We have set up our Tablo and I purchased “Amazon Basic 50 mile amplified” antenna but it is not picking up as many channels as our metal antenna it kind of looks like http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDTV-1080P-Outdoor-Amplified-Antenna-Digital-HD-TV-150-Mile-360-Rotor-UHF-VHF-FM-/311210264361 this one from e-bay but it is a small one that gets I think 50 or 60 miles and we have it on a shelf in our house not outside - we are both disabled and perhaps if we could set this one outside it would pick up the other 2 station (NBC and 63 - not sure what that is called in our area - it maybe be 64 - haven’t seen it in a while - we are in 29170 area and also we are not getting ABC stations as well either and picture is grainy and not 1080i).
I, also, didn’t think it would do HD quality since it is an older antenna but apparently it does. I saw some of you say that MOHU leaf was working for you and saw reviews on Amazon and someone said that the Basic was doing just as good for less money so…
I have tried another of these leaf antenna before and didn’t get as I say as good a quality or quantity of stations as with this other antenna but I want ABC in better and NBC and 63/64 as well - I hate to keep buying antennas so does anyone know what works well with the Tablo and picks up better signal for these other stations? Thanks for your help. Jan
PS Is there a way to force Tablo to see these other stations manually? Perhaps they would come in from time to time.
There’s no way for someone to tell you what would be the best antenna for you. It depends on many factors. Distance and direction from the broadcast antennas, if there are tall buildings or other obstructions nearby, etc. It also depends on where you put the antenna in your house and its orientation. You can check http://lifehacker.com/how-to-choose-the-best-over-the-air-antenna-for-free-hd-1569752514 for help. This is a good place to start.
The stations you are seeing are probably broadcasting in Standard Definition (SD).
But the major network channels will give you a good High Definition signal if your antenna receives a strong signal.
Before you purchase a new antenna, you should research the locations of the TV Stations you are trying to receive. The TVfool and other websites show you this.
You can also you an app like DTV Antennas on Android to show you the location of the stations.
You still can experiment by trial and error without this info, just by moving your indoor antenna around.
Once you find out the directions of the broadcasting TV stations, you can try to position your antenna to better receive these stations.
Keep in mind that some stations might be in completely opposite directions from your location.
If this is the case, then you need an omnidirectional antenna.
On one Tablo, I used 2 different amplified window antennas facing in different directions attached to a splitter then attached to the Tablo.
Also some of the TV stations might be broadcasting in VHF instead of UHF and you then could use a dual band antenna.
It is a lot work fine tuning your indoor antenna location, but once set you’ll be very pleased.
In addition to what others have said: With whatever antenna you have, the higher it’s positioned, the better. (This is why outdoor antennae usually do a better job than indoor antennae.) Positioning an antenna just a few inches from another position will sometimes mean the difference between getting an excellent signal or no signal at all. What you can do is plan a day where you can position your antenna and see what kind of results you get.
Also, physics play a role in reception. A clear night is almost always better for reception than a sunny day. Objects in the way such as antenna towers, mountains and trees, distance, line of sight (also called LOS), they all play a role in your reception. Even how the station is broadcasting can affect the reception.
I use an unamplified Mohu Leaf myself but I’m only about 20 miles as the crow flies from most major stations. I have it positioned as high as possible in a corner of my house facing North. it’s practically almost touching the ceiling. (I believe the Mohu is omnidirectional as I’m also getting stations from the South, but I don’t care about those anyway.)
Thanks for all your help. You all gave me great advice and I use a piece here and piece there and I now have all but one station coming in without all green lights and that station I can live without. We don’t watch the main stations anyway but we prefer the old TV shows, movies and ETV (PBS) so now we have all the stations thanks to you all for helping us.
I have seen a lot of pixilation when I don’t get a channel with all green lights and I hope that is do to the signal strength so as some one stated when the weather is bad, etc. should I expect to see some of that going on even if these stations have all green lights now?
I am loving being able to get our channels/recordings on our phones, kindles, PC and TV . I read that I can take our channels/recordings with us if we have an internet connection. How does that work?
