If you work in the software industry then you know damn well that most companies release software to a timeline to keep investors happy regardless of the number of known/unknown bugs in them. None release “perfect” software, none. That is a thing of the long distant past.
Heck even hardware companies now release buggy code knowingly, or unwittingly for lack of QA/Beta testing. Rolu is a perfect case in point.
Now carry on with the waiting for the firmware. 
That is the problem with the software industry these days. And once again QA takes the blame, it’s management is who should take the blame for rushing stuff out.
It seems like QA is sticking to there guns and not releasing the firmware until everything speced out is working. This is the way it should be.
Anyway my tablo works fine and is recording everything I told it to do. I can wait a little longer.
Roku is a good example here - as they just updated the Roku 3 4200 firmware a week ago, and this week “upgraded” again by reverting back to the previous firmware due to performance issues they obviously aren’t able to correct quickly enough to send out a fix.
Yup, every release on my Roku has broken something and twice they stopped the rollout so less people would be affected before they applied a fix.
I’m having my antenna professionally installed this coming Monday – I was really hoping the firmware would be out by then so that my first Tablo experience would be more likely to be positive.
TiVo is not Canada-friendly, so it was between Channel Master and Tablo for me. Since I need Roku boxes for my home media streaming needs regardless of Tablo, it made more sense to go with Tablo + Roku boxes over getting a Channel Master + Slingbox + Roku boxes.
Still cautiously confident that I made the right choice… Provided Tablo works with my AC-powered 1.5TB GoFlex. If it helps my and others’ hardware, I’m willing to wait.
A lot of folks don’t understand the software development process, and want to get their hands on the latest and greatest as quickly as possible. When a bug is uncovered, as in this case, fixing the bug and testing the fix is only part of the process. Tablo has to then do regression testing (Go back and test everything else again) on the entire load to ensure that something else didn’t get broken in the process, which restarts the clock with the beta testers. (That’s what I hope they’re doing!) This helps to ensure, though it doesn’t guarantee, that they’re putting out as solid a product as possible. Since the current release works really well and has worked very reliably for me, I’d rather wait until Tablo has it right instead of pushing it out the door fast.
Of course we all want new features and capabilities, but I appreciate Tablo taking the time to get it right.
Amen!
I also install antennas and tablo’s for my customers and to reduce my support calls I want them to get the new firmware nailed down. It will be a win win for everyone.
I guess I should have said “At the price point, Tablo is one of the better products on the market”
Last time I checked DVR+ was not able to schedule “new” recordings only with their guide data (which was what drew me to Tablo over them – but I believe they finally addressed this), also isn’t there a monthly subscription fee for them? Also don’t you require additional hardware in order to watch TV/shows over wifi or away from home? Same with Tivo, you need to get a bunch of hardware and crazy lifetime costs in order to do what the Tablo does.
I’m not a Tablo fanboi, you can see from the DD thread, I give them hell about not having something as archaic as surround sound on their product. And yes, they’re missing a few obvious things that ANY DVR on the market should have, but overall it’s not “doom and gloom and if Tablo doesn’t do XYZ they’ll be out of business”, that’s just silly.
Why are you replying to me?
Where’s the promised roadmap that they’ve been talking about for 18 months? They are transparent, but those transparencies don’t mean jack if they don’t stick to it.
Agreed.
Perfect is the enemy of good enough.
No, there’s no monthly subscription with the DVR+, $350 or so one time and it does its thing. There’s also no multi room viewing with DVR+, though they claim that their fall update will make that possible.
On the TiVo, you’re buying into some of the Tablo marketing hype.
A 4 tuner TiVo Roamio OTA , 2 TiVo Minis w/lifetime, TiVo Stream and a 2TB hard drive is $550
A 4 tuner Tablo, 2 Roku 3’s and a 2TB hard drive is $585
A TiVo buyer that didn’t care about out-of-home streaming (yes, there are more than just a few) could cut their price by $130 by passing on the Stream. Further, if a TiVo buyer didn’t require more than the 75 hours of recording capacity built into the Roamio OTA there’s another $80 in savings.
Yeah, you can talk about subscription prices, but you also have to talk about tradeoffs. The Tablo subscription is $10 less per month or $250 less for lifetime, but there are huge tradeoffs that go along with the lower price. Tablo doesn’t let you scroll ahead days in the guide, there is no One Pass (shows your DVR recording and Netflix, Hulu and other options to see episodes you are missing), there are no suggested recordings on Tablo (I used to mock this “feature” but it has actually been useful for me) real channel surfing, instant channel changes, extra time correctly added to live events, no missing sub channels. I’m sure there’s more, these are my observations.
There’s also the differences between Tablo and TiVo Stream. Both allow you to stream OOH, but the TiVo Stream will also transcode and download shows to your iPhone or iPad (Android is rumored to be in beta but TiVo runs a tighter beta ship than Tablo) to view offline.
So, “at this price point” Tablo has LOTS of competition and “better product” is very subjective. I love Tablo, but I love it more for what it could be than for what it currently is. Today, Tablo has issues that other products in this price range don’t suffer from, but it also has the most upside potential.
