It is strange that you didn’t get anything from the channel master splitter. Could the power supply be defective for it? It doesn’t actually provide more signal than the input, it is designed to amplify the signal so that it overcomes the splits (for example, if signal level is 10 going in, splitting 4 ways would leave you with 2.5 on each output. The amplifier should boost to close to 10 on the output on all splits).
The second splitter doesn’t amplify, so it is truly split among all the outputs.
I did get channels on the Tablo from the channel master minus Fox. The suggestion was maybe it was being over amplified and when I connected the coax leading to the Tablo to the coax from the antenna, voila there were all the channels I expected and Fox. So I figured if I split the signal without amplification, I’d be good to go which was the case with the two TVs but not the bloody Tablo which can’t find any channels now. Seems like a temperamental child unless I’m doing something wrong. But if so, I can’t figure out what.
I had reception problems when I first started out. I had an old HDHomerun tuner laying around, and hooked it up. It provides accurate signal strength (strength of the actual signal), symbol quality (quality of picture) and signal quality (noise ratio). The problems I was having were related to atmospheric conditions reflecting signals from Houston TX (200 miles away) and interfering with local broadcasts.
It isn’t just signal strength that can affect things. An attenuator can be used to lower the signal before the Tablo - like this:
Do either of your TVs have a signal strength indicator on them (some of my TVs have them, others don’t)?
Both TVs have a signal meter on each channel. The Fox and PBS stations have a bar below full signal. The other majors have full signal. I get PBS no problem when boosted but not Fox.
Everything comes in ok when not boosted and split but are you suggesting I boost everything then attenuate just the Tablo to try to bring it back to the strength of not being boosted? It would still be amped by 2 dBs if I went this route since the Channel Mater boosts it 8 and these drop it 6.
Since it works without the amp, but not when split and the amp, the attenuator may give the balance needed. Definitely a difficult situation to troubleshoot - and the attenuator is an inexpensive try to fix it (it should be 100% returnable if it doesn’t work).
You can also put two in succession (total drop 12 db).
The difficult part of digital TV troubleshooting is it either works or it doesn’t - as it is a series of “on” and “off” signals instead of the analog days where even the smallest signal would provide some reception. Once you hit the “digital cliff”, it is a dramatic difference.
Thanks for your suggestion. I’ll give it a go. Will it work if I place the attenuator before the amp as well as after on just the Tablo coax? I’ve noticed some digital artifacts like pixelation on CBS at times from the Tablo recording of CBS. I chocked it up to bad weather but since the picture seems to work fine without amplification I’m wondering if I added it before the +8 dB amp I’d be bumping the TV signals up by the same amount as the Tablo only 2 dB.
That can be tricky. The first way I would suggest is between the amp & the tablo unit. Since the TVs work fine, they don’t need the attenuation, so I wouldn’t place it there first. If it doesn’t work, then try before the amp.
Based on Ron’s recommendation I put a 6 dB attenuator at the end of my coax from my antenna, screwed that into my Channel Master preamp which boosts everything 8 dB, then rescanned Tablo and boom, I’ve got all my channels including Fox. I wanted to put it in front of the amplifier instead of on the coax that leads to the Tablo in case the amp was over amplifying any of my TV signals as well as the Tablo signal since I have had some digital artifacts on occasion and don’t know whether it was due to weather or over-amplification. So I’m essentially boosting the signal 2 dB to each of my TV’s and the Tablo and that seems to be the sweet spot where everything is happy.
Tablo support had suggested to put an LTE filter on the signal chain but that doesn’t seem to have been the problem. It seems it was over amplification of the signal but Tablo still needed some amplification when splitting my signal 3 ways.
I want to thank everyone who suggested remedies and djk and Ron for narrowing in on the problem and solutions. Thank you. I hope I’m home free so I’ll be better prepared for next seasons NFL games which is predominantly what I use the Tablo for. And I get to check one thing off my to do list. Cheers.
4 tuner model has a four way splitter with corresponding amplification. Should have no affect on reception. Weak stations, are weak stations, and regardless of “condition”, a weak station is not going to work well with Tablo.
Unfortunately I’m back. I’ve still got the Fox station but there’s a high amount of pixelation at times making the recording unwatchable. I tried getting an 8db attenuator to see if that made the difference but still had some audio and video distortion at times throughout a several hour recording. I tried removing the LTE filter, no better, then I tried moving the attenuator after the amplifier on just the Tablo coax and still lots of drop outs and pixelation. The TV channels seem to be fine although I haven’t watched for the same amount of time as the recording so it’s possible it’s happening there too. I don’t know for sure. But I do know the level of pixelation is higher than acceptable for an enjoyable experience. I haven’t tried this on other channels to see if they’re problematic also since Fox seems to be the channel that gives me the most problems. Any ideas on what else to try to improve the quality of that recording? Thank you.
I had a similar problem in which FOX would come in OK on my TV but not on my Tablo.
I had another DVR, an inexpensive Homeworx which has a better tuner than the Tablo. It received FOX fine. So for a period of time, I would use the Homeworx to record FOX and the Tablo to record all the other channels.
I then discovered that by moving the antenna two feet to the left, my Tablo got FOX OK but lost the other channels. So I got a second antenna for FOX and kept the original antenna for all the other channels. The two antennas were joined together and I was now able to record all the channels on the Tablo.
Either solution may not appeal to you. I found out that an antenna in an attic may have incoming signals diffracted by several inches or feet even when the stations are from the same direction. You can try moving the antenna around to see what the optimal position is JUST for FOX. If it differs from the other channels you may need a two antenna solution…
BTW if you determine that FOX comes into the Tablo from a different position\angle than the other channels, instead of a two antenna solution, you can get an antenna with a wider lateral reception area for all the channels.
Thanks for the suggestion and your solution. I’d rather not climb into the dank, bug infested attic crawl space to play with the antenna. I’ve seen antennas that have two coax outputs. One could go directly to the Tablo and the other two to the TVs but for now I think I’ll beat my head against the wall a little longer and/or see if anyone else has some suggestions. One thing I haven’t tried is hooking the Tablo up directly to the coax and recorded for several hours. It’s come through fine for 10 minutes up to an hour or more but eventually has had the artifacts and dropouts at various points in longer recordings. I think I’ll direct connect to see if that happens with Fox on longer recordings. Then I know it’s likely not an amplification/no amplification issue but more likely a reception issue as you suggest. Cheers.
