Although clearly no expert, GaryZ (subscribing to zap2it doesn’t give him extra rights to break the user agreement and download data) he does make a valid point about the recent change in the privacy policy https://support.tablotv.com/hc/en-us/articles/9447867875604 and I would have preferred this kind of change to be opt in.
Troll, I just gave my opinion on how Tablo works and the disadvantages,. I am a registered users of Zap2It which they allow me to download the EPG I have set up on their site. It is free to register and free to use. So stop harnessing me, you are off topic per what my intention was.
While I consider myself an advanced cord cutter (been at it for about 15 years), I am truly an expert on the data mining (this is my primary income). Virtually every company, from your ISP, Cable Company, and even with ATSC 3.0 has data on the users. That being said, it is typically aggregated data for targeted marketing purposes.
For example (this is entirely hypothetical), the show “Friends” has a demographic of 35-55 year old women that typically live in California (again - made up data), so they (the broadcaster) can sell advertisements to air on that show that would appeal to women 35-55 that live in California.
They don’t know individuals from the aggregated data.
People should worry more about the DMV, phone companies, USPS, voter records and property records with the state/county - this data is sold frequently to many entities…
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As many as it takes to get trolls from being off topic and just harassing me.
Didn’t you in fact post in September you were already fed-up with tablo?
Thus negating fully stopping. Furthermore this forum is in fact a post - repliy system. You are clearly arare of this, bringing into question your commentjnt not wanting to debate.
Your claim as expert is unsubstantiated. Using various OTA DVRs? Its been pointed out they are not 1:1 comparison. An expert would compare features - not they don’t all work the way “I know they should”
Conclusion not wanting to debate while replying to each post is absurd. All caps full stop is foolish. Dont want to debate? Want it to stop… well a actual expert would know what to do.
Partial pause - theres a stop following option as well as mute at the end of the list of ramblings… when it looses its entertainment value
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Get a life.
Hi @GaryZ, sorry you have been having problems with your Tablo experience.
For some insight, when it comes to the Commercial Skip feature, Tablo only uploads a small portion of eligible completed recordings to our Commercial Skip server for processing. If you aren’t using Commercial Skip, no recordings are uploaded or sent anywhere.
It’s also possible you might be thinking of a recent change as of our most recent firmware update. Apps now have a toggle to allow you to send us viewing data, like whether you watch more live TV than recorded TV or are viewing at home or remotely and the types of programs being viewed. But nothing more detailed than that, and nothing that is sold to anyone else.
Cost-wise, as others have said, the guide data subscription is optional. You are able to get 24 hours of guide data and watch Live TV and schedule recordings from the Live TV grid without paying any recurring subscription fees. You are also able to schedule single or recurring manual recordings for any date and time, if you know when the future program you want to watch will be on.
As far as internet connectivity, the way Tablo is designed, internet access is required to use it for multiple reasons that are detailed in this article: Tablo FAQs: Do I Need Internet to Use a Tablo OTA DVR? | Over The Air (OTA) DVR | Tablo
If your internet access is more spotty, you might want to instead try one of our TV-Connected Tablo HDMI models, which are less reliant on a consistent internet.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
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First, as we know, you stopped the commercial skip feature for me when my trial ran out and I had purchased the year EPG thinking I would continue to have that feature. With that said, yes, I can’t use the Tablo in the evenings as it does not find itself since about the middle of January. Says at times a network issue, which I know it is not a LAN issue, nor an antenna issue as my other OTA devices work fine. Although, ping tests to it within my LAN says all is good, and my Tablo Ripper can see the recordings, but Tablo itself will not load. I contacted support, explained it would fail at night. They ran their test during your support hours and said it was fine. I explained to them it only occurs at night, typically after 9:00 pm MST-AZ. Was told you do not give support at that time.
I then started running my traceroute testing and found nodes in Chicago would get bad at night at the same time my Tablo would stop working. I explained this to C/S and got a reply they only work 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST Monday - Friday. During those hours they would not see an issue.
Now, if the Tablo is failing, or if it is these Chicago nodes causing the issue, or the firmware update, I can’t say, but I cannot use the Tablo at nights. But my other OTA devices work fine.
When was the last firmware update, and could this cause the issue? How do I roll back my firmware to eliminate this as the issue ?
One last thing. You said the Tablo does not send OTA up stream and down again, thus not depended on the Internet. So, tell me why when I am watching a Live OTA program, then unplug the Ethernet cable the Tablo it ceases to function ?
@GaryZ Can you elaborate on your issue?
When you say it does not find itself, what exactly are you referring to? Does the app not find it at all? Or do you get an error when you try to connect to it? It’s possible you might have a router setting that is firewalling access to your Tablo after certain hours.
As well, what device or app are you using to connect to Tablo?
LAN access is also separate from WAN access. LAN access simply means your in-home devices can communicate with your router. But if WAN access is affected, then you won’t get internet access to that device, which a firewall or internet outage of some sort would affect. Do your other internet connected devices work fine in the evening?
The most recent firmware made no changes with connectivity, so that would not be the cause of any issues there.
