Hello. I am currently a 4 tuner Firetv Recast user who is considering switching to the Gen 4 Tablo 4tuner that is coming out. But…after reading
so many posts on this forum about all the problems with Tablo…ie…channel guide data…unable to save favorites to channel guide…recording the wrong shows…etc. And Tablo’s response…“We’re working on it” reminds me of the headaches I go through with Amazon. Why do these companies put out a product that doesn’t fully work? Surely Scripps TV and Amazon have the resources to fix these issues, but it seems they really don’t care after the sale. I hope Tablo resolves all these issues down the road so I can give them a try. What do you all think?
It’s all about the bottom line.
Development does not bring in revenue. Sales do.
The old saying applies here. “Easier to ask forgiveness, than it is to get permission”
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Get rid of that Recast I sold mine long ago, you will be so impressed with the picture quality upgrade with Tablo. This works 98% fine. Slight issues with icons filling out once in a while and that is about it. Also keep in mind, most people that have 0 problems and things are working well, do not come to forums like this, so kinda skewed on what you see, going to be mostly negative.
Had mine months and months and just preordered the 4 tuner model off Bestbuys. Sure some will have issues as we all use different devices and do different things, but overall I would say unless your using an AppleTV device, get this as might be the best OTA DVR next to TiVo.
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The Tablo Gen 4 (2 tuner), even with the initial problems far exceeds my Recast. I dumped the Recast and haven’t regretted it. The tuners are better, the look and feel of the user interface is fast, intuitive and non-cluttered and it’s tiny. Tablo has been very quick about fixing issues too. I have submitted several bug reports and they respond back quickly with questions and request for more info. I’ve only had it a few months and they have already had a firmware update and several app updates which fixed ALL the problems I had. I’m still waiting for the Apple TV app, but other than that, I’d give them 5 stars. I’ve actually never seen such support, certainly not from Amazon.
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Thanks for your reassurance. You do make a great point that most people on this forum are those with problems. I will check out the 4 tuner Gen 4 soon!
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Thanks for your response. You have reassured me in switching to Tablo.
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Also a long time Amazon Recast user. I am testing Gen4 four turner Tablo as a possible replacement sometime in the future, when Recast decides to quit or Amazon stops providing a guide.
My setup: Clearstream 2max antenna, attic mounted one story house, with Clearstream’s mast mounted “Juice” amplifier. My towers are 30 miles away. Amazon Firestick on the TV. All devices are hard wired via Ethernet, no wifi in the mix. ABC is a VHS station and the weakest station for me. 98% of the time ABC is fine, other time I will get pixelation on Recast recordings. It appears that Tablo does a better job receiving ABC than Recast, but still testing, 3 or 4 green dots for ABC in the app. All other major networks, 4 of 4 green dots. We do have aircraft between my location and the TV towers, not sure if they impact my ABC signal or not. Hard to know why ABC signal is good most of the time but unwatchable on occasion.
The 4 Turner Gen4 Tablo has worked as advertised. The only issue I have seen - the app on Firestick has quit or frozen once or twice. No buffering, failed recordings etc. that others have reported.
What don’t I like? (1) don’t like having to press “play” after I FF or Rewind. (2) You cannot change the default settings for recordings. Most of the time I like to start recording a little early. You can do this with Tablo but you cannot make it the default you have to set it show by show. (3) On Recast, the FF button jumps 30 seconds forward, Tablo jumps 20 seconds. I think 30 seconds is better because most commercials are 30 or 60 seconds. Football typically has 30 seconds between plays, works great to watch a recorded game quickly. (4) Tablo app will not launch if you lose the Internet. (5) I would prefer smaller icons in the recorded shows library. (6) No way to set recording priority like you can in Recast.
What do I like? (1) With recast if I set a series recording, new episodes only, for a show, but see an old episode I would like to record, I cannot unless I cancel the series recording. With Tablo, it looks like I can record the old episode without canceling the series recording. (2) Closed captions are quicker and easier to turn on or off with Tablo. (3) Picture quality is better even when using the internal drive on Tablo. I have not tested with an external drive. (4) Built in amplifier is a nice feature, I have the Tablo amplifier on and no problems even though I have an amplifier on my antenna. (5) I like the failed recording list on the phone app. (6) The guide is very similar to Recast and clearly shows which episodes are “new”
Without a doubt, Tablo could be a replacement for Recast. There is a slight learning curve but Recast users will pick it up quickly. Takes a while to remember not to hit the “home” button on the remote which exits the Tablo app. You use the “Back” button on the remote for most everything. Recast has been very reliable, only time will tell if Tablo’s hardware will be as reliable. Appears that the Firestick app may have some bugs causing it to quit, hopefully Tablo will continue to improve app over time.
Today I added a distribution amplifier to my setup to see if that helps with ABC. I have both Tablo and Recast connected to the distribution amplifier and will record shows on both devices. I only have a week or so before I need to return Tablo. The amplifier lets me attach Tablo and Recast to the same antenna, controlling one of the many variables.
