Having television when the Internet is down - the latest?

Is this still being worked on? Is there any kind of timetable on this fix (or new feature)? I haven’t heard a word about it in quite a while, and with the Super Bowl over, it kind of died out as a topic of discussion. And along these lines, does Tablo still offer that HDMI Tablo, which I actually considered at one time. The only disadvantage, assuming I was understanding it correctly, was that you were restricted to one television. Thanks for any input.

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You would have to find both the legacy network connected Tablo and the legacy HDMI unit on the secondary market. The HDMI Tablo (from my understanding as it is the only Tablo I do not own) can work on multiple TVs. One TV is directly connected, while you could have up to four more TVs connected with a Roku, FireTv, or Android TV (no mobile device, computer, or AppleTv supported).

The HDMI Tablo seemed to have a lot more problems than the network connected Tablo, probably for the same reasons the 4th gen is more problematic. Transcoding is just a heck of a lot easier to handle than raw MPEG2 streaming.

As for the original question, there hasn’t been a timetable posted (and there rarely is until it is about to be released).

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I have an antenna lead split to my tv in case the internet goes down. I just need to change the input on the tv to antenna.

If you Tablo is near the TV, move the antenna coax to the TV and change inputs.

Its a little effort, but really, how often does your internet go down?

That is exactly what I do. I have considered a two way splitter, but I was afraid I may lose some channels because of the slight signal loss. I’ll just keep moving the coax to the TV when necessary, but it’d be much more convenient to not have to do that, hence my question.

I think you can buy a coax switch. They should be pretty cheap since they’re just a mechanical switch.

I started messing with OTA TV in my previous house in Houston when the Amazon FireTV Recast came out. I learned pretty early in the process that the Recast was very unreliable. Since my previous home already had coax drops in various rooms, I wired the TVs up directly in addition to the Recast/ethernet connections. I also learned early on that any wifi involved was also unreliable, so ethernet everywhere.

My current home was also prewired for both coax drops and ethernet drops, so I replicated the same type of install. I switched to the Tablo about a year ago, and found very similar reliability challenges as the Recast (including the internet connect requirement).

I can easily toggle any of my 4 TVs between Tablo and “direct to TV tuner” OTA TV with simple button pushes on the remotes. I don’t think I will ever go 100% Tablo or whatever else may come along that is similar. Of course, the Tablo adds additional functionality like smart TV integration, 2 week guide, and (significantly) DVR. But, in a pinch good old OTA TV works great direct from antenna to TV tuner. Far more stable and reliable than Recast or Tablo on every different TV in my house.

I would advise anyone thinking about “going Tablo” to consider having some way to switch to “the old fashioned way” in a pinch, even if it means switching a coax back and forth.

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Kudos to classicrockguy for what might be the cleanest arrangement of wires on any Tablo setup!

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How’d you make those cool labels on your coax? My P-touch feels inferior.

Brother P-touch EDGE

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That is sweet. Mine is an older model when two-line labels were the rage.

I end up spending hours every time I get a new piece of equipment or need to troubleshoot or change something. Sometimes it might be a year later. I’m getting too old and forgetful, so now I organize and label. I’ve done a couple of A/V and network installs for friends/neighbors, and I have to do the same type of thing or I’ll screw up there, as well.

Over the years, I have acquired some of the “tools of the trade”. This is my 3rd or 4th labeler, and so far it’s been the best one. The label cartridges are pricey, but if I am careful they last a while. I also have everything to make and test my own cables (coax, cat5/6, etc.). My most recent acquisition was a RF signal meter. I got tired of trying to work with built in “meters”, some of which aren’t too bad (my old Sony Bravia TV), while others are useless (Tablo).

I use the same approach to organize my wired network (I hate wifi). Same for my main TV and surround setup.

Probably overkill, but I am my own support tech, so I get to do what I need to keep up with it all.

Sorry to the OP for the off-topic post.

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