Tailscale is a way to let your devices talk to each other. It's not like other VPNs that change your IP and send your traffic through other places. It's more like automatic port forwarding.
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Are there any instructions on how to use it with Fire TV? I've turned Tailscale on in my Channels DVR settings, and logged into the Tailscale site and it added the Channels DVR. Tailscale assigned an IP address for the Channels DVR. Now, what do I do on the Fire TV Stick? How do I add the Fire TV stick as a device?
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You side load the APK on the FireTV, run the Tailscale app and login to your account. That's it.
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Where do you log into your account once I open the Tailscale app on the Fire TV Stick?
On your FireTV screen. In the Tailscale app. You use your remote to click login in the app and scan a QR code or something.
Once both devices are on your Tailnet, you would go into the Channels app, click Connect > At Home and enter the tailscale IP of your DVR (100.x.x.x)
Where in the app do I login? I couldn't find a place to login or a QR code to scan.
I went to the link you posted above and right clicked on the 'Download F-Droid' button and saved the link to my desktop. I then entered that URL ('https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk') into Downloader on the Fire TV stick. After it installed. it appeared in my list of apps, see below. If that isn't correct, what is the link for the Tailscale apk?
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Thanks. I used the URL and got Tailscale installed. After a little messing with the app, I got signed in. Now when I start Tailscale, at the top left corner it is toggled ‘Active’, the Fire TV name and Tailscale IP address below that, and under ‘My Devices’, the Channels DVR server and its Tailscale assigned IP is listed.
I go back to My Apps and start the Channels app. The app starts and goes through the remote start and displays a code number and QR code. I used the QR code to connect but after a few seconds, I get a message saying it can’t connect.
What did I miss?
See:
That's the missing piece of the puzzle. I'm so used to selecting the away from home option, I didn't realize I needed to select At Home and then plug in the Tailscale IP address for Channels. I tested it both on my Fire TV stick and my smartphone and it worked great.
Thanks again for you help and patience.
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I wanted to provide an update with remote access to my Channels DVR which runs on my home network that uses a T-Mobile Home Internet gateway to connect to the internet
I've installed Tailscale on my Samsung S21 phone, which has 5G UC connection to the T-Mobile cellular network, and on a Fire TV 4K stick that connects via WiFi to my neighbor's home network. The speed test on my S21 shows I'm getting 500Mbps down and 8Mbps up. The speed test on the Fire TV stick is showing 95Mbps down and 15Mbps up.
With Tailscale activated on both devices, I'm able to get to my Channels DVR system and move around in it to see my recordings and the channels guide. When I select a channel to watch, both tests took about 15 - 30 seconds for the channel to open, and both kept buffering (spinning circular arrow). The Fire TV would play video for a couple of seconds, then buffer for 10 - 20 seconds. The video on the S21 was even worst. Needless to say, I wasn't able to watch the football game on either device.
On those same two devices, I also have the Plex client. After turning Tailscale off on both devices, I tested Plex. On both devices I was able to connect to my Plex server which runs on the same NAS where my Channels DVR system runs, and I was able to watch videos from my libraries, and 'Live TV', both without any buffering. The 'Live TV' I was watching was the same college games I tried to watch on Channels. Both Plex and Channels share two HDHomerun devices for a total of eight tuners.
I known that a VPN adds overhead, and it appears Tailscale is not exempt from this. I've gone into settings for each Channels client and adjusted the playback streaming quality down to 700Kbps for cellular, a 1Mbps for the internet and I still experience 99% buffering.
If other users are using Tailscale so they can remotely access their Channels DVR, what are your Channels client setting on you phone and Fire TV sticks? Do you get seamless streaming?
Try going the other way. Set it to original on the client app.
Channels Speed Test, or something else?
Have you tried the Channels Speed Test when the clients are connected via Tailscale?
Unless things have changed, when you connect a client via Tailscale it's considered Internet streaming
Here's how you can tell if a client is connecting directly or via a Tailscale DERP relay to the DVR server
In my cell, I've tried various different playback streaming quality setting, adjusting the cellular and internet settings. With Tailscale active, I can connect to my Channels DVR which is running on my QNAP NAS, but when I try to watch a recording or live TV, it buffers for a while, will display an image from the video, and just go back to the buffering spin.
Ran the speed test in Channels with cellular, then turned on the WiFi (connected to home network) and ran the speed test again. Results below.
If you are using tailscale it uses Home Streaming quality which is original. You would have to change that to match more or less your Cell Speed.
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I thought it was Home Streaming as tailscale acts like you are connected at home ?
While connected via Tailscale playback quality shows as internet streaming while on home network and cellular streaming while on cellular data network.
Thanks I must have been asleep when they changed that.
Spoke too soon mine says Original quality using my 5G Phone ... Maybe it is because I use Tailscale for windows not the integrated one.
For the record, I have Tailscale turned on in my Channels DVR server, and I have port 8089 forwarded to port 8089 on my server where Channels DVR runs. On my phone, I have Tailscale active. and when I started the Channels, I selected 'Home' and entered the Tailscale IP for my Channels server. Channels app connects to the DVR, but it works like crap.
I even tried uninstalling & reinstalling the Channels app on my phone and still isn't playing video.
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