When tilting my 2 tuner Tablo (delivered on Tuesday) I could hear a piece of metal bouncing around inside. As everyone knows loose pieces of metal could cause electrical shorts so I opened the enclosure and found a shiny 29 mm x 34mm rectangular plate floating around inside the enclosure. It looks like some form of a RFI screen and the closest fit that I could identify is some form of cover for the wifi module, but it does not really fit on it. Does anyone have an inside picture of the assembly?
There definitely shouldn’t be ANY loose parts in the Tablo. We’ll replace this ASAP. Send me the details (your order and shipping info) directly and we’ll get a new unit out to you straight away.
Same thing happened to the first Tablo TV I ordered. I could tell something was loose when I took the Tablo TV out of its box. Â I also took mine apart and the metal shield also appeared to a bit too small for the wifi module. To me, this is a production issue. Someone is trying to install the wrong size EMI shield.
I had to pay shipping back to Newegg and it was sent it back immediately.Â
@Galroc When did you receive your first Tablo (and did NewEgg replace it)? We saw a couple of units have this issue (the component coming loose was the RF shield) early on in production, but we caught and eliminated this fairly early on. It looks like @4WheelSpyder may have been a little unlucky with this, though.We’ll be revisiting this.
It was ordered on July 19 of this year and replacement was shipped out by Newegg on July 31. They had to wait until they received my Tablo TV before shipping a replacement. I had to pay return shipping.
I actually have this same issue as described. This is a little frustrating because I actually ordered a Tablo from Amazon and returned it when I saw a lower price on Newegg. And now this Tablo I received from Newegg has this loose part on the inside. Hopefully Newegg doesn’t have any issue replacing this unit for me.
This just happened to me on the 4 tuner Tablo I ordered off Amazon.com (No, I don’t need a replacement Tablo; mine works fine).
When I picked up the box I heard a rattle.
I opened up the Tablo and found the 2 large RF shields not attached to the PC board. These shield are held in place by the tiny clips soldered to the board to act as an RF shield.
My box was not damaged. All I can assume is it just bounced hard enough to pop them off.
I pushed the RF shields back on, reassembled and my Tablo works flawlessly. If anyone was to Power up the Tablo with those loose that would more than likely short it out.
Tablo should really consider installing some sort of raised foam sicker that would allow the Heat Sink Base to help keep these from falling off.
My worry (knowing now how it’s designed) is even if I received a replacement Tablo it could have loose RF Shields also.
Perhaps there are people out there who have RF shields that are not attached or attached barely and they are experiencing performance issues with their Tablo.
I feel comfortable opening mine up; as I repair electronics for a living but I can see just about anyone would be able to do this themselves. Although Tablo would probably frown on this.
Until Tablo has PERMANENTLY solved this issue everyone needs to be careful even with a replacement unit.
I just received a new 4-receiver TABLO ordered from AMAZON. It also had the two loose metal shields inside. I elected to try the unit without the shields, but do not know what the long-term effects may be. I am concerned I may have received an “early production model” and am hoping TABLO will send me a factory-fresh current version for my trouble. I have sent them an email with pictures of the open unit, so I may receive a reply via email or this support page or both.
I also noticed the metal heat shield plate had four threaded posts that seem to have been intended to mount the printed circuit board more firmly to the heat shield plate. However, there were no screws in the posts, and the PCB did not seem to align up with the threaded posts. Here again I am concerned the unit I just received may have been an earlier bread-boarded model. The only component securing the metal heat shield plate to the circuit board is the second plastic plate.
I also would like to see TABLO post images of a properly-assembled modern unit to compare with the units we receive.
I am an Amateur Radio Operator (Ham) and have seen the inside of electronics since I was 12 years old (I am now 67). I must say I am disappointed in the assembly of this expensive device, which consists primarily of only one circuit board.
I would think opening your Tablo would voids its warranty like with all other electronic devices. But I’m sure Tablo will forgive you.
@Wolfpack, it just sounds like you just were unlucky and received a unit that wasn’t assembled correctly. There are no four-tuner early production models.
As for being one circuit board, I am not sure what else you expected. It’s just a little computer that is passively cooled and has an external power supply.
I don’t see anything printed on the Tablo or online saying that opening it voids a warranty. You should be perfectly safe.
To clarify my earlier comments a bit, I am not so surprised to note that the device consists of a single printed circuit board. I am surprised that the PC board was not more firmly mounted in the enclosure. In similar electronic devices (vcrs, dvd players, modems, routers, etc.) I have examined over the years I have seen such circuit boards firmly attached to posts to prevent movement, such as when inserting plugs into the device. And the loose metal shields in the unit are of course disconcerting. A less educated user might have proceeded to power up the unit without investigation and might have inadvertently “let the smoke out”.
As I consider more the observation of the threaded posts in the metal heat sink plate that do not seem to align with the circuit board, I am wondering if perhaps the assembler may have used a plate designed for the 2-tuner PCB instead of the 4-tuner PCB. No way to know until TABLO provides us with an exploded assembly diagram for both unit types for verification.
From a thermal transfer perspective, I would have thought the bottom plate that presses against the heat-sink plate should have been made of a heat-conducting material, possibly with fins or ribs, rather than plastic. The bottom feet could have been made larger and higher to enable better cooling.
Yes, I am an Electrical Engineer and tend to be a bit picky about the construction and performance of electronic devices and their enclosures.
Not to be perceived as a total negative critic, however, I am impressed by the performance of the software applications that are maturing for this unit. I just need to be convinced the physical unit I have on hand will go the distance before I shell out $150 for the lifetime channel guide subscription.
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Gotcha. I was at first thinking you were expecting more parts inside rather that the design of those parts. Hope Tablo Support has reached out to you to get you a better Tablo.
I have a lot of respect for EEs. That was my first major in college, but I decided computer science was a much better fit for me.
@Wolfpack - Tablo Support will be in contact to swap out your unit for a new one.
There are not really any differences in builds so it seems as though your Tablo may have been used & abused at some point during the shipping process. The shields are secured using some silicon.
As for the threaded posts these are not intended to be used for this particular variant.
I just received my 4 tuner Tablo from Amazon and it has the two metal shields rattling around loose inside, haven’t even plugged it in yet to see if it actually works. @TabloTV should I return to Amazon or deal with you directly?
Thanks,
Michael
@k9runner - Send a note to support and we’ll send you a new unit. Those guys at Amazon have got to stop using Tablos as footballs 
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Just a note of caution for everyone who checks out this thread, do not buy units off eBay. I bought a used Dual tuner off eBay as I wanted a 2nd Tablo, it arrived with a loose metal plate inside. Unfortunately, Tablo couldn’t do anything to help me even with the warranty being within the one year.
Given this thread it is likely the metal plate was always loose rather than the previous owner causing the plate to become loose. So I either use the Tablo with the risk of it blowing up or try returning it.
I just received a 2-tuner model from Amazon with the same issue, it is also missing the ethernet cable and instructions. Should I return to Tablo or Amazon? I suspect I got an returned unit instead of a new one.
Amazon.
I also encountered this in my unit purchased from Amazon, having worked as a tech, I was u afraid to open up unit. Just as I thought, the heat sink had come loose, reattached. The unit creates a bit of heat, so without this sink I would fear the unit would fail. Design weakness.