I can’t find anyway to setup a manual recording by time in the new Tablo Gen 4. I have specific uses for timed recordings in addition to selecting recordings via the guide. This to me, is the biggest downfall with the new Gen 4.
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Just bought a new Gen 4 Tablo after my legacy 2-tuner unit hit the dust. Is there a timeline for implementing manual recordings on the Gen 4? Seems like something that should’ve been there on day 1. Thanks.
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I agree this is a much needed ability that was found in the older Tablo models. I’ve been asking for this since right after Gen 4 was released.
This, and some other features, are things that Tablo has discussed, but they never give time estimates. There were a number of major problems in the Fall. I think right now, Tablo is focused on ensuring stability across all the various platforms they support. After that, I think that they will look more at adding features.
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I just received our 4th gen Tablo yesterday and setup. Only to find that the one channel we want to record says “programming not available”. And there appears no way to record without having this available. This is a deal breaker for me. Which legacy tablos had the ability to do a manual schedule time set up?
I have the OG Legacy Tablo and it can manually record. I’m not sure about the others.
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The program guide can be an issue. If you haven’t already, try changing your settings to a different, but nearby ZIP code. For some reasons, this may fill in the blanks on your program guide. Sometimes you need to try five or six before a good one.
Also, sometimes your program guide will fill in after a few days.
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Yep I had to put in my old zip code from Chicago. I’m out in Western suburbs and channels like toonTV didn’t show up. On old zip the guide filled in.
Thanks. Unfortunately I live in a rural area with only 2 other choices of zip code. (The app tells me if a zip I try is too far out of area if I try anything else). What’s interesting to me is my Samsung TV using the antenna directly does display a schedule guide for the Channel we want to record. Why can’t the Tablo?
In this case, you may need to submit a ticket to Tablo Support. Hopefully they can get you working.
If I recall correctly, that’s the “Program and System Information Protocol” (PSIP) part of ATSC 1.0. It only provides a few hours of programming data, much less than the 7 days that Tablo provides.
Don’t consider this a defense of Gen. 4 though. I own a Gen. 1 and a Gen. 2 Tablo, and have no intention of ever getting a Gen. 4. Also for whatever it’s worth, I’ve mostly made manual recordings, so agree it’s a huge oversight to omit this feature from the Gen. 4.
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Do you have to use a different app for this older model? I see there is a “legacy Tablo” app in the App Store, I assume? Do you need the subscription to use?
Yes, in this article are the different apps and their supported devices. Yes, it requires a Guide subscription which I purchased back in 2015.
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Thanks all. I opened a ticket with Tablo and immediately got an AI response. I decided to go with a digital Tv converter box with recording capabilities that the Antenna Man on YouTube reviewed instead.
If interested, here was the response from Tablo:
“Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, the 4th Generation Tablo DVR relies on the TV Guide Data it downloads each night to schedule recordings. This means that manual recordings using a start and end time are not supported on this device. The guide data provides 14 days of programming information at no additional cost, which is used to set both one-time and series recordings.
If the guide data for your local NBC channel is not available, you might want to ensure that your antenna is properly positioned and that you have the latest firmware updates for your Tablo device. Additionally, you can try rescanning for channels again to see if the guide data becomes available.”
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So, with this response, it sounds like there is no chance of setting up a manual recording.
Bummer.
Drawback #1: Internet mandatory
Drawback #2: No manual recording
Drawback #3: No effective signal meter
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If you’re comparing your gen 4 to your legacy and only find 2 items you are doing good. That’s why I have backup legacy units. I keep turning my gen 4 on every 30+ days to see if has gotten any better.
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Certainly seems that way. Just wanted to say that I received an email back so quickly after posting my ticket, almost instantaneously, that I felt the response was AI generated. Maybe a human at Tablo would tell a different story.
This sounds final to me whether it’s AI-generated or not.
I’m hopeful you’ll hear from Support about how to proceed.
EDIT: Is the converter box you ordered working?
Hasn’t arrived yet, but will update when I get it. I saw old Tablos available on eBay, but decided against it, since I worry that, someday, the Legacy Tablo app will quit working because of an iOS update or something and there would be no fix issued.
The converter box we bought was a Mediasonic for under $40. It’s not great, but it does the scheduled Recording with an external hard drive you plug into it. We kept the Tablo though, because a few days after receiving the AI response from Tablo tech support, I got an email from someone there that said “our team is investigating some solutions to resolve this issue to acquire the schedule data for channels like this in the future, but this is likely a few months away until we’re able to resolve these types of inquiries.”
So I guess there is hope.