New Tablo devices don't support Tablo Connect

I really like Tablo Connect. That's the name of the functionality where Tablo allows watching of TV from a remote location. That means I could connect to my Tablo device from anywhere on the Internet and watch TV from my Tablo device.

Not only could I do that, I did that. After I put up an antenna at my mother's house, I simply watched local TV that way.

Recently, though, Tablo announced new devices. I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the money for a new device. Well, after finding out that Tablo Connect isn't supported by the new Tablo devices, I won't be getting one.

So, why isn't Tablo Connect supported? Tablo answered that question on its blog recently.

Legacy network-connected Tablo units transcode all live TV and recordings in real-time at several different video quality and bandwidth settings. 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.

That is disappointing. My Streaming Life has used Tablo Connect for some time. It's a feature I really like. And I don't expect to purchase a Tablo device that doesn't support it.