I’ve a new 4th gen Tablo, connected via Wi-Fi, and a new Sony Bravia, also connected via Wi-Fi. Both devices connected to the same 5Mgb channel. I use the Tablo exclusively for recording and playback - not intending to use the Tablo live TV option.
The recording option seems to work fine, but the playback is atrocious - buffering galore.
Sony streams TV channels with no buffering, so I know the Wi-Fi is good. The router is 30 feet away & a Wi-Fi extender for upstairs is 10 feet away.
Support recommending a wired connection for the Tablo to minimize buffering, and I understand their reasoning. However, that’s not an option for me. Can I connect a cross-over Ethernet to the 2 devices, and tell Tablo it’s now wired?
I am a bit confused on the Sony streaming TV channels. If the Sony is using a TV antenna then WiFi is not being used so there isn’t going to be a buffering problem.
The Tablo is going to need some kind of internet connection for the guide so the cross over cable setup won’t work.
Is the Tablo connected to the extender or the router? How about the Sony?
An extender uses twice as much data than a connection to the router which may cause the buffering problem.
My antenna and Tablo are about 3’ apart and are about 25-30’ away from my router and there is no simple way to connect to the router using Ethernet, so I’m connected via wifi and it works just fine, but my wifi has strong signal and I’ve tested with Speedtest.net with my phone right next to my Tablo and had a speed of about 500Mbps upload and download.
Where is your antenna and Tablo located in relation to your router? Is your Sony streams connected to OTA and online streaming channels or is it only doing online streaming?
comparing your internet bandwidth to stream the Sony Free Channels to the Tablo is the like apples and oranges.
The tablo device to the tablo app, is a straight internal relay, client to client connection.
If it all possible, are you able to see the signal strength and band your clients are sitting on within the router? Just to confirm… Also are you able to enable Air Time Fairness?
MPG2 put a fairly heavy load on the wireless connection. So the wireless router has to sustain 2 connection streaming the same load.
It is not comparing apples to oranges because it’s The Tablo that will be using wifi for streaming content through the wifi for fast channels and the guide over the internet and your internal wifi will handle your ability for your phone and other devices to interact with your Tablo through your router so knowing the speed at which the Tablo connects to the internet is crucial for knowing the lag and buffering you will experience. You will also be using your internal wifi for streaming recordings from your Tablo through your router or extender to your TV, phone or tablet so having an idea of how well and fast your internal wifi performs as far as speed is important. There might be other ways to determine internal wifi speed between devices besides using something simple like Speedtest or pinging between devices, I would like to hear.
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Again, MPG2 data is larger in scale than your fast and guide data. Internet latency is monitored by your router WAN port. Wireless latency is a whole different ball game from the WAN port.
One of the easiest ways to test some internal wireless speeds is to set up TamoSoft Speed Test Server (Throughput Test, WLAN:
You can down the app on a Windows machine, install it and run it.
Then download the smartphone app, install it, and run it.
I would run this on a laptop on the same wireless router and band.
Give or a take some due to the fact the Tablo runs AC wireless.
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Appreciate the suggestion. I will check it out as a side thing. Other than trying to poke holes, do you have any suggestions that will help @Sam539 with his questions?
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Just an FYI… WiFi Extender will cut your bandwidth in half. It may through more interference into your wireless domain too. What ever the extender is showing as your speed, cut that in half, and thats your real time wireless speed.
I would check the signal strength of both devices on the wireless router? Confirm they are sitting happy at a good level.
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Glad you pointed that out. Very good point. I meant to point that out but got distracted. My current wifi provider was acquired recently and is transitioning every customer to their mesh network configuration and for certain large properties it brings wifi to every corner but the more nodes you go through, the less bandwidth you have and for that reason, I’m not much of a fan it being done at my house.
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The Sony uses the Internet for streaming.
The router & the extender both use the same channel, so determining which one is difficult at bet.
If I were troubleshooting this I would turn off the extender and see how the Tablo and Sony respond. Are you on a 5 Ghz network or 2.4 Ghz?
Installed TamoSoft on Android phone & on Windows 10. Ran Tamo client on phone & server on PC. Set each device adjacent to TV/Tabo respectively, then connected client to server.
TCP UP: 48.59 Mbps (avg 44.71)
TCP Down: 40.48 Mbps
UDP Up: 51.54 Mbps (Avg: 43.17)
Loss: 0.0%
UDP Down: 40.60 Mbps (Avg: 39.95)
Loss 0.0%
Round-Trip time: 4.0ms
Using a PC wired to the router, I performed a TRACRT to the TV & the Tablo. There was 1 hop for each, indicating each device is connected to the router, bot the extender. Hence a 2 hop for the Tablo to TV, which is best possible for wired or wireless connections.
Someone mentioned ‘Air Time Fairness’. I don’t see that option to enable or disable. Please provide more information.
Thanks,
Sam
I think I have this Tricky Dick solved -at least my initial testing indicates so.
I moved the Tablo to a different room in the house, where I had access to the antenna connection.
I believe this solution has to do with the antenna in each appliance. I know that a pole antenna has better coverage around the pole, not necessarily above it. I don’t know what type antenna are in the devices, but clearly there was a ‘hole’ in the coverage, that prevented a constant connection.
I’ll update this post in the future if I have problems going forward.
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