Is it possible to ‘force’ the Tablo to tune a channel not found in the scan? My Tablo tuner is more sensitive than my Vizio TV tuner, but the Tablo scan doesn’t find PBS channel 8. The Vizio will sometimes receive PBS, but the Tablo does not.
If your tv only receives PBS sometimes, then the signal is probably weak. Does your Vizio tv has a signal strength indicator? I have a Sony tv that gives me a signal strength indicator under a toolbox icon - I used that to adjust my antenna position.
Edited because I forgot to answer your original question - in short, no, you can’t do that.
Thanks Mark. Yes, the signal is weak, I was just surprised the Vizio picked it up and the Tablo didn’t. My Vizio does not have a signal strength meter, but I purchased a Winegard Sensar Pro signal strength meter and amplifier (RV type). I will try different gain settings of the amplifier to see if I can find a setting that will work. The Tablo tuner is more sensitive than the Vizio despite PBS appearing briefly on the latter.
Interestingly, PBS disappeared about the time a new house was built in the clear view I had of the translators on a mountain 25 miles to the east.
Try doing scans at different times on different days. I have 1 station that did not show up during initial setup but showed up during later scans.
Also remember the Tablo is essentially a splitter (2 or 4) so the signal will be weaker than to just the one tuner on your TV. You may want to consider installing a distribution amp between the cable and the Tablo.
Some TV’s and converter boxes have an option to do an additional scan to add channels which are not duplicates of channels already found. It would be nice to be able to tell it to try to add channels in a certain number. For example, I KNOW there will be a new station on 14-1 so scan only channel 14 to add it in, instead of rescanning everything and having to add and subtract the stations you want. @TabloTV would something like that be able to be added at a later date?
@beastman - Many things are possible, it’s just finding the time to do it! We’ll definitely add your request to the list though. It makes sense to be able to maintain your list and just make a small tweak.
It only takes me 45 seconds to run a channel scan on my system. If the Tablo folks add the functionality of searching for a particular channel, great, but it isn’t a significant burden on the user to just rescan all the channels.
It only takes me 45 seconds to run a channel scan on my system. If the Tablo folks add the functionality of searching for a particular channel, great, but it isn't a significant burden on the user to just rescan all the channels.
That assumes that all channels you get come in all of the time. I would also like this feature, since over half of the channels (especially when counting sub-channels) I receive only come in under certain conditions. I consider myself lucky that I managed to find one time when all of the channels I wanted were detected. Who knows when that would happen again? Since that time one channel I get fairly consistently has added a sub-channel, which I would like to add without having to risk losing others.
On a related note, I was quite disappointed to find that when I change my selected channels all of my scheduled manual recordings are removed. I really should submit a support ticket for that issue…
I would report that issue with your manual recordings. Not many people here use that feature, so problems with it don’t get much discussion.
Because of your issues with channels not coming in at all except in certain conditions, how are you even using them? I would think you would get a lot of failed recordings.
If you are having issues with OTA signal where channels are detectable and then not, you should likely consider fine tuning the placement of your antenna, and/or a distribution amplifier / pre-amplifier. Digital OTA signals fall off a cliff pretty quickly but this can be rectified. I do not use stations that I get weak signal because what if a recording fails due to poor signal? That gets uber annoying very quickly.
As for your loss of manual recordings, definitely sounds like a bug, open up a support ticket.
Thanks for your replies. :)
@snowcat I only schedule a recording on one of the especially inconsistent channels when I think there's a decent chance it will mostly work. I mostly record just game shows, The This Old House Hour, and reruns of The Big Bang Theory on those channels anyway.
Perhaps you could tell me, what makes an amplifier a pre-amplifier anyway? That's one thing that I haven't found well explained anywhere. (I know "distribution amplifier" is just the preferred term for an amplified splitter.)
It's funny I can get 5 dots of strength for two channels (not counting sub-channels) some times and yet other times not even be able to detect them. I'm aware of the cliff but that seems like a big difference.
@Joltarin I think the only real difference is that preamps will be weather resistant and often designed to mount directly to the antenna mast.