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Not certain about the Gen4, but how FF/skip works tends to vary a bit with the legacy. I have an HDMI, and the built-in interface is the same as FireTV/GoogleTV. For that, left/right arrow jumps 10 seconds, FF/Rew jumps 20 sec. Hold them down for slow and fast FF/Rew. On a Roku, arrow keys jump 10 seconds. FF/REW are normal and each press will give slow/medium/fast. No hold down needed.
I also own a Recast and still use it. You might want to hang on to it a bit longer!
When I first got the Tablo 4th gen I thought I loved it more. Then since November of 23 I have encountered many issues that make the Recast look like a much better option. The Recast does have a few issues while I have encountered well over 6 with the Tablo, many of them severe and they have not been fixed. When comparing the two devices the Recast is much more stable and while it does have issues they are much fewer in number.
A real big issue is I have never had a server cause the Recast to not work while there are numerous server outages planned and unplanned at Tablo that take the device out!
Many more issues with the guide they use too!
I agree that losing access to live TV and recordings too if your Internet is down or if Tablo’s servers are down is a big issue. Hopefully that is something that won’t happen enough to be an issue. I don’t know if shows scheduled to record will still record if the internet or Tablo servers are down.
Can you elaborate on what issues you have had with Tablo since November? What streaming device (Roku, Firestick, TV) are you using?
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I am using a Fire TV stick 4k 1st gen. Here is a list off the top of my head of the many issues that dwarf the problems the Recast has:
Freezes or stutters video and reboots on its own or I have to do it to get it to work again. This can happen when viewing recordings, FAST Channels, and over the air stations.
I continually get an error message that stops play and I have to use the back button to make it go away.
The Guide has issues. Many of us have to use ZIP codes that are not ours in order to have a correct guide.
I also have done a channel scan and found my guide populated with channels that were not checked off to use when I did the channel scan.
I have also found channels that were checked off to use that are missing from the guide and only after doing a reboot did they show up.
I still have my Amazon Recast online, but I admit that I’m rarely using it now to watch anything since I’m using the Tablo v4 most of the time.
The Good,
The best feature that the Tablo v4 has over the Recast is that it uses 1080P for streaming instead of 720P streaming that the Recast is limited to.
Another awesome feature of the Tablo v4 compared to the Recast I really like is how it curates the TV and sports shows which makes it easier to find events and setup recordings.
They are making improvements since recently the Amazon Fire TV app performance was greatly improved which makes it run much faster than it did before. I’m using the Fire TV Cube 3 and don’t experience any playback issues when everything Tablo is up and accessable.
The Differences,
The Tablo v4 is different in how the skip feature works when watching recordings, so that’s very different from the Recast. It skips frames (seconds) at a time and then I have to hit play to start playback again, where the Recast just skipped and resumed playing. Just a learning curve I have to get used to.
The Bad,
The biggest problem with the Tablo v4 is when access to their servers is interrupted for whatever reason. From their servers being down or the internet being down, that makes the Tablo v4 inaccessible from any client platform until cloud access is restored. It’s just frustrating when I want to watch a local recording on the Tablo v4 and can’t because of some higher level cloud outage. I can still watch recordings on the Recast when the internet is down so this is a step backwards.
The Tablo v4 has some app GUI glitches which depend on which Tablo Live client is being used. I don’t see show ICON glitches in Android and iOS, but they are there in the Fire TV (my primary device) and Google TV apps.
There is a TV guide listing glitch that occasionally happens too.
Everytime the Tablo v4 firmware is updated, or the Amazon Fire or Google TV apps are updated, the surround sound passthrough feature resets so I have to turn it back on.
I don’t see anyway to setup a recording using date and time in case the guide is wrong, but I can’t do that on the Recast either.
Conclusion,
All in all the Tablo v4 is a promising device to replace the Amazon Fire Recast, but it is just its reliance on cloud services to make it work locally that’s my primary concern.
I agree with you on all points. On Recast, if I set a show to series record, new only, I cannot record an individual old episode. On Tablo it appears that you can. I will keep using Recast as long as I can. When Amazon stops support I am not sure what will happen. Will we still get the guide for example?
A recent update to Recast or Firestick has caused an issue when you exit a recording, the recording keeps playing and you cannot delete the recording unless you back out further, a real pain.
One other issue to note is that if you go to the guide in the Tablo and want to record series “A” on station 13.1 for example and you think that is going to be recorded on 13.1 only you will see that if the show is also on other stations (Like PBS has 3 stations in my viewing area) it will be recorded on 21.1 and 50.1 also… which is what you don’t want to happen!
This does not happen with the Recast.
It doesn’t happen on Tablo if you change the series recording to one channel only.
I have also noticed since a recent update to fire tv cube, I cannot delete a
recording on the Recast from the menu. I have to exit out and go to home page…go back to recording options for that show and then MAYBE it will delete it. Never had this problem until most recently…past few weeks. And I know the Recast hasn’t lost connection to the internet. I think this is the beginning of the total demise of the Recast. Would like to try the Tablo if only it would integrate Philo channels in the live guide…like Recast does.
Technology…isn’t it great when it works!