Questions/Answers for a new cord cutter

General Discussion
141

If you run the VPN client only on the Fire TV Stick the Tablo DVR itself will not be affect by the VPN. Do not run it on a router.

Yes you will not be able to connect to the Tablo on the Fire TV Stick when the VPN is enabled on the Fire TV Stick. But disconnect / turn off the VPN and you will be able go connect to the Tablo again. The Tablo does not rely on the Fire TV Stick to record shows, etc.

142

Of course this whole dilemma can be solved if anyone knows a way to Stream BBC TV Canada on my Firestick. That is the content we will be missing after cutting the cord with Rogers.

Bill

143

Part of the whole cord cutting process is also trial and error. So why not give it all a try and see what happens.

144

I think for now I will wait until I have everything setup on the 17th. Enough tech detail to deal with for now. Perhaps I will investigate VPN later.

Thanks for your input.

145

So how’d it go?

146

Good morning,
The hookup of all the equipment went off without a hitch including porting the phone from Rogers to VoipMuch. That is until I tried to return all the Rogers equipment yesterday and they told me the account was still active and had not been cancelled as we scheduled with them for the 17th. The problem was that the Rogers account was in my wife’s name and the new Ebox account is in my name and they couldn’t transfer it from one name to another. Some time later we resolved it with Rogers and the bottom line is that we still have a Rogers internet service, no charge until Ebox comes out next week to connect their service. Rogers says they leave the internet on for one month in case customers want to come back to them if they are not happy with the new service they chose.

As far as the Tablo goes, we have it up and running, albeit with buffering issues on live TV when you first change channels, and the guide is not populated fully with channels we get. Tablo support is attending to that so in the meantime we have to manually set recordings for some channels.

The router is great for the whole house and WIFI is strong everywhere.

We subscribed to Amazon Prime and StackTV and are getting used to the idea of streaming some content. I am still looking at VPN through Surfshark with their dual tunnelling called Whitelist. It allows you to install it on an individual Firestick and set the apps you want to avoid the VPN, which would be the Tablo. Still thinking about that. My Q&A to Tablo appeared in their Newsletter this week and we will have to look at the new BBC service when it materializes.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me through this by providing valuable information and assistance.

Best wishes for a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.

Bill

1 Like
147

Sounds like a good start.

Do you have buffering issues when watching completed recordings?

148

A little, yes but mostly at the start of watching.

Another question. When setting a series recording, like 60 Minutes, we add (1) hour to the program to allow for sports that go late. We set 60 Minutes for this Sunday and added an hour, but it did not carry over to the next Sundays recording? How do you do that?

Thanks,
Bill

149

Go to the “Scheduled” tab, then go to the series you want to make the change to. Next to the “Record” button there should be an “Options” button. From there you should be able to extend the recording time for all future episodes of that series.

This may vary depending on what device you are using, but I believe that the functionality is available on all devices.

150

Thanks for that,
Bill

151

Glad you are up and running! I hope Tablo is able to help you with the glitches!

152

My two Firesticks have different interfaces. The 4K is the menu we like and the new 2020 Firestick menu is the one we don’t like. Is there a way to use the old menu on my new Firestick?

Thanks,
Bill

153

They aren’t connected with Amazon, but may have answers specific for Firesticks
https://tvsticksupport.com/

Less likely - Fire TV Support

old menu on new device? I bet you already know the answer :speak_no_evil: :hear_no_evil: :see_no_evil:
154

So we were watching a recorded programme last Saturday night while recording two others and the screen went black. The Tablo disconnected itself from my router. It is hard wired with an ethernet cable. I disconnected the power cord from the Tablo, waited 15 seconds, and reconnected. Everything has been fine since then. Tablo support said it sometimes happens when the Tablo or the Firestick is updating firmware. Anyone have that issue in the past?

Happy New Year to you all,
Bill

155

You didn’t say how long it was black or what playback device you were using.

My Roku sometimes go black if it encounters a long CS area. It’s acts like it’s confused about playback position. But it does seem to recover or at least I don’t pay much attention to it since if I don’t like what’s happening I use the FF/REV buttons or take another sip from my glass of wine…

156

It was permanently black and when I exited the app using the Firestick and tried to re-enter it, it said no Tablo found and displayed an ad to go to Tablo to buy one. All other apps on the Firestick remain working. After powering down the Tablo and re-starting it, all went back to normal.

Bill

157

When I was rebooting my Tablo, the Ethernet cable connecting it to my router blinks Green where it connects to the Tablo but there is no Amber light flashing. All my other ethernet cables have both lights, green and amber, flashing. Is that normal?

Thanks,
Bill

158

After rebooting the Tablo, does it work and you can connect to it? If yes, then it’s fine.

159

Thanks again for your help. The Tablo works fine.

Bill

160

We have set a program next week to record NEW EPISODES. The program airs on two channels at the same time. We want to designate a specific channel to record all future episodes. After setting the program to NEW EPISODES, we tried OPTIONS setting and the only one available is adjusting START and STOP times. How do we get to where we can designate a specific channel for future recordings?

Thanks,
Bill