Decided the cost of cable was just too high so bought a 4 tuner Tablo recently along with 3 Roku boxes to get our TV’s hooked up. Have really had way too much trouble with all of this to be able to rely on it to provide what we want/need from our TV’s. Tablo is just not stable. Running it through the Roku or the in-TV app in our LG TV results in a very frustrating experience. Biggest problem is the thing just freezing up randomly which necessitates a reboot of the Tablo. That little reset button on the bottom of the Tablo has become way too familiar to me. This setup has the potential to save a bunch of money over the crazy high cost of cable, but if it’s not going to work any better than this, what’s the point?
You looking for help or just venting?
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Thanks for asking. I guess at this point I’m just venting but will need help if my troubleshooting efforts don’t pan out. At this point I’m trying everything I can think of before asking for help so I can provide the details that will inevitably be asked for. Really disappointed in this, especially after watching / reading so many positive reviews before taking the plunge. I’ve returned my cable equipment and terminated that service so as Murphy would have it things are progressively getting worse and my wife is not a happy camper! I’ve got a lot of other things to do but this has been pushed to the top of the priority list until I get it resolved.
I’m not sure I would use the LG app for a few releases. There is a known list of problems. And how they affect the tablo’s state is unknown. I don’t have problems with my 4660 roku ultra’s but I don’t watch much linear TV.
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I have got my Tablo working 98% of the time due to learning and bug fixes on Tablo’s end. It might help to tell us(and the support guy who looks at this) how you system is hooked up.
I would focus on the Rokus because the LG app just came out about a month ago. I have the Samsung one and it came out at around the same time. It has gotten better but a tad frustrating. For me the Roku 4k seems to be working well but others seem to recommend other streaming devices.
I don’t have a problem with the device itself freezing. Usually it is the app. The first thing I would suspect is that the Tablo might be overheating if it is in a hot area of the house(mine is not. It is in the basement). Tablo normally gets a bit hot and if the area it is in is hot(like an attic) it might exceed it’s operating temp. 95F is the max temp for the Tablo but frankly it can get hotter than in some parts of a house. You also might have a defective unit. (doubt it but it can happen). I have a 2 turner and a 4 turner 4th gen and both worked right out the box for me.
Next I would worry about how the Tablo is hooked to the network(if possible use ethernet) and finally Tablo does not cope well if your T.V. singles are not coming in strong and clear. I had to add a 5 g filter and experiment with a couple of different indoor antennas to get it working better.
Another thing I might recommend is that if your are replacing cable the Philo app (which is from the same company) has lots of cable channels and can DVR for a much lower per year bill than cable. It just lacks local broadcast channels.
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tablo apps have a known protocol between the app and the tablo unit. App protocols might require a request and a response. So if some of these LG app bugs result in dangling messages what that might affect is unknown to users. In the beginning of the legacy apps some of these types bugs had serious side affects on the actual functioning of the unit.
Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately my latest problem affects both the LG app and Roku in the same way. I can get all sorts of channels (I’m in the Phoenix, AZ metro area) but the Tablo refuses to play anything live from the major network broadcasts (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc). I can play all sorts of other channels and sub channels but the not the main networks. Signal strength shows 4 green dots on all. It will actually record from them OK but if I try to play one live I get an error saying “Playback failed” on the Roku or “No Signal Lock” on the LG app. Again, recording works fine from these same channels. I have rebooted everything and verified everything is on the latest firmware. Disconnected the Tablo and put it in the freezer for a few minutes thinking it’s heat related but no joy. Have moved my antenna all around and I’m getting 172 channels when I do a channel scan. I have tried it with the internal amplifier ON and OFF. It’s weird that it will record fine but not play live TV from the major networks (recordings are clear and glitch free). As an FYI, I’m using a Roku Express 4K+ model 3941X2 and the latest LG app version (1.0.7 I believe). It was all working fairly well (except for the constant freeze ups and kicking me out to the Roku home screen) until today when this bizarre problem cropped up. Tablo is connected via ethernet cable to my router and I have even tried different cables, ports, etc. What am I missing?
OK I think I figured it out. I brought up the Tablo app on my phone to see how it would behave and the error message I got when trying to play CBS live was “Storage Full”. Sure enough the onboard storage was about 90%+ full. I deleted a bunch of stuff the wife had recorded and it all started working again. Still don’t understand why this only effected the major networks and I don’t understand why it still allowed recording from them fine without any issue. Guess I’m going to have to go ahead and get that HDD for additional storage. That has been the plan all along but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Thanks for the tips, suggestions, etc. - I appreciate it.
You probably have auto delete on. So recordings just delete what it needs. networks usually broadcast in 1080i or 720p which requires more space. tablo tries to reserve space based on the number of tuners the unit has.
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Nope, auto delete is not on. If it was I may have never run into this issue. External HDD will be ordered ASAP. Thanks again.
