One of the Tablo features not supported on the new 4th generation Tablo device is Tablo Connect for out-of-home streaming.
This is because the technology in the new Tablo device is different than the legacy network-connected Tablo devices.
Tablo Connect Requires Real-Time Transcoding
Legacy network-connected Tablo units transcode all live TV and recordings in real-time at several different video quality and bandwidth settings. There is also a secondary Tablo Connect quality setting that will tell the Tablo to re-transcode content to even lower quality for remote streaming if needed.
This ensures that you can get a smooth stream at almost any connection speed.
The new Tablo device however streams and records everything in full MPEG2 quality. This creates a fairly large and bandwidth-heavy file.
Most modern home networks can handle streaming this content between rooms. However, streaming such a large video file over a mobile network is more difficult and may result in a poor experience.
Additionally, without real-time transcoding, there is no way for a user to adjust to a lower bandwidth on the fly with the 4th generation Tablo.
This is the same reason why Tablo Connect is not supported on TV-connected legacy Tablo devices.
Future Remote Access Plans
While we don't have the ability to offer out-of-home streaming today, we are still exploring options that could enable the enjoyment of content while away from your home network with the 4th generation Tablo.
However, we do plan to offer the ability to set/manage recordings on mobile devices on remote connections.
We do not have an ETA for this feature at this time.