Finally gave up and bought Tivo Bolt and a couple of Minis. The rest of the house are no longer plotting my demise and I can actually watch TV instead of troubleshooting.
For someone who is still optimistic and wants a deal on a whole-house setup. New it cost $600 for the lot. Make me an offer.
4 Tuner Tablo
WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive
2x Roku 3 with remotes
I hate when that happens!! 
I’m a dual technology OTA cord cutter at the moment myself. Bought a Roamio basic with lifetime service for $300 a couple of months ago, and have a 4 tuner Tablo with 5TB drive (and Rokus and FireTVs about the house).
My take after a couple of months is that Tablo still has a great product concept with just a few rough edges that need to be fixed (a few too many for some), and when it’s working as planned, is really very competitive to TiVo in many ways. So I’m using my Tablo as my second and third screen dvr (instead of Mini’s) and for remote viewing and the TiVo on my main 4K big screen. Looks like TiVo plans to roll-out Skip Mode to Roamios in the near future as well - which will actually be a killer feature if they do. Have you been using Skip Mode much on your Bolt?
I’ve never depended upon one device whether at the client or server level. The Tablo for me supplements a mix and variety of devices in an ensemble of servers and clients. The fact that there are better alternatives to the Roku makes Tablo a viable option. Like for you, the Tablo for me fits a function but its the overall system that defines the purpose of free viewing independent of cable - not a sole device. The system starts with the antenna(s) and works its way to the client devices through the network of intermediaries. As such the Tablo is JUST one component in a chain of components which may include other types of DVR and a variety of clients. In my case, my “other” DVR is a PC based Hauppauge tuner feeding my Plex environment; for you its a Tivo.
Dependence on ONE technology or device breeds frustration and irritation. It never occurred to me that a $200 device was the solution to cable independence - not when people pay from $500 to $1,000 a year to cable for their viewing solution.
The other component in this sytem is Internet streaming. OTA for us would be too thin if we didn’t have packages such as Amazon and Acorn to round out the environment. For me depending upon the Roku is like a golfer depending on his putting. Depending on the Tablo is like depending on one’s chipping. A good golfer typically has a variety of clubs and approaches.
Only had the Bolt a few days and this is the week most of the Prime Time shows start the winter break. I have used skip mode a couple of times though and it’s great. Main thing is it just runs (so far) with no rebooting, buffering, minutes long waits for content to display, and FF/RW (of live TV even!) where you can actually see what’s going on. And the fact that it combines streaming and recorded/scheduled content is awesome. I can set up a season pass for a show and it will put all past episodes available on Amazon, Neflix, Hulu, etc. in the same folder where it looks and acts like I’ve got all seasons recorded locally. And of course if you’re not ready to give up all those cable channels quite yet, you can use a cablecard too.
Tablo up front hardware cost is a more (500GB Bolt is $300 w/ 1 yr sub incl), but they definitely beat Tivo on the subscription at $50/yr or $150 for life vs. $150/yr starting year 2 on the Tivo. The user experience isn’t even in the same universe though. And for someone like me who actually uses a TV to consume content and would prefer not to even deal with two remotes much less have to break out the phone or PC to troubleshoot or trudge down to the basement yet again to reset the damn thing it’s no contest.
Unc. I believe with Tablo it’s all about having the right (compatable) ancillary equipment…I guess I finally got it together with a good outdoor antenna system a Toshiba hard drive and a newly acquired Nexus player. No more LPW, failed recordings, long and repeated buffering, etc. I can at last record at 1080 and FF with remote from TV is silky smooth. The Nexus was a game changer. I will admit it was a bumpy ride starting out as I did with Chromecast and a slew of unreliable so called HD indoor antennas. BTW the HD designation is such BS. You can capture OTA transmissions with a wire hanger under the right conditions. I guess that would make it a HD wire hanger.
I found that the tablo works great with my setup, rcA 60 mile outside antena, toshoba 1.5tb drive, and AFTV. The only real issue I have is that it is a slow unit. When I turn it on on the fire tv to when I get to a live show is probably 2 full minutes. If I am watching recorded material which is the majority of the time it is much quicker. I also love that I only paid 150 for a lifetime subscription.
I do admit I am curious about the bolt. I figure that Tivo has been around the block for a long time and is not going anywhere. So a couple of questions for anyone using a bolt. I currently use my tablo, running it through a firetv in each room. Can a bolt be run through a firetv or apple tv? Does it play live tv? I would not want to run a bolt if I could not run it through a firetv or a apple tv. I run plex, and also slingtv. My wife lives on the sling tv mainly for the home decorating shows. If she had to run multiple devices she would give up. As it is right now she is fine with the fire tv as it runs plex, tablo and the sling tv. I would rather use the appletv, but they are a bit behind the 8 ball and do not have a tablo app or a slingtv app. I am hoping for the future. But if the bolt would just slide in place of the tablo and work with the firetv like the tablo does I might jump ship. I read on amazon that the new tivo app which is in Beta does not allow for live playback which woud be a major no no.
So interesting I have basically the same setup and it works well for me. Of course I only use Tablo as a whole house tuner in the master bedroom and on the iPads. All other televisions are directly connected to an antenna so really I am only concerned that Tablo records well and it does.
Likewise, which is why the client device doesn’t have that much of an effect or significance for me. It’s there to review the guide, schedule and plan viewing. I tend to watch recorded programs days after post-processing them through Tablo Ripper, MCEBuddy and Plex once they’re in my library. My Tablo’s drive seldom has more than 5% space taken since the recorded shows are taken off and moved to a Plex server within 24 hours. Heck with MCEBuddy excising ads I’ve never noticed an FF problem. So my Tablo isn’t the hub of most activity being just an intermediate stage. Saves a lot of grief 
PS I’m using the Roku for what it does best - away from the Tablo 
lol… love that you’re selling the “Tablo Malfunction Starter Pack” 
Part of the world you’d be shipping from?
Interested in splitting up as I’m only interested in 4T and WD? I tried Roku one weekend and couldn’t find the return label fast enough.
I’m in Maryland, US. Tablo has no guide subscription, but I’m not sure those transfer anyway, I think it’s tied to your user account, not the device like Tivos are.
Tivo Bolt has Plex app in addition to Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and some others. HBO Now and Sling TV do not yet have an app for Tivo Bolt/mini as far as I know. But since I have Comcast for internet anyway, the whole house cheered when I put a cablecard in it. With Xfinity on demand I get all that content streaming too.
I’ll give you $7.43 for the lot.
I messaged you with no response.
How much for the Tablo alone?
Thanks!
Yup, same here except one TV and a splitter to quickly switch inputs from Tablo directly to TV. Only thing I watch live on TV is commerciĂ l free programs such as PBS.