And to your follow up question, I said the Tablo does not send your recordings anywhere (unless being processed for commercial skip). That is separate from the internet requirement, which involves data sent to your Tablo from Gracenote’s guide data servers, among other reasons specified in the linked article.
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When I ment when I said it can’t find itself, when I use an app, can be my Roku, my Firestick or even my laptop on any TV, I get an error reported by your server it can’t find a Tablo, with a Try Again Prompt which just comes back with the same thing. If I am watching a program and it stops working, I get the same error about not finding the tablo, or sometimes it might say I am having a buffering issue and need to reduce the quality so as to reduce the bandwidth needed. Which of course bandwidth is not an issue if I switch to my Fire Recast OTA. While it is reporting it cannot find a Tablo, I can ping it’s IP address on the LAN at like 5ms with no failures. I can load my Tablo Ripper and see my DVR Recorded programs and download them, but the Tablo is DOA with the error that it can’t find a Tablo. When it finally clears the next day, I get a prompt to log into my Table.
The router is not or would not be an issue if it works sometime and not other times. Also, if it was the router blocking it, I would not be able to ping it nor use the Tablo Ripper. Only an outside issue not going to the Cloud Tablo server would cause this. I can duplicate this issue by disconnecting my Ethernet cable. This is why I stated you need to have an Ethernet connection for the Tablo to work,
Device apps accessing Tablo: Living room Roku, Bedroom Roku, Family room Roku, Living room Firestick, Bedroom Firestick, Family Firestick, Laptop & Desktop going to http://my.tablotv.com/
Now, with 38 years experience as a LAN/WAN I.T. manager and engineer certified in LAN application, I do understand how things work. The issue is a WAN issue, my traceroute tests have verified it along with disconnecting the Ethernet cable while it is functioning properly causes it to fail. BTW, you don’t need WAN for your LAN to work, but you need WAN for the Tablo to work. Again, all Devices and Tablo Apps fail at night.
So, to sum it up. I do not have commercial skip, but I have to have an internet connection for my Table to work. When it dies at night, or I disconnect the Ethernet cable while fit is functioning, it is DOA. If the Ethernet cable, HDD and Power all connected and it is still DOA, I can ping it at 5ms, and find it with the Tablo Ripper rules out any possible router issue.
So, there is no doubt it is a WAN upstream issue. My traceroutes shows this as the failures happen after leaving my home. The Tablo has to have a reliable internet connection for it to work, this was proved by disconnecting my Ethernet cable while it was functioning fine, and it went to the not found error.
I explained this over and over again to support, that Tablo tests need to be done at that midnight hours to see the issue, Testing between your regular daytime customer service times will not detect an issue. So, my tests are valid, Tablo’s are not.
Any other suggestions will be appreciated, but at this time, Tablo use and Tablo DVR recording at night is no longer possible on my Tablo.
Thanks,
Gary
CEO: Network Automation Ltd.
http://zarzycki.net ← My Apache Webserver I service & run
Which ethernet cable are you disconnecting?
The Ethernet cable connected between my gigabyte router and cable modem.
Do you have any problems with line power overnight? I had a momentary outage overnight once (yes only once in the 8 years of Tablo). After noticing it did not record the over night shows the next day I found the scheduled recordings still in the schedule. But the time was passed. Like the internal time in Tablo stopped. Restarting the Tablo and router fixed it all. Like I said this only happened once in all the years I’ve been using Tablo.
I have my Tablo/router/modem and more on multiple UPS’s and can go into their software to see when power outages happen no matter how brief. They are very rare in my area. But the router and modem are on a separate UPS which likely ran out of power before the lights went back on. We also got emails from out internet provider that there were outages overnight.
Bottom line I don’t know what caused my problems. The power outage or the internet outage.
No, all my system monitors and my apache web server is running fine all night. I run UPS’s here to maintain any burps in power, and my internet and power monitor software has not detected any issues. Thanks for suggestions, but none of them is the issue
GaryZ,
In my experience you DO NOT need a live internet connection for Tablo to play OTA live TV or watch recorded material.
Anytime my internet goes out and we have no access to Amazon Prime etc., we switch over to the Tablo and watch what is on live at the moment or what is recorded.
That is all…
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I think many(GaryZ) mixes up internet and network. You DO need a network connection(not to be confused with an internet connection) to view via a Tablo unless you have a newer HDMI version. Also GaryZ even admits above to using a Free App to download EPG from the internet so technically he still needs an internet connection to acquire the EPG data.
The Tablo does allow you to get 24 hour EPG free…correct? You only need to pay if you want more than a days worth. I would assume once you’ve got your extended recordings set do you really need 2 week EPG data?
Tablo does not use EPG Lifetime Guide Subscription and future ATSC 3.0 Channels - #4 by TabloTV
This is why we don’t use PSIP for any Tablo processes because it’s just not dependable.
They use Gracenote to provide guide data.
Gracenote is a type of provider used to provide EPG.
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Ok, i got my alphabet soup mixed up. Thanks