Channels & viewing

[Dman1]

I have two Roku's devices connected to two television sets and I have two Roku television sets.  Four television sets in all, two downstairs and two upstairs.  I would like to connect my antenna to a device and stream the antenna content to all four of my televisions.  I tried the newest Tablo device and for some unknown reason it would reset to the Roku home screen while watching antenna television.  I returned the Tablo because it was very annoying.  The Tablo would also lock up and say there was a conflict with the closed caption and ask if I wanted to turn off the CC.  I need to use the CC on my televisions. Another problem I have experienced when I connect an antenna to the rear of my Hisense Roku tv is that the antenna channels will disappear at some point AFTER scanning the OTA channels?  This is very annoying too.  Thus the reason I tried the Tablo device.  I don't want to connect four antennas to four television sets.  I also don't want to wire coax cable to four television sets when some are downstairs and some are upstairs in my house.  Has anyone else experienced these problems and solved them?  I can't be the only person out there having these particular issues?  Please help. 

[renojim]

I'm using a Tablo as I write this and it does have its issues.  With captions enabled, the Roku device sometimes runs out of memory and crashes.  I have no idea why.  I think it only affects watching live TV.  Recorded programs don't have the problem.  I'm thinking of trying it on a non-Roku device like a Fire stick.  I wasn't happy with the Tablo app on Android streaming device.

Another thing I use is a Silicondust HDHomeRun box.  Its Roku app has its own issues and I've never explored its recording capabilities other than pairing it with the now unsupported Windows Media Center running on a PC.  Recording is must for me and I watch little to no live TV.

There may be other similar products out there, but it seems like less and less people are watching OTA TV, so there's not much of a market anymore.  Those are the two I've tried and I'd have a hard time recommending either one paired with a Roku device.  One thing to keep in mind is that if all four TVs are going at once you'll need a device with four tuners if everyone wants to watch something different.

[Dman1]

I appreciate the information. I will never have four television going at the same time. There is only two of us that live in the house to start with.  The majority of the time we are watching the same thing on the same television.  I would say that at the most two televisions might be going on at the same time.  

I contacted Silicon dust HD and they basically said I would have the same issues with them because the problem is with Roku.  Which was very strange to me. Here is what Silicon dust told me (below).  I hope that Roku monitors and sees this reply. 

We have an app for Roku devices, but limitations with the Roku platform mean it doesn't work well. Roku devices are designed to play web streaming video, which is always perfect and always conforms to a very specific way that things are transmitted. Broadcast TV is less than perfect due to the nature of TV signal reception, and there is a lot more flexibility in the way things are done. Roku's video player is not designed to be resilient in handling imperfect signals or things in the broadcast it doesn't understand, and this tends to result in the player app aborting playback or crashing the app if there is a reception issue. It sounds like you were encountering some of those issues with the previous device, and it's likely you would encounter similar issues with the HD Home Run, and the problem is with Roku and not with the tuner device. You will have a better experience with live TV watching via any other device, such as an Amazon Fire TV Stick or the Onn. Google TV box from Walmart. On these devices, we can provider our own video player that is more resilient and can handle broadcast streams a lot better.

Live TV does not require a subscription from us. Recording with our DVR requires a subscription, $35 per year. The warranty on new HD Home Run devices is 2 years.

[atc98092]

I've had an HDHomeRun 4K Flex for easily a couple of years. While I have the HDHR app on my Roku and Shield devices, I don't really use it for OTA watching. It's mainly for my HTPC to record OTA broadcasts, after which I edit out the commercials and store on my media server. But I have my main antenna connected to almost every TV in the house, so it's not really necessary to use the HDHR to watch something on any of them.

That said, it's certainly possible to use the app on all of my devices to have the same channel displayed on multiple TVs. My box has four tuners, and I'm assuming that if I have multiple TVs set to the same channel they would all use that one tuner. I don't use the HDHR recording function, as I use my HTPC for that, which is running J River Media Center. It can use up to all four tuners at the same time, if I actually wanted to record four different shows at the same time.

Silicon Dust has stated in the past they don't put a lot of effort into their Roku app. I think it's because it uses a different programming language that they aren't as adept using as what they use for Android devices. But I still have no issues watching any of the OTA channels available on my HDHR on a Roku or Shield. And for ATSC 3.0 stations, the Roku is actually the better device to use, since the Ultra 480x models support AC4 audio, which is the standard for ATSC 3.0. 

[renojim]

@Dman1, the issues with Tablo's and SD's Roku apps are absolutely because of the significant limitations of Roku devices and, more importantly, the Roku "OS".  The Tablo and SD developers have probably done the best they can, but Roku couldn't care less about anything that doesn't make them significant ad and/or subscription revenue.

[Dman1]

Had anyone tried the AirTv2 with the Roku? https://www.airtv.net/products/airtv2/ I know it will work with Sling TV, because that is advertised. I also have read that a person doesn't have to have sling for it it work. I just don't know how well it works on a Roku device? 

[Dman1]

Since Roku doesn't seem to care about OTA compatibility, I may start switching over to a more OTA friendly device. 

[atc98092]

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@Dman1 wrote:

Since Roku doesn't seem to care about OTA compatibility, I may start switching over to a more OTA friendly device. 

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None of the streaming players are particularly interested in OTA. It's simply not something that has any meaning for online streamers. It's more which platform will the developers make the effort to provide a good app. Right now, I don't see the HDHR app all that much better on my Shield (Android) than a Roku. Yeah, it's a bit better, but mostly only because the Shield has much more processing power compared to even the best Roku. Functionality is pretty much the same on both of them. And I just tried it on both devices to see if anything has changed recently. 

[Dman1]

Here is what Silicondust said about Roku streaming devices. 

"Our products are specifically designed to take the signal from an antenna and make it available to streaming devices such as FireTV/Google TV/Apple, or a phone, tablet, or computer. There really is not a good answer for getting broadcast TV into a Roku device because Roku is not designed to do that, and their system is severely locked down to prevent it from being used to do things it wasn't designed to do.
- Silicondust Support"

Roku support needs to see this and fix their platform. 

[Strega2]

I wouldn’t bother to switch, at least not right away.  Just add more devices as you see fit.  If you want to add your fifth device, and your TV only has 4 HDMI inputs, then you might want to reduce the collection, only after you’ve had time to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each.  (Or you could get an AVR or HDMI switch and keep going.)