My Amazon review

Support & Troubleshooting
1

Maybe my review can help someone save their the me and money on this piece of crap device.

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Don’t waste your time or money on this device. While the concept is interesting, the product simply does not work.

So far this mis-adventure has cost me close to one thousand dollars and I am further behind then when I started.

I have had to buy new hard drives because the support people insisted the drive was the problem (of course all of the drives work perfectly plugged into my computer and router).

Then I’m told it can’t handle the resolution (an option in their app) I selected. I have it at the lowest setting which means when I can get a signal it looks like crap.

The remote access has never worked, when I asked for help getting it to work, I get brushed off and told they will address that once they get the device working - of course since the device has never worked properly, they never bothered to address that issue.

With today’s firmware update, the time on the device is now 6 hours and 35 minutes ahead. The schedule won’t download either.

The funny thing is, if I connect the high end antenna I bought for this device directly to different tv’s, all the channels come in crystal clear. When I point that out, they come up with some excuse about the quality of their tuners. My thought is, then fix your poor quality tuners!

I’m 10 months in at this point with a piece of crap device that if I am lucky I get 2-3 channels somewhat working without constantly resetting the box or constantly reloading the first 3-4 minutes of the show I am trying to watch.

They have refused to replace the unit claiming I must be doing something wrong.

Just stay away from this device. Check out their forums (if you can get their site to even load) to see all the other customers that are having issues.

Save your time, money and frustration. Get an antenna and just watch live TV instead and save yourself hundreds of dollars.

1 Like
2

Wow. Sounds like there are some pent up frustrations here to say the least. To say that I have expanded usage of the devices (ie, I put one in my mother’s house to get the local football games) and to say that I have been using the product (and remote TV from France and Australia) doesnt help your situation…I think you are over thinking this…but hey… $1000 is a lot of money I wont doubt that…

3

I can sympathize with anyone having problems with their Tablo. I have had problems myself in the past, but eventually they were cured and my system is working fine at present.

I suggest trying a full factory reset and a re-initialization of the hard drive.

The instructions to factory reset the Tablo are here:

You can refresh your USB hard drive in Windows Disk Management. Just delete the existing partition and create a new one, then let the Tablo reformat it.

Now you should have a Tablo in “Virgin” condition and in a much better position to be evaluated.

If the firmware is older than 2.2.12 you might wait until the update is offered (hopefully soon) and repeat the Factory reset with the latest and greatest firmware build.

Good Luck!

4

What a hatchet job review. Your experience is your own and not what everyone else gets. I get a crystal clear picture and I’m 25 miles to the closest station (yes, I use a booster). I get a fantastic experience and am able to transfer recordings to my phone via bluetooth for viewing when the wifi sucks where I’m at. My only complaint is remote access failing everytime the power goes out. I then have to connect via phone in my home again before I can watch live tv on the road.
BTW, I used an old hard drive (reformatted) and haven’t had a problem in over a year of use. How’s your router quality?

4 Likes
5

Tablo is one of the best investments I have made in along time. Love it to death. Maybe you should have bought it from Bestbuy and had the geek squad set it up for you.

3 Likes
6

It is not a hatchet job, it is factual. I have the emails and telephone logs to prove it.

My router is fine thank you. Look at the posts here and on Amazon, my experiences mirror the problems many others have had.

7

I’m quite willing to have you pay for someone to set it up. I have no intentions of doing thzat. Considering I ran my own web, DNS and email servers for close to 20 years, I frankly don’t need anyone to set my equipment up for me. I do however expect the products I purchase to work as advertised.

8

Just curious, how many times and I expected to reset it to factory settings?

That has already been done many times. I also am running the latest available firmware (v2.2.12). My hard drives don’t need to be ‘refreshed’. Each drive I have put on the Tablo was brand new at the time of the install. The device has reformatted each of the drives multiple times.

The simple fact is that support always points to every other part of my system. They refuse to acknowledge that there could be a problem with this unit. They have refused to exchange it just to verify.

The antenna hooked directly up to a TV works great. The app indicates full signal for each of the channels I have enabled, yet the channels will not display through the Tablo.

9

It sure sounds like you do man. If your so smart why did you not return the Tablo when it would not work?? Amazon gives you 30 days.

1 Like
10

I’m curious how I am over thinking this. I’m serious with that question.

I’ve done everything support has asked of me. I’ve purchased replacement hard drives, I bought a brand new antenna.

They refused to help figure out why I couldn’t access it remotely. As mentioned above, their repeated response was “we will get to that after we get the device working.” Repeated requests were ignored. That is not being helpful. So I was never able to access the device remotely, if for no other reason but to see that it works and to decide if I wanted to pay for the subscription.

I glad it works for you. I really am. The other folks that want to slam me are frankly not helpful. I would suggest that they take the time to read reviews of the product and see how many people are having problems with this device.

I would be happy if I could get the major networks in my area - I can’t get those. I can occasionally get the home shopping network - not what I spent my money and have wasted my time on this for.

11

Yup, real good question. Isn’t that the first thing you do when you buy a new piece of equipment, plug it in and make sure it works. If it doesn’t work, or you are not happy with it, return it.

$1000 for Tablo equipment? Even after buying 2 hard drives, you would think it would only cost $500.

Maybe some people are just better off paying the $100 a month for cable, or are at least the type that the cable companies rely on.

2 Likes
12

Ok, for the sake of discussion. Since you’ve already spent $1,000 on the venture, here’s my suggestion. Take a trip to BestBuy. Buy the same model Tablo. Go home, plug it in with the EXACT same set up. Does it work? Then the problem is indeed the 1st Tablo. If it doesn’t it’s your set up. Either way, return the the new one back to Best Buy AND THEN DISCUSS the issue with Tablo. You’ll have at least 15 days to settle the issue.

6 Likes
13

Great solution!

14

What are you watching with? Roku is THE WORSE thing you can use. Getting the NP fixed my problem, as did wireless AC. LAN speed is important. While Tablo unfortunately can not use wireless AC, the streaming boxes do. Roku 4, mi Box, and NP for sure. I assume Shield too. Don’t know about the rest of them. Most phones support wireless AC when in WiFi mode. Wirless AC is THREE TIMES faster than N.

15

Because I was assured that they would get it working smart ass.

16

I’ve been “discussing” this with Tablo for months.

17

Plus a new antenna, roof mount, new coax, 4 hard drives.

Maybe if you can’t contribute positively to the situation you should mind your own business.

18

It if doesn’t work with a Roku then they shouldn’t advertise it is compatible.

19

Based on the responses you are getting, you either have a bad Tablo, or a bad setup. Davebhc71 had the correct solution. Go to BestBuy or somewhere that has a good return policy, buy a Tablo, see if it works and return it. If it works, then have Tablo replace your original one. If it doesn’t work, then fix your network.

20

This brings up a question: can one send a Tablo somewhere for repair past the warranty date? Or would the repair cost (shipping, labor, parts) make it better just to buy a new unit? Thinking and asking just for myself into the future…