I just bought the newest 4th Gen Tablo (4-tuner) and it won’t find my local network channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW). I didn’t change anything other than to unplug my old Tablo (that picked up everything with my omni-directional antenna mounted on my roof at 35’). When I plugged in the new one and scanned channels all I got was PBS and a bunch of channels that I don’t care about. What gives? I didn’t touch my antenna at all and it picked up all of my channels just fine with the old Tablo.
The first thing I would check is if your antenna amplifier is on. The 4th gen Tablo has a built-in amplifier that may conflict with an external one. Even if you don’t use an external one, you can try changing the Tablo’s antenna amplification in the settings page of the app.
A very good point was brought up here. A number of the complaints on this forum can probably be attributed to either too much signal amplification and or needing to be amplified. I bet a lot of people who bought the Tablo 4th gen do not have the knowledge about over the air TV signals and how it is impacted by the settings that are available.
I bet a lot of people don’t bother to understand that just because a station is listed as being tuned to it does not mean it is actually viewable or recordable as it may be very weak and it may come in some days and not others.
I’m not sure that’s a fair assessment (“do not have the knowledge”, “don’t bother to understand”), but your points about reception/amplification are very valid.
I had a great system that had to be completely overhauled when installing the Tablo. I do think that the 4th gen has a weak receiver and by turning on its own amplification, causes some network interference.
Each user’s circumstances are different. My Tablos needed wholly new antennas. The antennas have to be powered but the Tablo’s amplification has to be off.
It may be true that some are expecting a quick plug and play for reception, but I found the Tablo to be the most complicated to set up to receive stations that have usually come in great. A system that had worked for over 3 years without issue, split between two PVRs and a TV – without any amplifier – was both worrisome and frustrating to reconfigure.
Everyone’s case is different and some may need to adjust more than just the amp setting in the Tablo. It’s understandably discouraging. I’ve spent 3 months making my first Tablo run right, but many don’t want to go through that – shouldn’t have to go through that.
Usually, that quick setting is a fix-all for this problem. Checking reception maps is also very helpful (although sometimes out of date or doesn’t take into account elevation). Luckily, many new users live in areas where reception isn’t an issue.
Sadly, this dooms a user to hitting the Rescan button repeatedly just to find a decent antenna spot. @glenag711 asked about moving the antenna, and this will likely help. The problem comes when a fraction of an inch can throw off reception entirely.
Those setting up an antenna for the first time might find it beneficial to use a different device with a signal meter. Figure out which stations are the hardest to reign in (doing that little bit of extra research). Slight incremental changes in the placement/direction of your antenna are easier to see this way and once you hone in a spot with the best reception, continue the testing on your Tablo to see how all station are affected by running the channel scan to get an overview of them.
What can be listed as the strongest signal can certainly get muddled by the ones farther away as you try to find the perfect balance to receive all your local stations.