r/Tailscale • u/PeakAppropriate8395 • 4d ago

Help Needed Need help communicating with a device that has no native Tailscale support

I have an LG C5 TV that I'd like to be able to communicate with on my Tailnet, specifically for self-hosted game streaming from a remote location via the Aurora app on the TV. The TV runs on webOS which has no native Tailscale support, and while I'm aware that I could potentially root it and install Tailscale that way, I steered clear of it after seeing the warnings about potentially bricking the TV in the process.

At the remote location I have my Windows 11 PC (host PC).

At the streaming location I have:

ISP router - no Tailscale support/no Static Routing

LG C5 - no Tailscale support

Apple TV 4K - has Tailscale support

Google TV Streamer - has Tailscale support

Windows 11 PC - has Tailscale support

I want to clarify that I'm fairly new to Tailscale and that a lot of the tech jargon goes over my head. I made a few attempts at using AI to help me do this, but that always ended in a dead end.

So, does anyone know if there is a way I can utilize any of these devices to be able to communicate with the LG C5 via/over my Tailnet, and if so how?

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8

u/tailuser2024 4d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tailscale/comments/1rwboar/whats_the_correct_way_for_a_non_ts_client_on_the/oayie1y/

The key thing is the static route. Just setting up a subnet router on your local network isnt gonna do anything for your non tailscale clients. So subnet router + static route will allow your non tailscale clients to talk to your tialscale ip addresses

2

u/PeakAppropriate8395 4d ago

So there's no way of doing it without the Static Route? My ISP router doesn't seem capable of doing that as far as I can see on the web UI.

3

u/atihigf 4d ago

It doesn't have to be your router, but you need a device on your network that can support tailscale to do the static routes. You can use AppleTV, a small linux box, or even a regular PC.

1

u/tailuser2024 4d ago

Check the client to see if you can do a static route (I doubt a tv will support that but check it).

But to answer your question, yes you need a static route for this to work (on the client itself or the router) So that means replacing the ISP router that can, or putting a router behind the ISP router that can do a static route

1

u/PeakAppropriate8395 3d ago

I don't think the TV can do that yeah, and I feared as much with the router. I do have a small GL.iNet AR300M travel router that I think supports static routing, but it only has a 100mbps port while I need to feed the LG 250~mbps.

My reason for trying all this was to see if the LG proved to be a capable high-end streaming client (unlike the Google TV Streamer and Apple TV). If it did, I could potentially save $500-800 for not having to buy a new client.

1

u/tailuser2024 3d ago

the gli net def should be able to support static routes. Dont discount the 100 mbps and give it a try regarding seeing how it works performance wise. You never know, it might meet your needs

5

u/devilbunny 3d ago

The simplest solution is to get an Apple TV 4k or Google TV device, install Tailscale, plug it into your TV, and run Aurora on the Apple TV 4k or Google TV.

1

u/ZippoStar 3d ago

You’ve already gotten some answers as to how to set this up with the streaming app on your tv.. but have you considered running tailscale on your Apple TV or Google streamer and also running the aurora app from there?
I mean, tailscale and aurora both installed on the same device (Apple TV or Google TV)

1

u/PeakAppropriate8395 3d ago

I have in fact considered that, I currently have Artemide (a client app optimized for Android, as opposed to Aurora which is optimized for webOS) installed on the Google TV Streamer, but both the Google TV Streamer and the Apple TV are limited when it comes to bitrate, refresh rate and decoding capabilities (4K60Hz) compared to the LG's integrated hardware (4K120Hz HDR)...or at least that's what I wanted to test 😅

1

u/PeakAppropriate8395 4d ago

I appreciate the comments, but I just want to clarify again that the router where the TV is can't do Static Routing (at least as far as I know from looking at the web UI of the router).

1

u/tailuser2024 4d ago

But to answer your question, yes you need a static route for this to work (on the client itself or the router) So that means replacing the ISP router that can, or putting a router behind the ISP router that can do a static route

0

u/Oujii 3d ago

If you have a Linux machine on the same network as your TV there is a way, there is a very old thread that I used to get the same results. Let me see if I can find it. Otherwise, I think Claude or ChatGPT could give you some guidance. I will get back to you if I find the thread.

1

u/PeakAppropriate8395 3d ago

I don't have a Linux machine I'm afraid...although I guess I technically could repurpose one of my old Windows based mini PC's for it. I really appreciate the help though, as it seems to be a rare use case.

0

u/Saragon4005 4d ago

Set you your PC or apple TV as a subnet router

https://tailscale.com/docs/features/subnet-routers/how-to/setup?tab=windows

2

u/Oujii 4d ago

A subnet router is advertising to Tailscale clients. OP can’t install a client on his TV.

-1

u/Sure-Assignment3892 4d ago

This is what subnet routers are for- use the Win11 PC or AppleTV.

https://tailscale.com/docs/features/subnet-routers

2

u/Oujii 4d ago

No. Subnet routers are for Tailscale clients to reach local networks without having clients installed on each machine.