After plugging in the Ethernet cord and rebooting there were no channels displaying and no guide, couldn’t see live TV.
I will be trying the Tablo at another location with a different (newer) router. First tries have been on an older 802.11n router, I see that 802.11ac is recommended in the knowledge base.
This is by no means normal behaviour. And I wouldn’t put this as a connection problem. If you can connect the Tablo via an Ethernet cable to your router and you can still actually connect to it, then the problem is entirely different.
What playback device are you using? Roku, iPhone, etc? Have you tried more than one device when the Tablo is hard wired?
Also, just to be clear, when you’ve connected the Ethernet cable to the Tablo, the separate RG6 coaxial cable from the OTA antenna remains connected to the Tablo?
Agreed, it didn’t seem normal to me, so I sent pics of the screens I was seeing to Tablo Support and got a response from Clarke. I logged that as a scanning issue, since it wouldn’t scan.
Frustrated by the scanning issue I disconnected Ethernet and things were fine again with wifi, except that every 15 to 30 minutes we got “Reconnecting to Tablo” followed by “Can’t find, search again.” Hence the connectivity complaint.
I’m using a Roku Express, I can connect to Tablo with my iphone, but want to watch on a 40" screen, not a 4". And yes, the RG6 to my antenna was connected the whole time, also connected direct to my TV which had good signal. TV signal hasn’t been an issue at all.
Spoke with the IT guy at my office, he has no Tablo experience but agreed that my older router could cause trouble, since it’s slower than recommended by Tablo. Going to a friend’s over the weekend to try with a newer router and see what happens.
And sincere thanks to all who have provided feedback on this. I don’t usually join these groups. It’s good to hear that my issues aren’t normal or typical, and that gives me hope. I like the Tablo and want it to work, plus of course, I want to quit paying Spectrum $100 a month.
So you’re hard wiring your Tablo to your router directly? No network switch, PowerLine Ethernet adapters, etc in between the Tablo and router? Just one short new Ethernet cable?
I’m still bewildered that you can still connect to the Tablo when it’s hard wired but you can’t see the guide info or watch a channel. What error do you get when you try to watch a live TV channel?
This isn’t the first strange thing happening with the tablo app and the newer model Roku Express. Wasn’t it a month ago that a user had the experience of every time they launched the tablo app the Roku Express reinstalled the app. I never saw a posting about what was causing that.
Good point. But do you mean the new Premiere models? The last Express is from Oct 2017.
Maybe you should try the iPhone app out after hard wiring the Tablo and see how that goes. Could be a Roku Express problem, if it’s the new Express of course.
What’s the model number of your Roku? There are 4 different Express models, 2 from 2016 and 2 from 2017.
We’re getting into the weeds here. If I need to know which Roku model I have to make my Tablo function correctly, then the Tablo is clearly not marketable to an audience with “average to moderate” information technology skills, not a good target for such a product, considering the size of the potential “boomer” market. If Tablo is seeking a younger, cable-cutting market, fine, they could talk to my daughter, but she doesn’t really understand the whole antenna thing. But she knows how to control things with her iphone.
I’ve always had OTA TV, and just want something a bit smarter than the Magnavox DVR I got for $250 12 years ago that’s basically a digital VCR. LOVE IT. For some reason those are a lot more expensive now - maybe they were a great idea?
I DO appreciate the feedback and help. I will be experimenting with the Tablo at a new location over the weekend, newer router, good antenna. Time will tell. Thanks.
@LakeBoy54 it looks like you may have a defective unit. From my experience as “boomer” the Tablo needed no special skills to set up or use. I plugged it into Ethernet, connected a 2 TB Seagate drive hooked up my outdoor antenna and did a channel scan. It immediately found all the channels near me and has “just worked” since then.
So, please contact Tablo support and get a service ticket opened. Maybe they need to replace your unit.
The Roku Express is the Hyundai of Roku units. It’s cheap and cheerful but the WiFi connectivity is suspect.
Combine that with an older, slower router and you don’t have a great recipe for success.
We have recommendations for Roku units to use with Tablo here:
https://www.tablotv.com/apps-compatible-devices/
And here:
I have asked the support team to review your case today. If indeed there is an issue with the Tablo, we obviously want to make that right, but without seeing any details, I’d put my money on the Roku/router combo being the source of the connectivity issue.
As for this…
I would guess that your Tablo wasn’t getting the date/time from your ISP (maybe the Tablo came up before the router?) and therefore thought it was January 1970, for which it would have no guide data.
It was the router. Replaced the old 802.11n with an 802.11ac, connectivity issues resolved, Tablo functions as promised. I will be considering a Roku upgrade also, but so far no issues with my “Hyundai” (Express) model.
Thanks all for all the feedback.
Does it work with the Tablo hard wired too?
Yes. I set it up with the Ethernet cord, it worked right off the bat. Haven’t tried it wireless with the new router, but don’t see a need to now.
Well then your issue wasn’t really Wireless related as the Roku Express is Wireless N 2.4 GHz only, not Wireless AC which is 5 GHz. So maybe just an old router issue.
My sincerest apologies. My initial post dealt with connectivity and shifted from Roku issues to a problem with use of an Ethernet cord to scanning channels. Somewhat confused, I posted to the connectivity forum, but then found a screen that said “found 26 available channels” but each line contained only dashes (blank).
The new router did solve the Ethernet issue, but a remote access by Tablo Support today determined the wifi card in my unit is defective, so it may have been a wireless issue after all. They want to replace my unit. Kudos to Lysander who suggested mine may just be a faulty unit.
Thanks again to everyone for your feedback and assistance. I have learned much about my Tablo thru this process, as we boomers do, about the technology creeping up behind us. (Thank goodness too, for daughters-in-law in the IT field who keep us up and online.) Now if I can just get my wife to quit calling it the Turbo, or the Tonto, or the Tortoise.