Does the FireTV Stick version 2 work for remote viewing? I got the new one because of the changes and it was on sale. I know I will need to add Tablo and pair it before I lleave.
Yes it will work as long as you use the original app, not the Preview app.
I’ve used multiple Fire sticks remotely for over a year in innumerable places. Rock solid, never lost Tablo pairing, including through Fire firmware/software upgrade.
It’s one of the very best ways Tablo is a standout - remote viewing on a dead-simple, portable device. I often plug it into a hotel or friend’s TV (many of which even have a spare USB port that I can power the stick with - so just the stick, the USB cable, and the remote to carry) and leave it there for the remainder of my stay. The Fire stick also plays really well with hotel wifi-access log-in/password screens, so it is easy to set up in a new location.
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Would you be able to walk us through a set-up using the fire stick? I want to be able to remote view local TV channels from my parents house in Colorado. I sent them the Tablo Dual OTA DVR, and HD Antenna and a fire stick. I have the Tablo app on my Samsung SmartTV- I don’t know if that matters or not. So what should I have them do to set it up so I then can view it using the Tablo app wherever? Thanks!
The device being used for remote viewing needs to have paired with the Tablo on it’s local network in order to be able to connect successfully remotely.
So does that mean I need to have them connect the fire stick to the local network, and then have them send me the stick?
That is how it works with most devices. However, I don’t have any Fire TV devices so I’ll let someone who does confirm that the same process works for the Fire TV devices.
- Connect Firetv stick to TV hdmi pr
- Connect it to local area network
- Plug in Tablo and connect external usb drive if needed
- Connect antenna to Tablo
- Connect Tablo to local network either wireless or wired by launching Tablo app
- Select Add by wireless and follow prompts
- Go to settings, add channels, and scan
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To extend beastman’s very good guide to all steps I can think of:
- Plug the Fire Stick to the HDMI port on your parents’ TV
- Connect the USB power cord to the Fire Stick (can be done before step 1) and plug it into the USB-power port on the TV if it has one; otherwise, plug it into the power plug adapter and plug it into the wall power outlet. (Sometimes the USB port does not deliver enough power to the Fire Stick and it has to go to the wall power anyway, but the USB TV port can be a very convenient, out of the way solution.)
- Use the TV remote control to change “Input” to the HDMI port which the Fire Stick is plugged into (could be something on the screen like HDMI, HDMI1, HDMI2, or HDMI3 depending on how the HDMI port on the TV is mapped)
- Using the Fire Stick remote, set up the Fire Stick if it has not already been configured to your parents’ or your Amazon account. The Fire Stick video which plays when you first connect a Fire Stick to a TV is pretty clear on how to do this and how to connect to your parents’ wifi network.
- Using the Apps category on the Fire TV screen menu (runs across the top of the screen when the Home/(little house) button is pressed on the Fire remote, search for the Tablo app.
- Select and install the Tablo app on the Fire stick.
- As noted in beastman’s tutorial, plug in the Tablo and connect it to your parents’ TV antenna via a coax cable connector.
- As beastman noted, for your long-term use if you want to record programs and not just watch live TV, they will need to connect an external hard drive to the Tablo USB port.
- Open the Tablo app on the Fire TV screen. Tablo will then take them through connecting the Tablo to your parent’s wifi network. It may also instruct on updating the Tablo firmware version.
- Depending on whether this is the main Tablo Fire app or the Beta Tablo Fire app, the Tablo may then sync with the Fire Stick. When it is done, it will display the Tablo scrren to watch TV. If you and they want to verify that Tablo is up and running and works on their home network, at this point they should go to the Tablo Live screen and play one of the available TV channels to make sure that it does indeed start playing correctly. Once it does, they are essentially done with setting up Tablo in their home and the Fire Stick is paired for you to use remotely.
- As beastman notes, your parents might then go to the Tablo Settings section on the Tablo menu (reached by a combination of backspacing and left clicking on the Fire remote control round wheel). They would then scan for channels and add/delete them from the Tablo ‘Live’ channels list. But you could do this remotely once they have shipped the Fire Stick to you, so they could skip this step. The one thing that is key is that the Settings has ‘Remote Access’ checked/ticked under TABLO CONNECT; I hope but don’t know if this is the default setting for Tablo out of the box, since it would be great not to have to send your parents into the Settings. But if this is not checked in Tablo Settings, then you couldn’t connect via the Fire Stick from outside their home.
- Unplug the Fire Stick from the TV HDMI port, along with the power cord to the Fire Stick (either in the TV USB port or connected to the wall power outlet), and ship them along with the Fire remote control to you.
Of course, they should leave the Tablo as it is connected to their antenna and power, and any hard drive used connected to the Tablo USB port.
And when all is done, they’ll want to change their TV ‘Input’ via their regular TV remote control to whatever setting it was using previously (probably ‘TV’ is over-the-air, a particular HDMI for their cable company, if any, etc.)
Be aware that the Tablo will likely occasionally fail and you will have to have your parents (presumably notified by you via phone or email) quickly press the recessed blue button on the Tablo, or unplug the power to the Tablo and replug it, to reboot the Tablo and get everything running again. Some people have that happen very rarely indeed, others more often, for a variety of known and unknown reasons including poor reception during a recording, bad guide updating overnight, etc.
This seems like a lot, and may seem overwhelming to anyone - so beastman’s shorter list may be less fearsome; I hope maybe this more detailed tutorial might help with any trouble-shooting. But this is absolutely doable - I have done it many times, and talked family members through it too. (The easiest way was to have a Fire Stick on my end, bought at $25 when on Amazon sale, and one at my sister’s end, talking her through each step on the phone with a Fire Stick on both ends as a I mimicked her on my end to be able to describe every menu item, location, etc.)
Good luck to your parents and you!
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Not beta but Preview (unless he gets beta). You DO NOT want the Preview one at this time as it DOES NOT support streaming outside the home location.
Another option is for you to visit them, set it up, and try streaming using LTE as long is it is not an iPhone on Tmobile. That will prove it works. Note that you DO need the EPG, $150 lifetime if you want to stream remotely.
That’s a very important point about needing to subscribe to the Guide in order to have remote service (which relies on Tablo’s servers in part).
There’s a couple of other steps.
You need to find out the upstream bandwidth available in your parents’ home, presumably by using speedtest.net. You’ll want to set the remote streaming to be no more than 80% of that bandwidth, and perhaps less.
You should disconnect and reconnect at least once to confirm that you have the information properly cached from the Tablo prior to moving the fire stick off the local network.
I set mine up using my cellphone. Not all devices let you add Tablo to the network. You will need the network password.
I rescan channels on just a TV. If there are new ones, I rescan on Tablo. If you only want to watch some of the stations, you don’t need all of them active. Example: Sknce I don’t understand Spanish, the Spanish stations are not active but the sub channels which are in English are.
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