Quick question for the forum:
I recently bought the Tablo 4 Tuner. I also then bought the lifetime subscription.
Now… very recently, Plex announced that they offer LiveTV and DVR function to their PlexPass users, which I am.
See: https://www.plex.tv/features/live-tv-dvr/
Guide is free as part of PlexPass which I bought years ago.
So this means I can now buy a $99 4 tuner card from Hauppauge and gain the same functionality that I bought from Tablo just a couple of months ago for aggregate of almost $400?
Is there any advantage to owning Tablo plus the subscription that I don’t get with Plex+Tuner+PlexPass?
Thanks!
Eli
You do not have to keep a computer on 24/7 as your Plex Media Server to record shows.
However, if you already have a PMS, then yes that is a way better option.
The Plex DVR was announced in Sept 2016, so people have known about it for a while as a viable option.
Stability. I had PlexDVR setup for a few months with a SiliconDust HD Home run and in February or so, I gave up. The thing is too unstable. Check out the DVR Beta forum over on the Plex forums to see what goes on (EPG missing, missing recordings, etc). It happened quite often for me, to the point where I gave up. Eventually, I am sure that they will get it working right. But for now Tablo, for me is more stable.
I do though rip all the recordings from my Tablo and put them into my Plex Server because I: 1) want an archive and 2) like all my media together.
Same here!
I only transfer selected content to my Plex Server. Some things I record just so I can watch at a more convenient time and then delete the recording. It’s not a huge difference but it is a valid reason for having a separate PVR from media server.
An answer to your question that hasn’t been covered: redundancy.
I can watch shows that are recorded on the Tablo while the Plex media server is getting upgraded or if something goes totally wrong on the PMS. Granted upgrades don’t usually take long enough for that to matter, but I prefer to perform a full server rebuilt when doing major version upgrades of the OS. Likewise, if the Tablo dies, I still have a media library to watch while I wait for the replacement device (although this hasn’t happened to me yet).
The redundancy is a fair point although my family has pretty much bought into Plex as the unified media center UI. So stuff stays on the Tablo only until Tablo Ripper runs over night and pulls everything into Plex and deletes it from the Tablo.
That’s why Plex supporting Live TV is pretty compelling for me. I can’t complain about the reliability of my Tablo but the allure of a signal UI for everything is pretty strong for me. It also removes some complexity from the overall process.
Live TV/DVR stuff directly into Plex which uses our existing NAS for storage and doesn’t require an extra HD and additional processes to pull stuff into Plex.
PLEX and Live TV is still super unstable. The DVR is working. I just figured out the SiliconDust tuner can receive my local channels only signal over the cable wire. That means no fooling with an antenna. I wish the tablo could handle cable signal over the wire, I think it is a basic QAM signal.
The problem is that most cable providers are moving to digital and/or scrambled, so you have to have a cable card. There may be regulation preventing this depending upon where you live, etc… so not sure how viable this would be (might be very niche).
I would totally agree with Plex Live TV/DVR being unstable. I tried it a few weeks ago after buying a refurbished Extend and trying it. I really wanted to be able to use Plex Live TV and DVR as a single solution on my Shield TV. It almost worked.
For background, I use TabloRipper to get shows off the Tablo and onto the NAS that Plex looks at. I basically use TabloRipper for recording and Plex for all playback. I wanted the Extend to be able to record smaller files. Regardless of the different settings I tried the issue I encountered during playback in Plex was seeking/skipping between commercials always had a delay, almost like buffering. It was generally 2-3 seconds but became frustrating very quickly and I realized I didn’t have the issue with shows recorded by the Tablo and moved to Plex via TabloRipper.
Ended up returning the Extend and moved back to the Tablo exclusively and don’t think I’ve be trying that scenario again for a while.
With Verizon the local channels come through in the clear. They have a triple play package with local channels only. It ended up being cheaper than just getting internet.
Right now I am using both Tablo and Plex. With the plex DVR I have MCEBuddy removing the commercials when the recording is done and putting the fixed mp4 file back in the same spot on Shield TV. The finished files still have surround sound too which is nice.
Stability is key. It took a while for my Plex server on the Shield to stabalize, at some point they will get the DVR thing stable.
I believe that’s the “regulation” thing I mentioned. I know Hauppauge’s can often do both digital and QAM (I own some). And I’ve built DVRs that actually could do this (home grown projects using TitanTV’s free easy scheduling).
(if you can handle Ogg Theora: https://endlessnow.com/ten/Video/pvr.ogv)
Just curious, are you paying for that Verizon package?
I once built a Raspberry Pi DVR. It worked ok. It had a Hauppauge tuner. I pay for Plex pass anyway so that would cover my guide data. I really like the fact that MCEBuddy removes the commercials from my recordings and compresses them.
I am paying for a Verizon triple play. It was cheaper than just internet. They give me clear local channels over the coax. Until the other day I couldn’t figure out how to get the HDHomerun to read the output.