I believe your assessment is correct, that it’s pretty much network infrastructure and antenna that determine whether or not you’ll have a good experience with Tablo. I my experience, most routers that people have are adequate for doing email and web browsing, but may fall short when it comes to streaming high quality video. I had thought my old router was pretty decent, and for most uses it is, tho I had to reboot it periodically. I’m much happier with my TP Link Archer C7.
The choice of antenna, and your location relative to the broadcast towers is also a big variable… distance, obstructions, elevation, direction, sensitivity, UHF vs. VHF, etc., etc… I’m mostly happy with my antenna (RCA ANT702F) and the way it’s mounted because it works most of the time, tho I do have an issue with one channel when it rains, and a couple of channels that are at the fringe of reception such that I get them sometimes, and sometimes not, but they have some good old TV shows so I take what I can get. I did try a much more expensive Mohu Sky 60, but it’s performance really sucked relative to what the ANT702F is giving me.
The other big problem for Nuvyyo is the wide diversity of streaming media players… multiple versions of Roku, Fire TV, Android platforms, Web browsers, etc. Not to mention various software versions and builds for all these platforms.
I’ve also seen where a number of folks don’t keep the Tablo up to date for various reasons, and many are still using the original Roku channel, not being aware of the availability of the Roku Preview channel.
By way of comparison, TiVo doesn’t have any of these issues, with the exception of the antenna, so it’s much simpler to get a TiVo up and running, particularly for the non technical end user. When you think about it, it’s actually pretty amazing that Nuvyyo has managed to build a platform that works as well as it does for a lot of folks, and in my case, works really well. But then, I have an extensive technical background that I was able to leverage to resolve issues with my Tablo and bat them down, one by one.