Roku 3 has better WiFi than the Chromecast. You can also use power line adapters and hard wire the Roku 3.
I can play back at 1080p on my Chromecast (using my Moto G phone as a source, which is limited to 2.4 Ghz wireless N band), which is located on a completely different floor of my house. I am using a Netgear Nighthawk (R7000) router, which is a pretty powerful router.
So it can be done.
+1
Most people who have problems streaming via WiFi is because they also have a low end router. It’s a throughput problem.
I have a low end router but my Tablo and Roku 3s are hard wired. No problems with WiFi on computers and Apple devices.
I had constant buffering issues when using my notebook and Chrome to cast to Chromecast. I switched over to our Moto X phone for the same show and the buffering pretty much went away. The shows were recorded at 720p not the Roku/Chromecast setting.
I was very surprised to see the buffering issues with my notebook since the connection was often up to 300 Mbps to the Wi-Fi router and the lowest it dropped was 150 Mbps the Wi-Fi router.
The phones don’t have that capability to my knowledge.
the issue I ran into using the phone and the 'droid app is that the FF 30 seconds doesn’t REALLY fast forward. It simple seems to pause the display but the timers keep counting down in real seconds so while you don’t see and hear the commercial, it still takes 4 minutes to FF through 4 minutes of content!
It takes 3 to 4 touches of the 30 second FF to get through 60 seconds of content at times.
On the notebook with Windows 7, Chrome and Chromecast the 30 second FF does indeed skip 30 seconds of content and zips you ahead.
Anyway, my point is that I have buffering issues with the browser based app but not so much with the Android app on a phone.
I also bought a Nexus Player at the same time as the Tablo. So I had both a Chromecast and the Nexus Player to experiment with. The Tablo never streamed to the Chromcase at all. But to the Nexus Player, it works reasonably well. It still stops and buffers somewhat frequently, but is usable. So I suspect moving to the 5Ghz network helped. Tablo really needs to fix this. There is no reason for it.
Hi there,
I had similar issues - Tablo and Chromecast Gen 1 issues casting Recorded Programs from WebApp
Did u manage to resolve your tablo buffering issues from the webapp?
I replaced my harddisk. That made the most improvement.
I’m now using a : Seagate Expansion 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STEB5000100)
I’ve had buffering issues as well. One day it’s bad, then next it’s fine.
Solutions?
Get a Nexus Player.
Still have buffering issues when streaming using the webapp. Solution i had to use is to use my Android phone to cast to the 2.4Ghz Chromecast (generation 1) device instead of via the webapp. Didn’t have any buffering issues then. But can’t scroll as easily using Android as you can on the desktop app. But beware… Tablo’s chromecast implemenation seems to be incrorrect. My Android device CPU usage skyrockets, and gets very hot (thus draining the batter very quickly). Tablo support does not seem to be interested in resolving this issue as you can tell.
Also getting a Nexus Player like some have suggested is like saying “If you arm hurts just cut it off”… And i wouldn’t be surprised if the Nexus Player runs hotter than normal as well if there is a CPU overutilization issue. So peeps recomending to get a Nexus Player may be buying another one… or two for themselves down the road…
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I don’t have any heat issues controlling my Chromecast (1st gen) with my Nexus 7 2013 (running Android Marshmallow).
Have you checked your CPU usage on the Nexus 7 while your casting Tablo?
See this thread - High CPU usage on Smartphone using Tablo Android App when Chromecasting
These are the various configurations i had tried and listed in a previous post. Tablo support hasn’t commented (not surprised again…):
While the screen is on, it fluctuates from low teens to 38% max. With screen off, I can’t exactly tell since, well, the screen’s off. 
The Nexus is cool to the touch with the screen off when I was watching a show for half an hour.
the thing with “chromecasting” is that you are effectively pushing double the data. You need to go Tablo-> Device, and then Device->Chromecast. Any minor issues in your network are amplified. I have always said that for streaming devices wired is always the preferential path, as it eliminates a lot of the performance variables that come with wireless.
That does not mean you can’t get good performance over Wi-Fi, as plenty have accomplished it, just that it is a lot harder, especially in more “crowded” environments.
And I like my NVidia Shield and my Nexus Player equally, each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
That is only true when you are screencasting. When you use Tablo it loads the Tablo app on the Chromecast and sends it directly to it. This is why you can shut your phone off while it is casting and the video will keep going on the Chromecast.
There isn’t a dedicated / separate Chromecast app for the Tablo, likely there is for Netflix for example.
What are you talking about? When I connect to my Chromecast from the Android Tablo app the Chromecast loads the Tablo app. It shows Tablo on the screen and loads the stream I send it just like Netflix or Plex. I can then shut off my wifi on the phone or pull the battery and the video keeps playing on the Chromecast.
I will take your word as to that being how the chromecast executes, as I have no intention of buying one. I based the double dipping comment on something I had read elsewhere and took it at face value (since it made logical sense). I still stand by my comment as to wired being preferential whenever practical for a device that is streaming HD content.
I would just finish by saying I don’t think it is realistic to expect a device at the chromecast’s price point to have lightning fast performance.
(I think that type of device definitely has scenarios where it would be optimal, just not this one)
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