I'm so happy That I got Tivo and Returned my Tablo (old thread)

You keep saying diablo, I dont’ know what you’re talking about. I’m asking about tivos and tablos. So I’m looking for advice from others now.

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I went to the TiVo website and I can’t find their app for an Android TV box, or Fire TV box, nor Apple TV.

I can find the Android app for a smartphone or tablet only. From the Google Play store:

“This App brings the best of the TiVo mobile features. It turns your Android phone or tablet into command central for your TiVo DVR”

Also dang look at all those 1 star reviews for the TiVo Android app lol

1 star because Tivo is #1 (that was obvious)

I’m finding this kinda funny because I just boxed up my TiVo Bolts and Minis and they’re in the basement.
But rather than join in I’m just gonna watch …grabs a coffee

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(yardbird)
You so Full of S…
What I can say. At least don’t lie about it.

Who cares. I posted this long time ago. You guys came back here and I got Email.
I know what I went with this Shit Diablo Box. And I know what I have now.
I know I’m enjoying my TIVO.
No more lost connection to hard drive, Lost signals, Changing channels that took for ever. Freezing and other garbage that users going with Diablo.
If you enjoyed that shit good. I don’t.
If I will have the Diablo up to now, I will took the lost and junk it. I just can’t see how you can enjoy garbage like that.

You can say I don’t have that problem then Look at the posts that other user posting and tell me why they have the problem…

Have a Good day.

The only thing I post this is for New Users to let them know if they have a problem and they have a chance to return Diablo They should do it. It just a friendly suggestion for them.
So they will not get stuck with it.
I had two of those. First one I returned for exchange after two weeks because of the problems. Second I return after while because same problems. Two boxes same problem what I can say. And you tell me that there is no problem. What a joke.

So you just come back to rant? Not engage in a fruitful conversation when people have legit question?

Way Way past time to change this thread from “Tracking” to “Muted”…

Chas

Welp. Looks like I’m not gonna get an unslanted view here, more like a slam against tablo without any objective explanations. Reason I asked in the 1st place was because I saw so many complaints in a forum about tivo. I’m just getting started in the antenna tv world so I really don’t know. Still finding out.

Show me the link to problems with Tivo. I can’t find nothing there could be some. By the way I have Roamio DVR and like I said I got no problem. And if you don’t have nothing yet I’m sure that you can try TIVO to see how it works. Tivo has 30 days money back…
I forgot to say that Diablo has cheap tuners. With Tivo I got 50% more channels. Same Antenna, Same location.

But why don’t you read all the problems that Diablo has right here…

You might want to check out this thread Newbie: Proposed system & compare to TiVo . It is relatively recent and may have some useful information.

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I have both Tablos and Tivos - Tivos have been around longer, so it makes sense that their DVR features are further advanced than Tablos. Having said that, their app support is way behind, for example, Roku. To have cable or OTA at every TV, with Tivo you need a Tivo Mini (cheaper than buying multiple Tivos), which uses a tuner from your Roamio/Bolt OTA. Plus Tivos are more expensive, particularly the guide data. Most people who post on public forums are there to complain, Tivo forums are no different. I still have a Roamio and a Bolt on my network, until I have watched everything I’ve recorded. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. The reason I switched to Roku, with Sling plus AirTV is to eliminate the need to switch inputs to get OTA via the Tivo and everything else via Roku. If you have any questions about Tivo, ask away. I added Tablo because AirTV only has 2 tuners, but the integration with Sling is nice.

Why some people, seemingly on every forum, get all emotional about technology is illogical. Either a technology works for your situation or it does not. I suppose it makes some people feel better to rag on technology that doesn’t work for them.

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Thanks. I didn’t catch alot of the technology talk but I got some good pointers. Also, looks like that thread has it’s own “joseph” in it lol.

Yeah less advice, more ragging in a lot of forums boards & its the advice I really need.

When I cut the cord last year I look on Tivo and Tablo when my Driect TV contract about to end, went to Tablo because we use multiple TV and Tivo cost alot for four TV almost a thousand bucks and decided to try Tablo because we already have multiple streaming device. I guest was one off the lucky one didn’t have any problem works from start, I was so impress got the lifetime subs just after a week and cancel my $140 a month Direct TV and never going back hope this last a long time. This is the newer incarnation the way we get TV, I still remember those magic box for cable then came the FTA box for Dish and if you know this things you know what are jail break devices.

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Thanks. This is good info and it helps.

I have both Tablo, and Tivo. Long time Tivo users, going back to Tivo Series 3 HD units, and now Bolts- and all configured for over the air reception.

Both systems have their uses, and Tablo’s design is to create a whole house OTA DVR that allows for streaming to multiple devices, in or out of the home. TiVo has continued to attempt to extend their box as the prime interface to Television- and refer to the Bolt as not just a DVR, but a unified entertainment system.

My wife likes the Bolt, as it provides one remote, and in addition to over the air television she has access to netflix, amazon prime, and hulu streaming services- again, all with the same remote, and in the same user experience for control.

I am more platform agnostic, and find the apps in the Amazon FireTV and WebOS (LG) platforms to be better, and more reliable, than the same versions on the TiVo. Tablo is a nice part of both of those packages, providing DVR service- while not completely integrated, it’s a couple of remote clicks (or voice commands) away to open and access.

That said, Tablo does have a weakness in handling OTA- and that is due to the system design that is used. Tablo converts, or “transcodes” the digital broadcast for all stations. Digital TV is broadcast in MPEG-2, which compresses the video data to a degree so that it can be broadcast in the the frequency bandwidth (channel space) allocated to the local broadcaster. Tablo transcodes this signal further, to H.264, another format which further compresses the signal so that it can be effectively streamed to OTT devices. For a lot of HD material from the networks, especially studio productions, the result looks as good as the original MPEG broadcast. For some sports programs, and for Standard Definition material… not so good. The codecs used by Tablo tend to have issues with fast motion (frame drops) in sports, and SD material (480i) doesn’t handle edge definition well. An example of that can be found if you watch MeTV broadcasts- when the full screen logo comes on between programs, evaluate the smoothness of the curves on the letters in their logo- they’ll appear to be saw-toothed and jagged. You’ll see the same issues with angular edges in most SD source material. You may be saying, yeah, but who watches SD in a 4K world? Well, with OTA, the majority of the channels, with the exception of the major networks, is broadcast at 480i, and is heavily compressed. Much of the OTA content available is only on these sub-channels. Tablo knows these limitations, and the try to down-play these problems, even by setting the auto-channel scan to select only HD channels, not SD subs.

TiVo doesn’t transcode the original MPEG-2 signal, so the video quality is as if you were watching it live on your TV.

All of that said, Tablo, despite the transcode issues, is a terrific value. In fact, I think they have a business model and technology solution that will likely prevail, as TiVo is still heavily locked into proprietary hardware, sold at a high price, with expensive on-going fees. Much of their business is dependent upon patent licensing and intellectual property rights, which is not a sustainable model for the long term (companies will find other less expensive patents, or develop their own technology, to get out from under the licensing costs).

Both currently have their uses and advantages. I’m curious how both systems will evolve in the coming years.

The Tablo itself is stable as sunrise and sunset. It doesn’t seem to get angry about signal issues as other cheaper 0.5 tuner boxes did. And the signal issues will be fine when my antenna is improved.