We have a travel trailer and travel at times - some camp grounds have WIFI - has anyone done this and how well does it work to either leave your Tablo at home or take it with you and set it up where you can get internet. I guess as I write this, you have to have a cable access and not just WIFI to set up modem/router/tablo. We will be staying in my sister’s yard of her house on a lake but as I type they do not have cable access - it might be worth us installing it as we have TWC internet and away from home we will not be using it.
If someone else has TWC and travels - what do you do - take Tablo with you - I wondered about some of this “hotspot” connections but I guess that is WIFI as well - well, as you can see we have a need - just don’t know how to take Tablo with us. Thanks again for your help, Jan
I’ve seldom found campground WiFi adequate for video, so I take advantage of my Roku’s ability to play video using its USB port. It’s just a matter of loading up some content to bring along for the trip.
Here are a few ways to do that using your Tablo: 3rd party apps
You’re pretty much at the mercy of physics when it comes to over-the-air reception. You might occasionally have trouble depending on the situation even with good stations. It’s just part and parcel.
There is a silver lining: At least if you’re having trouble with one station, you can switch to another. I had trouble with cable TV fairly recently (before I finally ditched them) where an entire range of channels went kablooey.
I haven’t tried the remote feature of the Tablo yet but from what I’ve read, it works pretty well with some caveats. Obviously, the biggest factor is performance of the network being used. See these support articles:
Yesterday I replaced my Mohu Leaf with a Winegard FlatWave. A noticeable improvement for about the same price. Plus the Winegard has an 18.5’ cord which makes placement much more flexible.
I too have a winegard FL5500. Amazing antenna. I own a bungalow and have it taped to a window that faces south-east-east. From my location (Burlington, ON), that means that the antenna is pretty much pointed spot-on towards the Buffalo-area towers. I pick up 26 channels including everything from the Toronto CN Tower (well, except OMNI which I couldn’t care less about) and a ton of channels out of the buffalo area (all the major US networks).
The only channels it doesn’t get are MyTV and ION channels. It picks up CITY-DT 57.1 from Toronto but thats the one channel where reception very flaky despite the tablo giving it a 3 out of 5 signal strength (I have several US channels on my list with a 1 out of 5 strength score and they’re flawless). The majority of my other channels get a solid 5/5.
To the original poster: do a lot of experimenting on which wall or window works best for you. I spent two days of placing the antenna at varying locations and elevations of the house before I found the “goldilocks zone”. The difference in channel count can be huge from window to window, even when both windows are pointed in the exact same direction.
The channel count of stable channels is so good that I’m contemplating if I even need to invest in an outdoor antenna if I’m only going to get 6 more channels out of the added investment (those antenna installer guys don’t come cheap).
I’m willing to bet an outdoor antenna will double the number of available channels in your area. I installed my own with the help of a friend. I previously tried the outrageously overpriced Mohu Leaf and got some 25 channels UNRELIABLY. All but a few had frequent pixellations which made viewing unwatchable. Since installing the compact outdoor antenna. I’m receiving over 100 channels rock solid.
I should add that the outdoor antenna cost half as much as the Mohu and allows me to split my signals between Tablo and my TV input.
I wouldn’t expect my channel count to double with roof antenna judging by my tvfool report but 5-10 channel increase would be a nice bump.
Currently I get 24 channels with my indoor winegard but there are sacrifices: poor to no CityTV from Toronto, and some pixellation issues on some US channels when the antenna is pointed optimally for Canada reception and vice versa.
Given my success with the Winegard flatwave, I’m hopeful that an outdoor antenna would eliminate these compromises.
Despite City TV being a UHF channel it also gives me problems from time to time when I have no issues with UHF channels like CBS which are much farther away. I think the actual antenna power broadcasting the City TV channel just must be low.
yeah it seems that there is a HUGE disparity in power output from the CN Tower channels vs. the towers in the Buffalo area. CITY-DT broadcasts at 21kW. Channel 29-1 (FOX) on the other hand broadcasts at a monstrous 1000kW