agree completely! no technical reason why tablo cannot work short term during an internet outage. after a hurricane, for example, it would be VERY advantageous to access local programming. yes power may be out, but many people have generators, particularly in storm prone areas. a lot of folks these days don’t have portable radios, but pretty much everybody has tv, and having a device that can “stream” local tv would be a very nice thing during those times. this is when i found out about tablo’s shortcomings - running on generator after a storm - tv slowly degraded until it stopped working altogether. thought i had that scenario covered and was surprised/disappointed when i discovered i did not. even worse, when i contacted tablo to ask about it, i was badly treated - like i was some kind of idiot for even asking! don’t think it will ever be fixed - seems it’s ingrained in the tablo ego that this is the way it must be! somebody will come out with a product that addresses this defect, i’ll be a customer!
What device are you using for playback, assuming you don’t have one of the Tablo HDMI versions?
I know Roku DOES allow access in the event of an internet outage, you just have to get past of couple of errors.
Also, as an alternative you could always connect your antenna directly to the TV to get live TV to monitor for weather.
I’m using Roku. And, yes, Roku works without internet - that’s not the issue. I have four TV’s throughout the house, all on Roku via wireless mesh network. Tablo works fine as long as internet is online. When the internet went down, the feed from TABLO (not Roku) slowly degraded until it failed altogether - this behavior confirmed by tablo customer “service” as “normal”. But without internet, Roku offers nothing - that’s where tablo SHOULD come in.
The whole point of tablo and streaming OTA over my network was to avoid having to run coax all over the house - works fine as long as there’s internet online. Still, stupid that it will not allow access to local OTA as long as my network and power are online.
I did some further research this morning, seems HD Homerun does NOT require internet to work. Yes, it does need an internet connection for set up, but from what I’ve read so far it won’t stop working altogether if the internet goes down. I have no idea what a long term outage would do to it - I would guess the guide info would certainly go stale - but I don’t really care. I just want the tv to work if I have a outage for a couple hours/days. I’m old enough the remember when the “guide” was delivered every day in the newspaper - I can live without an online guide for a few hours! More research to do, but this might be the answer.
You didn’t mention how long you expect the internet to be down but the Roku to continue to work, whether when the internet goes down so does your DHCP server, or what your IP lease time is.
I completely agree with you, however I easily discovered this short coming before I purchased my tablo… still grumbled about it. But it’s documented. If/when you need local information I have a TV to watch TV - I find logic in this.
I find it discouraging I need to pay for internet access to watch recordings from free OTA broadcast programing - even though select device may function under ideal conditions without internet. Network connected devices are marketed as requiring internet for basic function.
[TV connected HDMI tablo’s have only been label since Nov '20]
Instead of using an ISP DHCP server you could use a third party DHCP server on your own router, convince your ISP to not stop the DHCP server when the “internet” is down, or you could petition the IETF standards committee to change the various standards.
Or you might try the HDMI model.
I bought the Tablo Quad HDMI so that wouldn’t have to rely on the internet.
My OTA reception is excellent, but my WI-FI reception for my device might have problems periodically, especially during high use when my kids are home. When they aren’t online, I have no problems watching tv.
I bought an OTA DVR, because I didn’t want to bog down my WI-FI. Otherwise, I’d get a streaming device. And I got the HDMI model, so that I could watch my recordings without streaming.
Bad Wi-Fi shouldn’t affect my tv viewing.
What issues are you having? If you have the HDMI Tablo, using it on the TV to which it is connected via HDMI should not been impacted by your Wi-Fi.
It shouldn’t, you are watching directly on the Tablo HDMI unit itself? Not using another playback device like Roku or Fire TV?
It shouldn’t. That was the whole purpose of getting the Tablo Quad HDMI, but it pauses frequently. If I’m lucky, I can let it buffer before viewing, and it’s okay. If I’m not lucky, it pauses frequently even after buffering. I’m seriously thinking about returning it.
I would open a ticket with Tablo then. I’m just saying if you are watching on the device that has the Tablo connected via HDMI there really isn’t any way it’s your network. Could be a hard drive issue I suppose and they can easily verify that for you.
In theory shouldn’t you able to watch recordings on the Tablo HDMI without any internet connection? Unplug your modem / router and try it out. If you’re still having issues with watching the issue isn’t with the WiFi, it’s something else with the Tablo itself.
This is still an issue with the Tablo Quad that i purchased earlier this year.
It’s a stupid problem not to allow users to access their recordings in the event of an internet outage, which i just had for 24 hours. Incidentally, the unit worked for about an hour after internet went out, then gave me the “Tablo is not connected to the internet” message and there was no workaround.
One of the points of the unit is an OTG option. So, if it doesn’t function when OTG, that’s a problem.
There are multiple threads that discuss internet outages with network tablos. In the worse case a DHCP server under the control of the ISP typically goes down when the internet goes down. So unless you are supplying the DHCP server you will probably be SOL when the IP lease time expires.
Which is the point everyone is making. I have a plex server at home. I can access all my movies and music over my network when it is down. If i hook an HD homerun up to plex, I can watch live tv.
This is what is making me want to switch.
If your devices use IPV4 and DHCP and your internet went down you should check the status of your DHCP server to see if also went down. And if using DHCP you should check the IP lease time. I though ITEF standards restricted IP/TCP to only those devces that had a valid IP address. And an expired IP lease is not suppose to be valid. That has nothing to do with plex.
My nviad shield plex server eats dirt for network connections when the IP lease expires. Of course I thought that was the whole purpose of tablo hdmi models
Realistically if you are getting DHCP from your ISP that needs Internet you should expect issues on any network device.
I use my TabloTV device like an HDHR with NextPVR so I don’t see how this makes the HDHR better, since the HDHR also needs Internet for guide data. My 3 weeks EPG and server with recordings are independent of TabloTV and the internet.
Martin
Hi realize the main point of thread is around streaming. Per the posts with HDMI this is what I have. Replaced a Dish DTVPal with Quad HDMI. Installed 04 Jun 2022, connected to my WiFi hotspot (size of deck of cards, no wire connections), did channel scan, picked my channels and went to watching tv. After a bit same day to allow it to download the 2 week channel guide went into settings and turned off WiFi. Have done mostly manual recordings with some from guide. All record and play fine with no internet. Waiting for guide data to run out to see how it handles. Would seem just need to connect to internet if I rescan and add channels so they would show as placeholders in guide screen with channel numbers or to check for updated software. Has exceeded expectations as Tivo was flat no internet / useless box.
You might find that if the Tablo gets rebooted it may also need to reconnect to the internet. Glad to hear it’s working well for you. I’d be curious how long it will work without internet so please update us.
Did reboot once to check an issue. Admit couldn’t find the blue button, just unplugged the power cube. (knew no recordings taking place) Came back no issues, still with internet disabled. Still waiting for data to run out to blank guide. Envision it will be just a single row with the channels on the left. In replaced DVR (it used PSIP OTA data to populate guide, varied between none and a few days depending on the station and rest would be blank rectangles which were clickable to record and then could go and change length if needed). Don’t think the Tablo software would do this just a test as I went to end of guide data two weeks out and can’t go further. Will let you know. Manual not a problem for me as using TV-Browser with Schedules Direct data on laptop, note really like the Tablo guide.