Tablo 4th Gen - Specs or details?

Simple - to determine if it is the particular Roku stick or the model that is having issues. The 4820 is the most recent Roku stick, and the goal of purchasing additional ones is to replace older Roku sticks on other of our tvs. The 4820 has a better remote control. Our family is stuck on Roku interface, so I need to make it as good as possible.

Financially, a goal is to replace a $130/month DirectTV system that is additional to the family’s main use of streaming tv (Disney+, Paramount+, Netflix…). For that I need local Portland channels which DirectTV provides (hence the Tablo). The one thing I can’t find anywhere is CNN which only comes with $50-$100 hundred channel packages.

Tablo is still on trial here. If I can’t make it work with a Roku-based system, it will have to be discarded. I admire the concept and appreciate the orders of magnitude improvement over VHS and Beta, but, these days, ABC/NBC/CBS is only a small part of our tv diet, and most can be provided with streaming subscriptions.

I understand what you’re trying to do. I’m just surprised you didn’t try out a newer device with a little more power.

Being stuck in one ecosystem is rough and I feel for all of the people that do this for their family. I’ve made suggestions as to other (and cheaper) devices that work better than most Rokus, but this isn’t always something a person is able to do.

I hate to see you spend the extra money on Rokus, but I’m completely baffled at your purchasing another puck AND an external drive!

My thoughts are a little different than yours: Sometimes it’s more important that a device work properly than that it works with a single brand of hardware.

You seem like you have a handle on a lot of things… maybe it’s worth exploring some other options. There are different launchers you can use, not to mention locking an android device into app-only mode.

Regardless, I wish you luck. Keep testing/playing and sharing with others what you discover.

What newer device with more power are you suggesting? I pretty much have confirmed that I will not have issues with Samsung Smart TVs, Roku TVs, or FireTV sticks, but I really prefer not to replace tvs just to gain local broadcast channels.

The theoretical budget I am using is based on $130/month DirectTV. My cash outlay for this testing direction is a $36 antenna, a $99 Tablo and a $139 Tablo. The two $50 Roku sticks were needed to replace significantly older sticks, so I can’t really count them. So the current expenditures is 2 months of DirecTV (plus a lot more time than I would have anticipated).

Buying a 4-tuner Tablo is a method of testing whether the failures, are, or are not the Tablo’s fault. And, yes, I probably should have started with the 4-tuner, but I was not sure that the whole OTA thing was viable. The hard drive is one of several extra I have for my normal PC backup rotation. What I (and probably most of the rest of the dvr world) really want would be to have the recordings be portable and semi-permanent (think VHS tape). The existing copyright law/structure ties the recording to the single device recording it. If my Tablo fails, I think that everything recorded is lost, even if it is an external drive.

The daughter and g-kids are totally uninterested in the current DirecTV or the Tablo direction – they are subscription streaming-oriented. Daughter has adapted to Samsung smart tv interface - g-kids are still Roku.

My wife is the driver of this exercise and is the only serious user of DirecTV. She requires Roku interface, the current CBS morning show in pretty much live (rewindable) and occasional local broadcast channels for weather and news events. These needs could be replaced by Tablo/Roku.

The remaining requirement seems impossible, but she is willing to give it up to save $130/month. That is CNN. It seems to only be available in streaming service packages - the cheapest I could find is $50/month. A few years ago, CNN tried a CNN+ $5/month class of subscription, but quickly dropped it. We do subscribe to Max, and it has a CNN-MAX channel (similar, but not identical to the normal CNN-USA that everyone else has). This would substitute for the CNN background droning (think airports), but for her to watch Fareed Zacharia, she would have to get up early Sunday mornings. CNN has a decent website which can be accessed on a PC which would have all the FZ broadcasts, but it relies on verifying our “TV provider” which has to be one of the $50+ packages. Oddly, the Max CNN channel does not qualify. Long story short(er) is that Tablo/Roku providing local network channels would be “good enough” for her to grudgingly drop DirecTV.

