Just making sure I understand this :)

we are moving and looking to cut the cord. If I have read everything correctly I’m pretty sure I have the gist of it all. Here is my assumptions, followed by my questions.

I have a phillips not smart 50inch, this is our “main” tv
I have a 32 inch samsung not smart tv, this is my bedroom tv, might be my office tv at some point
I have a 40 inch smart tv (okay its my daughter’s) and she has apple tv.
I have a samsung wireless dvd player currently hooked up to the 50inch so we can netflix and amazon (i only have cable currently because my previous tv i just replaced was so old it was beyond stupid and only had a cable hookup (think 50lb 25 year old tv LOL)

It sounds like if i take a hd antenna, a tablo and an external hard drive then i can run all the tv’s except the 32 inch one will need a roku/firestick/chromecast - tbd in later research.

At some point I will most likely want to add another tv to the office as i will be working exclusively from home.

So, based on the equipment I have am I correct to assume that i only need one more something to hook up to the other not smart tv currently. Or will my samsung dvd be problematic? Since i don’t have an antenna right now I havent tried it with an antenna to see if it will allow me to get channels through the menu on the dvd player. It doesn’t have web browsing, so not sure how i’d be able to add the app. It might not even be an issue, I could probably just move the dvr to a different tv and only use netflix/amazon prime on that one if that’s the case.

Last question - i’ve heard my new house has occasional internet issues, how do i determine best place to place the equipment? Even though the house is rather large, the tvs will be mostly grouped together within 500 sf separated by walls of course.

Can’t say for sure, but it is very doubtful your DVD player will be of any use. It would need an OTA tuner & that is doubtful, or there would have to be a Tablo app for it, again doubtful but Tablo Support should be able to answer that for sure.

If you buy a good antenna & a Tablo & live relatively close to the local towers (within 50 miles), and you have a good router then you should be in business. You will need some type of streaming device for each TV. Given what you stated above, two streaming devices at the moment (a third if/when you add the office TV). a pre-amp &/or distribution amp may be needed as well.

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thanks, with that many tvs in the house i may be able to just keep the dvd/netflix/hulu on the one tv and not worry about if it connects for live tv LOL.

Welcome to the cord cutting club @Jennifer!

I’ll add to @rccolts thoughts and suggest that, at least as of right now, going the Roku route for any streaming devices. Chromecast isn’t a real great experience as of right now and certain versions of the Amazon Fire devices have issues as well right now. We have a Roku Ultra on our secondary TV and an NVIDIA Shield TV on our primary TV but the Shield TV, albeit a great device, is in a different price category than the other devices you mentioned.

Roku has introduced a few “bumps” with their 8.0 OS release but with the current Tablo firmware version (2.2.18) Tablo has done what they can and made them bearable and not near as problematic as they were previously until Roku can implement long term fixes on their side.

As far as your other questions, you’ll probably need to provide a little more detail as hardware placement is going to depend on a number of factors. The great thing about Tablo is you aren’t limited to placing the antenna right next to your TV, it can be placed wherever you receive the best reception.

The Roku experience in the earlier days with our Tablo could be frustrating. Performance was over all kind of putzy. We eventually purchased a Nexus player and omg what a difference. After the Nexus players were discontinued I purchase a second refurbished one from eBay for our basement tv which is far away from the router. That was an excellent move. Works perfectly. I can’t comment on the latest versions of Roku’s as my Roku 2 (in the kitchen) is about 4 years old now so maybe they perform better than the old ones. Nexus players can still be had on eBay. I may even order another one.

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Newer type Rokus work fine with Tablo. I currently have 2 Roku TV"S tied to my single 4 tuner tablo.
You phillips and samsung tv will need a Roku to enable Tablo and a few thousand other streaming choices some free some pay. Your DVD will end up not used because you will find it easier to rent a movie via streaming.

Try to get an internet speed of at least 40 meg down. Make sure you have a strong robust wireless network in your house. That wireless is usually the cause of 90% of transmission problems.

DO NOT GO CHEAP ON YOUR TV ANTENNA!

Next TV buy a roku TV. The TCL model P Roku TV was the 2017 top choice for value and picture for LCD. Cost 700 for 55 inch.at best buy.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tcl-55-class-54-6-diag--led-2160p-smart-4k-ultra-hd-tv-with-high-dynamic-range-roku-tv/5878705.p?skuId=5878705

Also check out this forum for cord cutting help https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/

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