Is my Tablo going bad?

Support & Troubleshooting
1

I’m running two Tablo Duals. Both get their signal from one antenna which I split right at the Tablos location. I seem to be getting some ‘broken’ shows on one vs. the others. Broken being loss of signal, split recordings, etc, which I’m not getting on the other unit. Today, I recorded the same show on both. On one, there was a bubble-like audio overriding the voices. There was no such audio glitch on the other. I’m thinking it’s either the Tablo or maybe the HDD (both hard drives are identical, recommended units). I know it’s kinda a guess, but do you guys think it’s the Tablo or the HDD? Just FYI, these are WD drives and have been in use with the Tablos for 4 1/2 years.

I’m a long time lifetime subscriber. If I did replace a defective Tablo, do I get grandfathered into my lifetime sub, or do I have to pay the monthly subscription price?

2

When I bought my first Tablo, I was having overheating problems that were similar to what you described. I placed the Tablo on a laptop cooling pad and my problems went away.

On the other hand, my oldest Tablo is 8 years old now and I’m starting to see some of these same problems again. The harddrive is approximately 7.5 years old and i suspect that it may be the harddrive causing the problems now.

I’ve also believe that at least a part of the current problem is caused by ATSC 3.0 and lowering the ATSC 1.0 antennas.

Sorry, I haven’t been very helpful, but in regards to:

You should be able to transfer your subscription to the replacement unit by going to: account.tablotv.com and then log into your account

3

I would diagnose in the following order…

Swap the Tablo power adapters.
If the problem moves to the other Tablo, you know it’s the power adapter, and you can get a replacement for around $12:

If that doesn’t narrow it down, swap the Tablo antenna cables.
If the problem moves to the other Tablo, you know it’s the antenna cable.

Replace the problem Tablo hard drive.
If the problem doesn’t go away, it be da Tablo itself.

4

Appreciate the input, 3rd. Since HDD are cheaper than a new Tablo, I’ll probably try a new one and see how that goes first. (after trying the troubleshooting that Rad recommends)

Off topic but, is there a way to reformat a HDD that has been formatted by Tablo? (just in case the problem really is the Tablo, I’d like to be able to use the HDD).

5

Thanks Rad, sounds like a plan.

6

For Windows, it won’t recognize the drive format. It may or may not pop up a prompt to format it. Otherwise, just Google how to format external drive if needed

7

As for the drive, recordings arent saved as the days of tape. Its doesnt skip because of a bad spot on/in the drive.

I suspect uf the drive you may have other signs. Does it have blips reading any of the graphics displaying thd art? Are words missing in descriptions?

I dont think thats how drives work. They store what ever digita data they get… or not, and generally puke.

8

Lots of good suggestions here. Another possibility is that by splitting your antenna signal, you may be right near the threshold of detection for the Tablo. If one Tablo has slightly greater sensitivity and the other has slightly less sensitivity, that could explain what you’re seeing as well. On your “bad” tablo, maybe you’re seeing some channels that never have an issue, if they have a stronger signal at your location. As an experiment, you may want to remove the splitter and run the antenna directly into the “bad” Tablo, and see if that fixes your problem.

9

That is an excellent suggestion.

10

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