We’re getting no TV reception through the recently purchased Tablo (via Roku app) with a rooftop antenna. The scan reveals nearly 200 channels and the guide is fully populated. You can record. But when you click on “watch live” or a recording, you get a black screen with a loading “circle” for a sec, and then it pops back to the Tablo screen, as though there is no reception. And yet, reception is perfect when the same cable is connected from the wall outlet for the rooftop antenna directly to the TV instead of the Tablo.
This issue does not affect just a channel or two. It did not work with any of the channels we tried – the major broadcast channels, CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS – except for that Ion channel that doesn’t have a number that appears at the beginning of the guide.
It did seem to work initially – able to watch and record PBS through the Tablo. But not anymore, and consistently so.
We rebooted and rescanned, no luck.
I’ve read that this may be because of the Tablo’s multiple tuners vs. the TV’s one. But I’ve also read that this issue should be “negligible” when signal amplification is on (which it is) and that it should only affect a channel or two. So this doesn’t seem right. Antenna placement doesn’t seem like it should be an issue with a rooftop antenna.
Seems to be working now, with signal amplification turned off. As though the signal was too strong somehow? We’ll see if this works consistently. Thanks for the idea to try this!
This might be a rare case where you might be so close to the transmitters that you might have to insert attenuators in the line to get all of your channels.
Do you get the same number of channels on tablo and tv with direct connect to the tv?
Yes the signals became too strong with the internal amplifier turned on. Do you have an amplified antenna? Whats your Zip code. How far away are the transmitters?
It’s actually my dad’s house, and I’m not sure if the antenna is amplified in any way. It’s a close suburb of Chicago, about 10 miles due west or so I’d say from the Sears Tower, which I think is where most TV signals are transmitted from. For what it’s worth…
Last I heard, it’s still working with signal amplification turned off.