I purchased a new Tablo 4 Tuner DVR a couple of weeks ago from Amazon. It is connected to a brand new Mohu Leaf 50mi antennae with powered amp and a new WD Elements 3.0 2TB ext. HD. It is connected wirelessly to a 5.0 ghz AC signal full strength at its location at a 585mbps rate and I am on a 300mbps Cox Broadband connection with a high end Linksys WRT1900AC router. I am using the Apple TV Tablo app on two brand new Gen.4 models Overall the unit is working well. I am only having an issue with the following two items.
A few days after setting it up I noticed the blue light intermittently pulsing. The light doesn’t go out completely just increases/decreases in brightness. I read that normally means its formatting or repairing the HD but I am sure that is not the case as it happens pretty continuously when we are watching Live TV or recordings and there is no way it is repairing it that often unless there is an issue with the Tablo itself or external HD. Keep in mind everything else continues to work well with the Tablo except for one thing …intermittent tiling/reception issues. The local channels I have loaded/scanned in are all showing full strength green but there is still intermittent tiling/reception loss more so at night than in the day. I have adjusted the streaming rate the recommended 720p up the max and that makes no difference in the tiling.
All channels but one are pretty minor and only occasional with tiling .It is Channel 33 WTVZ in Hampton Roads VA even though it is at full strength like the others per the tablo app. We are no more than 25 miles from any of the stations in question. The antennae is in the optimal location in the house placed next to window about 8 ft off the ground with no other electronic devices in the room.
I guess my question is does anyone suspect the regular pulsing I am witnessing to have anything to do with the intermittent reception issues I am having and may indicate a hardware issue with the Tablo?If so it I want to be able to return it Amazon for a replacement while I am still in the 30 day return Window.
*side note:I am an experienced IT systems administrator for the last 15yrs so feel free to explain things in technical terms
On the reception part, is your worst station LOS or EDGE ?
(tvfool reports will list the expected LOS/ 1edge/ 2edge/ tropo for your location and antenna height)
Also, signal STRENGTH is less important than signal QUALITY… There is always the potential of reflected signals from your surroundings causing multipath issues- this is why small changes in the location (not just elevation) can have a large effect on your reception… (there may be a better sweet spot for your channels, and it may be different for different seasons due to changes in the vegetation…)
BTW- this is where you could see ghost images in analog signals- digital you have no way to see it without specialized equipment…
That’s a good point and I tried that last night.This particular Mohu model only works with the amp portion plugged in as well.As soon as I disconnected it no connection to any channels
Thanks for the suggestion but I tried that as well and it just made things worse. I completed a rescan of the available channels since my last response and the reception issues are much improved.
Update on the pulsing blue Tablo light.I have defintely confirmed that the light stops pulsing as soon as I stop using the Tablo app so my guess is the pulsing is an activity indicator that is maybe a feature of the most recent firmware update like a hard drive light on a PC…But I am just guessing of course .I also was able to access the Tablo logs page and no errors at all from what I can see.
Overall I am gtg for now but if a Tablo support rep wants to chime in at some point feel free.
it is a faint, slight pulsing but it doesn’t ever totally go out…It
honestly looks just like a typical pattern you would see on a PC HD
activity light and it only happens when it is use so I honestly thought it
was just a characteristic of maybe the most recent firmware update. When I
stop using the the Tablo it goes back to its normal solid blue CJCOX just indicated his does the same while in use… I am not
really worried about unless you think it is an indication the device is
failing and if it is related to the intermittent tiling issues I am having.
It did also just power off the other night out of the blue(no light on the
front) and I could only bring it back up by pulling the power, but its been
fine since.
If you think it needs to be replaced let me know what the process is and
whether I should go through you guys or just use the 30 day return policy
through Amazon