My wife uses 3 tvs, all of which have Roku sticks. Two of them have smart tv guts, but getting her to navigate there would be harder than this Tablo/Roku exercise. If there is any reason to believe that a Roku with “a little more power” would make the difference, I could sensibly replace the Roku sticks with only a small budget impact.

Note we have been using DirecTV for 25+ years over multiple moves - current configuration of whole-house dvr network could be scaled down to less than $100/month, but not much below that because of their hardware/fee structure. And, yes, I’m sure they would discount some for a year to keep us.

None of this is important in the big scheme of things, but it is an interesting exercise.

H

If you’re looking for a cheap Google TV device, the Onn 4k Streaing Box at Walmart is only $20. (The Onn 4k Pro is $50 --more than you need to spend and likely more features than you’re looking for!) I’ve had both the original version of the 4k box as well as the latest and the TabloTV app has worked fantastically on this device. I still use the original model a few times a month (I think Tubi works best on a full AndroidTV or GoogleTV device). It’s a cheap, simple device that will give you another option and way to test.

Again, it’s just an option. As I mentioned, you are able to set it up in App-only mode for a more Roku-looking feel. Or… there are a few launchers that look amazing – WolfLauncher is a great example of this and the more time you take to set it up, the better it looks.

I know everyone has a devices they love best. I like having options and backups! I have a friend who’s stuck in the Roku ecosystem because his family likes it!

As for Amazon, no one knows the rollout date for their proprietary OS. I worry about how long it’s going to take before they have enough apps available that users will want to buy it!

It never hurts to try out mulitple options. I know it’s ridiculous, but sometimes there are occasions where you need a specific device for one app or purpose. I think that there will always be something a device does better than its competitor. It’s why I have so many STBs that they’re stashed in a drawer until I need a particular model!

As always, I wish you the best in your Tablo-ing.

Back to simple response to your points. Yesterday Roku 4820(call it “A”) failed first thing in the morning, unplugged then a few hours later worked fine for the rest of the day. This morning, starts out failed, retries and reboots failed also.

Note “fail” means - replay or recorded shows just fine, guide looks fine, but clicking down to an actual channel crashes TabloTV app.

Replaced this 4820 with new, out of the box 4820(call it “B”). Identical failure, retries and repower also failed. This seems to say something, but not sure what.

Actually it didn’t say much. Unplugged “B”, took it upstairs, plugged into different tv. All fails. Plugged in Roku 4810 (which I did NOT test before “B”). It failed.

Unplugged and rebooted Tablo. All the Roku sticks (4810 and 4820 A & B) fail. Android phone works fine replay and live.

Note - 4810 and 4820 “A” are both Roku sticks that worked fine yesterday (eventually).

Hmmmmmm…

Today’s exercise will be replacing the Tablo 2-tuner with a 4-tuner model, and see what changes.

I have never noticed anyone mention wifi interference. I have run into a problem with my older wireless headphones that also ran in the 5ghz range, if I had to use them it would greatly reduce the download speed from 150+ mbps to 40mbps on my ultras. On my ultra LT it would cancel the signal completely, the LT had to be 20 feet away or more but it was still reduced 20mbps. Also my landlord was having problem with his iphone disconnecting and he traced it back to of all things his ceiling fan, it communicted on a 5ghz signal. So maybe should look for any wireless devices that could cause problems. good luck

I really need to investigate this. My house is filled with wifi signals from the original internet provider modem, to the Eero mesh network, to the DirecTV whole-home system, to various devices such as the Tablo. There are wireless light switches, a new weather station…

For example, when I set up a new Roku and it wants to talk to my internet, I see a number of listed networks I could connect to. I have no idea if these are from within my house or are from neighbors. Not sure what tools I should use to investigate - have a simple phone app for wifi signals, but have not made real sense out of it. For all I know, my problems might be caused by my refrigerator arguing with my stove.