Pluto, Netfix, Amazon Prime and others, I cannot perceive a difference. Fire Sticks are android based so there is much more flexibility, Now my Roku’s sit idle. LOL

The Tablo, while nice to DVR OTA stuff, I find I do very little of that. I really wanted a responsive wireless way to get my OTA antenna content to my two TV sets. Tablo isn’t exactly what I’d hoped for. Again, it’s innovative and decent alternative for cord cutters that want a TIVO w/o a charge.

Wife is going to be a tough sell to use the Tablo, especially because she is a creature of habit. Pick up remote, turn on TV and watch. QVC, Food channel, CNN, local News, TVland, HGTV, etc. Key in a number and channel appears. She isn’t a fiddler (like me). I know she’d do a slow burn wondering why we gave up something that worked so well for something that doesn’t (money aside). Of course we all know who will pay the price for this… LOL

As a side note, I purchased the SideClick addon for my Fire Stick Remote. Absolutely great purchase. W/ it I can now turn on and off my TV, change channels (not a big deal since I’m using it w/ the Fire Stick), I can raise and lower volume on my Zvox sound bar and I can change TV inputs (so when I’m done watching the programing on the Fire Stick, I can swap inputs back to Satellite TV for my wife. I has a couple of additional buttons that can be used for Mute or whatever else you may want. If you want to eliminate a remote or two, I recommend trying one. .

Learning to live w/ Tablo. I’m really liking it. Not for channel surfing, but for everything else, it’s a great product. Stable, very good picture quality and wireless. A+

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