Hello, The issue I keep having is that recording failed. So I moved the Tablo to another room for better reception, across the room from my router and problem still exist.
Ugh that one is hard. Bad signals can cause failed recordings, I have found that antenna man on you tube was helpful for solving my reception issues. Basically if you live around a cell tower you need a 5g filter. This was the first big problem in my case .
You may have to play with the signal boosting and some kinds of antenna are better than others. Also the thickness of the walls and the direction the antenna points in matters. There is a web site that you can feed your zip code in and it will tell you the best direction to point your antenna. Also try to mount or point your antenna to a window facing that direction if possible.
The one that comes with the Tablo isn’t bad, it just isn’t the best for all cases.
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Hello Jason, I contacted Tablo Support and they suggested I hooked an ethernet cord to the back of the Tablo console. Problem still keeps failing to record, I may have 6 minutes of recording, the another few minutes. I am 
I have the Tablo antenna infront of the window.
Jason, you mentened getting an 5G antenna filter. Can you recommend one thats not so expensive, maybe one on Amazon.
Thank you
Jazz
is that window in the direction of the OTA towers?
Potential unhappy news following…
The antenna is the single most important part of the Tablo system.
If you’re using an antenna that can be taped to a wall, or window, frustration will be part of your life.
Invest in a good antenna, and preferrably place it in a good location, like on top of the roof (chimney, fascia board, …).
If you don’t want to invest much more money just to watch, and record OTA TV, I understand, and felt that way for several years before I bought the good antenna.
I wish I bought it from the start.
I mounted the following antenna on my roof, and put one inside a 2nd story bedroom in my mom’s house (cuz, she forbade me to climb her roof):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075YVBXPV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
What ever channels come in strong, we have zero issues with.
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I agree that Antop makes great antennas.
What I find amusing is that right under the picture of the Antop antenna (rated 4.0) was an add for another brand antenna (rated 4.6) that had a 2000+ mile reception range. ( 2024 Newest TV Antenna Indoor Smart Digital Up to 2000+ Miles-Amplified HD TV Antenna Outdoor for Local Channels with Amplifier and Signal Booster-52ft Coax HDTV Cable/AC Adapter-Support 8K 4K 1080p)
Unfortunately, many shoppers are going to fall for the obviously false advertising of reception range which is why so many people blame their Tablo for reception problems when it all goes back to having a good antenna mounted where it can properly receive the OTA signals in their area. Tablo hasn’t helped themselves by suggesting that the flat window antennas they bundle with their product will work well in most situations.
My father sold TV’s and appliances and I helped him install many rooftop antennas. We were approximately 65 miles from the local stations and a rooftop antenna was required to receive a snow free analog signal. At least with analog, you could still watch a weak signal, it would get snowy or sometimes a wavy image, but still watchable. With digital, you either get an excellent picture, or you fall over the digital cliff and get nothing.
Many customers purchasing a Tablo for the first time have never experienced the pitfalls of OTA TV before since they have been loyal cable subscribers since birth. With a reception problem on cable, you call the company and they may or may not fix the problem. With OTA, you are responsible for fixing all of your reception problems. The same goes for having a strong wifi network in your home. Your internet supplier may have installed your router, but if it doesn’t adequately cover your home, they aren’t going to come out and fix it, you are again responsible.
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The reason why vids and such are banned on reddit /r/cordcutters is because of Antop (or their agents). The spammed so much. You can’t mention Antop on /r/cordcutters, they’ll block your post.
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Here is my set up. I use a cheap Philips Rabbit Ears as an indoor antenna because I had trouble with VHF signals on the flat antenna and I use Channel Master CM-3201 LTE Filter for the filter.
Those two were able to fix my problem. I would get the filter first because that was the biggest problem. I live in a city near cellphone towers. I am also close to many broadcasting stations(most of mine are under 20 miles away). The cheap Rabbit Ears had the advantage of being able to sit in one window and be pointed at another window across the basement that I could not place the Tablo near plus the other antenna could was ok for everything but VHF. However my local CBS is VHF…
Latter I added a 2nd Tablo(the first was a 2 tuner) and got a Antop HD Smart Boost Antenna Amplifier so that the newer Tablo can share the antenna(I read on the internet that having two antenna too close together might create interference). The smart antenna both splits and boosts the signal into the Tablos.
One of the things you may need to play with is the antenna amplification, Too much and it can cause problems and not enough likewise. In the Tablo settings you can check or uncheck it. The other is direction of the anteena.
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It’s a frustrating hobby performance level device. I’ve been running all sorts of tuner and recording devices since early SageTV software devices on PC and Tablo is probably the buggiest. I wish I could legitimately counter your observation and defend the device, but after a few months with the current 2 tuner Tablo and thinking I had licked a problem only to have something else pop up, whelp, it’s a lot of maintenance.
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