Everyone has different needs, you outlined yours, let me outline mine. I only need 2 tuners. 100% of my watching is DVRed, so I don’t care about “live” tv channel surfing.
I view on 1 TV, 1 PC and 2 smartphones. I view outside the house often enough.
(Not including the HD that you need for both cases)
2 Tuner Tablo $200 + 1 roku 1 $50 + Lifetime $150 = $400
Tivo Roamio OTA + lifetime $300 + TiVo stream $130 = $430
That’s assuming your TV and OTA antenna feeds are in the same place. Otherwise you need to add a TV Mini. For me, they’re not, but if I had to, I could get Tivo at the $430 price point. But to have the same convenience as Tablo, I’m looking at at least another $150.
Tablo’s lifetime fee is for your account, so when Tablo V2 comes out that finally does Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, I don’t have to pay for lifetime again.
When TiVo Roamio V2 comes out, guess what? You need to pay again!
I’ll concede though, there are enough scenarios where the TiVo price point might be better, and I remember looking at it before the OTA one came out (I’ve had my Tablo for well over a year now). I took my personal needs and applied across the spectrum. So yeah, for some the price point isn’t that big of a deal anymore.
I tried to resist, but I want to disect your post.
You’re forgetting that the lifetime costs are different. One is for the user, the other is for the product. If you have a lightning strike and your TiVo dies, you need to buy another lifetime subscription.
You’re thinking about it all wrong. With my cable DVR I used to scroll up to a week ahead to schedule recordings. With the Tablo, I go to the TV shows menu, chose my TV show and don’t have to look or know when the show is airing. It’s a much better way of doing it. And guess what, it’s also there for the next 2 weeks!
Yes there is. They add an extra half hour or so to live events and season finales.
To be fair, I don’t know how the Tivo does this. My cable company always screwed up live events.
I don’t get it. Tablo also will let you stream on your iPhone/Android. And with the communities 3rd party app help, you can download it too.
[quote=“Max, post:72, topic:2893, full:true”]
You’re forgetting that the lifetime costs are different. One is for the user, the other is for the product. If you have a lightning strike and your TiVo dies, you need to buy another lifetime subscription.[/quote]
TiVo will transfer your lifetime service.
[quote=“Max, post:72, topic:2893, full:true”]
You’re thinking about it all wrong. With my cable DVR I used to scroll up to a week ahead to schedule recordings. With the Tablo, I go to the TV shows menu, chose my TV show and don’t have to look or know when the show is airing. It’s a much better way of doing it. And guess what, it’s also there for the next 2 weeks![/quote]
I didn’t give you my use case as I don’t hunt and peck for shows at all, I search for programs. Some people do things differently.
[quote=“Max, post:72, topic:2893, full:true”]
Yes there is. They add an extra half hour or so to live events and season finales. [/quote]
I understand how it is supposed to work on the Tablo, it just doesn’t always work on the Tablo.
[quote=“Max, post:72, topic:2893, full:true”]To be fair, I don’t know how the Tivo does this. My cable company always screwed up live events.[/quote]DirecTV messes it up from time-to-time. TiVo never misses. Time Warner doesn’t know that adding time to live event recording is even a thing.
[quote=“Max, post:72, topic:2893, full:true”]I don’t get it. Tablo also will let you stream on your iPhone/Android. And with the communities 3rd party app help, you can download it too.
[/quote]Tablo won’t download shows to your mobile device for viewing offline, what’s so hard to understand? Yes, you can use 3rd party apps to download shows off of your Tablo, but then transcoding for use on a mobile device is on the end user.
Great discussion @Max
Some people are gonna be haters until they get all the features they want.
Side note, I hope I don’t have to wait until Tablo V2 to get 5.1 DD audio.
My tool puts it in mp4 format or your choice available. Should be transcoding required on mobile device
The exported format from all the 3rd party apps will play just fine natively on your smartphones and tablets, just an FYI.
Are you calling me a hater? If you are, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
I do intend to try your creation, I just haven’t gotten around to it.
Only for the first 3 years, after that it’s $199*. Let’s get the facts out.
*From my google search, if I’m wrong, please correct me with a link.
I don’t record live shows, but I can say with 100% certainty that for all season finallies it tacks on the extra time. Maybe get a ticket out with tech support?
Fair enough, Tablo doesn’t do it. Someone on this forum does. You can still get what you want, an extra 3 clicks doesn’t justify several posts about it.
[quote=“Max, post:79, topic:2893, full:true”]
Only for the first 3 years, after that it’s $199*. Let’s get the facts out.
*From my google search, if I’m wrong, please correct me with a link.[/quote]
Your clear implication was that TiVo wouldn’t do a free transfer of lifetime service at all and now we’re up to a period of 3 years. I actually didn’t know there was a link to prove it, I only know from 1st hand experience managing a replacement.
[quote=“Max, post:79, topic:2893, full:true”]Fair enough, Tablo doesn’t do it. Someone on this forum does. You can still get what you want, an extra 3 clicks doesn’t justify several posts about it.
[/quote]You stop and I’ll stop.