I was reading the Tablo Facebook posts today, I came across a post from a Mike Smith.
“legacy accounts were automatically changed to the no charge lifetime subscription for the guide, probably without their knowledge. I’m a Legacy and it surprised the heck out of me when I didn’t get the 50 buck renewal on my card.”
I just wanted to see if anyone else can confirm this, especially those with monthly subscriptions.
You can see you subscription at https://account.tablotv.com/
No.
Nothing has changed on that front.
An active TV Guide Data Service subscription will always be required to use advanced features on legacy Tablo models using legacy Tablo apps. We have not made any changes to the status or plans of existing legacy accounts.
It’s possible that we simply weren’t able to process this person’s latest subscription payment and they are in a grace period before their subscription ends.
Thanks for the clarification!
If you have lifetime, they can save it to your account, even if you remove or sell your Legacy Tablo. I sold my Tablo Quad and emailed them and they removed the Quad and said the lifetime guide would still be on my account if I added a Legacy model back.
I bought my 4 Quad Network Connected Tablo around April 2023 and upon hearing just months later that a new generation of Tablo devices were coming out with free subscription I wrote into Tablo Support in the fall of 2023 asking if Legacy Tablo devices would now be allowed the free guide subscriptions like the 4th generation Tablo products and was told the following:
"There will be a firmware update released that will allow Legacy Tablos, like yours, to connect to the new Tablo app (and therefore have subscriptions features for free).
The firmware update will pop up on your Tablo menu when it is available, all you will need to do is allow the update. "
Seems like not everyone at Tablo is on the same page?
Same page actually. What they are saying is the difference if you STAY with the legacy line of firmwares, where EPG will continue to be a paid option and you’ll continue to enjoy features like Tablo Connect, 3rd party tools, … or when available (because it’s not yet) the new firmware choice (and it’s a choice) is available, you can turn your older Tablo into something like the new 4th gen, where you have a free EPG, and (guessing a bit) access to record FAST channels, but no remote connectivity via Tablo Connect, loss of 3rd party tools.
I think they’ve been pretty clear. Just don’t confuse the “status quo” of staying with the legacy style firmware with the changes should you decide to move to the “4th gen like” firmware on your older Tablo devices. There’s a choice in this case. Feature gains would make moving to the new firmware a no brainer, however, there are feature losses (Tablo Connect, remote Live TV and watching, ability to extract recordings). Also, my understanding is that while it may be possible to flip back and forth, firmware wise, existing recordings in each case on a swap go away. So, you might not like that if you choose to “flip flop” on your firmware choices. Just something to know.
Also, and it’s unclear, but some are having trouble with the 4th gen support/quality across end devices. IMHO, something also to be evaluated when making your decision on your old legacy device.
Very interested in how the “flip flop” situation will work. I expect the forum topics could come to be dominated by legacy users.