No Internet = NO TV?

Support & Troubleshooting
1

Tablo
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Last night my cable Internet went out, which happily is rare, and for some bizarre reason Tablo wouldn’t let me watch TV anymore. The error message was that Tablo didn’t think Roku and the Tablo are on the same network, but they are on the same 192.168.1.x subnet, and plugged into the same physical switch. The two devices are three feet apart.

When Tablo refused to work, I tried “plan b”, and the Roku easily connected to my Plex Media Server, so this very much looks like a problem with the Tablo. In reading messages on this forum for a while now, I thought this was an old issue that had been fixed. How can we make sure this never happens again?

Thanks,
Bruce

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…and searching the forums you’ll find much discussion behind this well known bizarre reason

50+ results for"no internet"
27 results for"internet down"
9 results for"internet required"

3

What is your point? Do you realize that the article you linked to says I should NOT have had this problem. It says:

“TV-connected Tablo DVRs do NOT need local network access or consistent external internet access to play back live TV or recordings on your main television.”

Maybe you should have read it.

4

How do you think I could have realized this??!?? At what point did you mention it was?? or used the specific TV-Connected DVRs (like Tablo DUAL & QUAD HDMI)

Didn’t you read this section???

In order for your devices to ‘find’ your Tablo so it can stream video, it uses network discovery protocols.

TV-connected Tablo DVRs also use these protocols for streaming to secondary televisions.

exactly
Don’t you realized a Roku would have to be considered secondary since the HDMI is primary!

5

Doesn’t a HDMI connected tablo require a subscription for network connected devices.

And if so maybe the tablo unit needs to phone home to verify that a subscription is valid.

6

What is the exact model of Tablo do you have? Is it the DUAL HDMI model?

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I found my Roku Tablo app generally works fine after an internet outage.
It’s my go to TV watching service for just such occassions.
I have many recordings waiting, just waiting. :slight_smile:

However, my Roku Tablo app won’t be able to find my Tablo, if I reboot my router, whether my internet service is up, or not.
In this case, I have to power cycle my Tablo to get the Roku to see it again.

My Roku Tablo app also won’t be able to find my Tablo, if my internet service is down, and I reboot my Roku.
Not just wake it up, but reboot it.
In this case, I have to wait until my internet service comes back for my Roku to see my Tablo.

This is my experience in my environment.

1 Like
8

Some apps/devices - under ideal circumstances, will/can allegedly continue network playing without internet connectivity. I believe TabloTV/Support have posted on this as well.

Nevertheless, it’s in the list of requirements. The newest generation -TV connected- use the wording “less reliant”, overall implied, for streaming; aka secondary TV, it suggest it’s not optional from the above reference.

TV-connected Tablo DVRs however, are less reliant on internet access for basic viewing of live and recorded TV but still require regular internet access to perform as expected.

9

Thank you, Radojevic. That’s helpful information. I did reboot my router when renewing it’s DHCP connection failed to get Internet connectivity back – although I can’t recall for sure if this was before or after the Tablo didn’t work. I’ll definitely try the Tablo restart if this happens again.

I use network discovery protocols in the Linux software I write for work. They stay in the local network, so aren’t affected by Internet connectivity. Sounds like the Tablo is failing to participate in the discovery process in this situation, and needs the reboot to wake it back up.

Thanks again.