@TabloSupport @tablotv I just got mine Wednesday and heard rattling inside to. When I initially set it up something sounded like metal was moving around inside. I moved it around carefully and it stopped so I thought noting of it. Today I went to move the device to its new place on my wall mount and heard rattling again. The unit has been recording just fine so should I be worried?? Please advise.
Yes, contact Tablo Support directly. They will replace your unit as long as you bought it new. The loose metal plate is the heat sink for the processor in the Tablo - well that is what it was in my Tablo when I opened it up.
I bought my 2nd Tablo used on eBay so unfortunately I could not have mine replaced 
The plate you hear rattling around is a heatsync. They used the little foam dissipaters (SP?) to attach them to the chips on the bottom of the board, and unfortunately, they’re not all that sticky. My first Tablo came in w/ the same issue and I pulled it apart to see what the deal was. I ended up sending mine in for a warranty replacement as even after I fixed it, the Tablo still wasn’t working. Don’t know why they’re using the foam instead of thermal paste.
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What wasn’t working with your Tablo? Just curious what failures resulted from the .heat damage
Actually, no heat damage. After repairing the heatsync (which I did before ever plugging it in) the device just sat there and flashed at me. Never created a wifi network or attached to a wired connection. Thankfully I had ordered it through Amazon Prime, so I just did a return/exchange and they got a new one out to me.
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Amazon pays return shipping charges and will cross ship if paid for by credit card.
I too received a Tablo from Amazon with loose parts rattling around! I’ve been in Electronics/instrumentation for 30+ years so I opened it up. As others have reported one of the shields came loose. The clear plastic light guide for the LED was bouncing around around as well. I found the home for the shield and seated the light guide and reassembled. Seems to work fine, except for the fact that I am unable to add additional channels to the guide. A post for another thread!
I would exchange the unit with Amazon just in case there are other hardware issues in the future.
Had this issue with the first Tablo I ordered through Amazon only last month. I also opened the unit to look. These are too thin for heatsinks, they are RF shields. I returned the unit to Amazon for a new one. Sure it would have worked without them, but was worried about interference with the TV receivers.
I had this issue as well. I opened up the unit and removed the metal plate. I’ve had no issues with the unit otherwise.
I’m pretty certain the metal plate is a heat sink…so you might be better off re-installing it for long-term reliability - or return for one that hasn’t come apart in the first place.
Yes it is the heat sink. It sits on the CPU in the Tablo on the underside of the board.
I’m really excited to be a Tablo user soon. But I just received my order today from Amazon for a 4-tuner model, and I heard the rattle as soon as I picked it up out of the box. I searched online for “Tablo rattle” and sure enough came to this thread. Just wanted to let Tablo know that this problem still persists to this day. Hope you guys find a more reliable way to attach those metal plates.
@Designer - Sorry to hear you had this experience.
We are in the midst of transitioning away from having Amazon holding and reselling returns as ‘open box’ models for this very reason. Some returns which should not have been shipped back out kept slipping into the ‘new’ pile and/or units that were clearly faulty kept on getting resold as open box units.
There are actually very few faulty units but they kept getting recycled inside of the Amazon machine.
Moving forward, ALL units from ALL retailers that are returned will come back to Tablo HQ for thorough testing and those that pass get refurbished to live a new life as a refurbished unit sold through our store.
A loose metal plate inside the Tablo is better than a loose metal plate on one’s brain. Had an uncle, a war veteran, who had a metal plate inserted in his skull. He joked about it being loose sometimes when his memory didn’t function very well. He’d reply, “Naw, no signals comin through…”
Thanks Team Tablo. Amazon replaced it immediately and I received my replacement the next day. The new unit does not have the loose plate problem at all. I appreciate you guys being proactive and responding to users on this forum about the issue. Thank you.
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I have had nothing but trouble from my tablo. I ordered my tablo on amazon. I cannot get guide to show up but can watch live tv 10 seconds at a time. I have tried everything. I have been sorting through the forums and saw this post. My tablo definitely has a clicking sound when picking up tablo. Please help.
@St_rreed Please touch base with support via a ticket so we can troubleshoot with you: http://support.tablotv.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
My unit came from Wal-Mart. It is a 2 tuner and also has the loose plate. I opened it and removed the plate to prevent something shorting out.
The plate is vital for heat dissipation of the main chip - you really should get an RMA replacement and not run the unit without the heatsink. IMHO.