That would be great. I have a signal strength meter that I borrowed from a friend that is specifically for TV. None of the channels are super strong, but they were decent enough for my $100 HDTV to pick up about ten channels. I’ll contact support shortly.
Thanks!
I’ve been having some signal issues lately. Any way you can let us directly access the SNR? Even if it’s through command line or the IP web server.
Thanks!
By the price, I assume you have the 2 tuner version. Remember that since the Tablo has two tuners, that the signal is being split. To do a fair comparison with the TV, put a splitter on the antenna and connect only 1 to the tv and terminate the other (don’t want an open end - I’m a HAM).
@KE4NYV Just send us a ticket and we’ll get to work. You can do this here.
@theuser86 We don’t have a user-facing way to do this just yet. Doing this on our end requires root access to the Tablo, so we can’t share this at the moment.
Good idea! I’ll do that for a comparison test. Also a ham here, KE4NYV :o)
I’m KE5ASU and have had my Tablo for a while. Support for large hard disk is coming soon (don’t know date, but know it is in beta).
I’m not a ham, but I do love me some B4C0N…
Glad to know I got a good deal on mine – bought it on Amazon 2 weeks ago for $179! I didn’t know it went all the way down to $160. I am surprised you get so few channels – when you say channels do you mean “main” channels (like 4.1, 5.1, 6.1) and omitting sub-channels (4.2, 4.3, 4.4, …)? I get 28 channels total, and I live in rural Illinois. My cheap $30 antenna that I mounted (in the wrong direction) picks up all the signals from St Louis, about 40 miles away! I can’t quite figure out why it gets so many channels, and why when I point it AWAY from St Louis it works best, it’s like I’m in the twilight zone or something. You’re the RF guy with the 30 ft antenna! Any tips/pointers?
I want to update this thread on what I have been doing with my setup. First off, I held off submitting a ticket to Nuvyyo simply because I wanted to get my LNA installed first, to see if that helped things. Used a NMEA rated box to keep everything dry and protected:
I’m using a Mohu antenna mounted roughly 25’ feet on my tower:
Without the LNA, I had five channels and two of those five were spotty. With the +15dB LNA in line, roughly five feet from the antenna, I’m now seeing eight channels. The weak channels seem to be better and the new ones are spotty, sometimes solid. Earlier in this thread I learned that the internal splitter is passive and injects some loss into the signal path.
As for the Tablo it’self, I’m getting very frustrated with the constant buffering. Even with the channels that have a solid picture, it seems to buffer almost constantly and when it does, it jumps back to the beginning of when we selected the channel. So we end up watching the same thing over and over.
Just a reminder, I am hardwired from the Tablo, to my rackmount 24 port switch and that is hardwired to my Roku HD. I avoid wifi whenever I can. I did disable the “Quick Start” option in the settings to see if I could improve the buffering, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
I officially cancelled Dish Network yesterday, so now it’s official. I’m a cord cutter and I’m stuck with this as my setup. We also have Hulu, Netflix and Amazon, but I really want to make this OTA setup work the best way possible. I have so much invested in it now.
I’m hoping a firmware update might help with some of these buffering problems.
I’m not a fan of that antenna. I tried it and it was just way too small for what I required. I was having similar problems as you are with the buffering due to poor reception. I understand that every area is different, but I’m kinda surprised that someone with an rf background would choose that. I built my own db4 and it gets much better reception than that one ever did. Also, that antenna has an internal preamp. Did you remove it before installing your other one?
I guess I should have spoken up earlier.
I’m not a fan of this antenna either.
I know the ratings are high (that’s why I bought it)
My results were poor. My Mohu Leaf amplified window antenna did just as well.
Thought I just got a bad one.
Currently using the Winegard MS-2002 Amplied Omnidirectional. Works great
Chas
I picked the Mohu because they CLAIMED it was omni-directional AND the pre-amp was internal. Once I got it, I determined neither one of these statements were true. I opened it up and found that it’s a dipole configuration using two metal plates. Since my geographical area is so unique, I really needed something omni to capture signals from the direct south of me and the direct north. I currently have it oriented so the pattern should be North/South, but I’m not sure that it’s really making a difference. I need to try to rotate it some and re-scan a few times. See if I can get a better pattern. I live on a very long, narrow peninsula:
I also discovered that the LNA was NOT internal, rather was the add on POS white LNA that they actually tell you to use at the bottom end. Always a bad idea because you’re just amplifying noise. By the time I got into the antenna to find these things out, there was no way I could return it.
I’m actually looking at using two UHF yagi, one pointing north and the other south, using a phased matching network. I haven’t made up my mind. The Mohu was a real disappointment because it had such good ratings. In the end, it was a huge waste of money.
Yep, I got sucked in by the ratings. I’ll check out the Winegard. Thanks!
The ratings on that antenna got me as well. I’m sure it works great for some people, but then so would a paperclip in the right area. I’m sorry you are stuck with it.
I see you aren’t in the best area for reception. Your yagi idea might be your best bet as I’m sure you know. Have you considered trying a db4 or db8 without the reflector?
Btw, what you described with the roku playing the same segment over and over is exactly what the roku does when the tablo loses reception. It continues this until a strong enough signal is received to resume playback.
Sorry to hear you’re still having troubles @KE4NYV. While the Mohu is popular, it may not be the best option for your particular use case. We generally recommend people try 2-3 antennas before settling on one and both Mohu and Antennas Direct offer 1-800 numbers to ask questions about antennas and positioning.
As @KyleR pointed out, the loops you’re seeing on Roku are generally a result of a weak signal. That being said, if you haven’t already give support a ring or send them a message and we can help troubleshoot as well.
@TabloTV I have submitted a trouble ticket, but no response yet.
I get trying several antennas might be a solution, I’m just frustrated that I spent well over $100 on a so-called top rated antenna and its not even what they claim. Plus, even with my added LNA, I still have poor performance.
Your frustration is warranted. I tried out maybe 6 antennas before I found one that worked well.
OTA is not that simple unfortunately. Lucky for the cable companies.
Since you have an RF background, you may consider building your own Gray-Hoverman antenna. I have a friend that was in a similar situation (stations to the North and South of his home) and he built one without the reflector. He is getting amazing performance from it along with an LNA-200 amp.
My friend built his with copper foil tape on a piece of styrofoam wall board and mounted in his attic.
good luck!
What is the brand and model of that preamp you’re using? I see ChannelMaster in the photo.
POSITION is everything. Are you trying to use an indoor or outdoor antenna? You need to remember the LIMITED tech support hours. If you work days, you are out of luck unless you take a day off. They will respond in email or here. I know that you will get a live person if you call during their support hours. I was on vacation and called, and have also called during break and lunch.