I have two Tablo units.
A new 2 tuner 64gb, which died 4 months in and then was factory replaced. While I was waiting for the replacement, I ordered a refurbished 4 tuner (Black Friday 2017) and then added the lifetime guide membership.
The only benefit I see on the new 4 tuner Tablo unit is the 8GB flash. So if the Tablo firmware needs the extra flash in the future I will upgrade. Or if my 4 tuner pukes then I’ll wait for a refurbished new version of the 4 tuner unit.
I have been quite happy with my old 4-tuner tablo, and it’s still trucking along just fine. Haven’t stopped by or posted here in a while, but that’s a good thing, because the Tablo has been running so reliably, I’ve just been using it without any complaints. Heard about the announced commercial skipping feature announced at CES and thought I should come back and see what’s up with that and what else is going on.
Long story short, I’m not planning to buy the new QUAD right now, but if this old Tablo unit dies, I think I’d likely pick one up as a replacement.
If I hadn’t dropped hundreds of dollars on a 4-tuner that has been consistently “quirky” (to be nice about it) since the day I plugged it in, I’d probably seriously consider this new one. The improved tuners are of particular interest, given the occasional signal issues I’ve had with the current box.
Honestly, I’m afraid that I’d drop a few hundred dollars on this new box and have just as many, if not more, “quirks” to deal with.
At least you don’t have to buy a new subscription. Lifetime sub carries forward to new devices.
I love me some new tech, but I also remember the early days of Tablo. My OG is working quite nicely, so I’ll wait for a few cycles of Firmware updates on the new before I jingle my coins.
Like others, I use streaming to supplement my OTA, so 4-tuner is a must. There may an option to relegate the OG to record all my wife’s singing/dancing contest shows to reduce clutter… or during football season, schedule to record all the shows through the evening on the football channels just to compensate for real-time schedule problems. I like my football well enough, but never watch on the live weekend, so never know when the rest of the evening is going to be 15 - 20 minutes delayed, and I do dislike missing the end of shows…
Looks like a great product. But I already own multiple tablos. And actually one more then I need. I also own an idle plex server.
Unless one of my tablos implodes I’m going to wait until I see how ATSC 3.0 unfolds in my area. Since I live in an area next to a large Mexican city the elimination of ATSC 1.0 could take longer then for other areas.
ATSC 3.0 is coming so I will wait for that. Who knows what Tablo will need. I know current will last 5 years after ATSC 3.0
I guess there are many ways to view technology upgrades. In the old days of rapid computer advancement every year I knew folks who said yes the current new offering is good but something better will be out next year. As a consequence they did nothing,
Given the price point, for me, blowing $200 on a new piece of tech is no big deal so I upgrade frequently. YMMV. Some people say " if it ain’t broke…" I get that.
I am not a super early adopter, but pretty early. I guess those who wait benefit from all the beta testing done by early purchasers.
I just got a “new” original 4 Tuner Tablo back in the fall. It replaced my old original 4 Tuner Tablo that died, too bad it didn’t last 6 months longer. Not planning to upgrade, don’t see anything worth while unless I can get a good price for my current one.
For networking, I haven’t had any issues, I have everything wired and never stream more than 2 shows at once. As for the tuner, I live close enough to to the towers and have a roof mounted antenna, so I have no signal issues. The internal hard drive would be nice, but currently don’t need to space, I’m getting by with a 2GB external, don’t think it’s been over half full at most.
Then you have to wait to see if/when stations in your area upgrade. It’s suppose to have higher resolution, but generally downgrade to stream or record via tablo (it’s an option, not everyone does) 3.0 has interactivity but I think recording shows negates that. And can your TV display UHD or the devices you use to stream your tablo?
Although there are advantages, it may not be a deal-breaker for a tablo.
For ATSC 3.0 I think I’ll wait to see how the DVR industry and tablo address some of the issues.
ATSC 3.0 supports new audio formats. As well as HEVC Main 10 profiles 3.1, 4.1, and 5.2. Some of these may not play on current devices.
At one time the suggested video players for ATSC 3.0 were DASH and R.O.U.T.E. based. Tablo currently uses HLS.
Who knows how much of each of the three video formats the networks will actually broadcast. Or even if HEVC 5.2 is down scalable to match various TV capabilities.
Really happy with my old 4-Tuners model, I will keep it until its death.
I would be curious as to how hot the new quad runs. My current 4tuner runs fairly hot enough so that I keep the hard drive away from the Tablo.
Cord Cutters News just posted a video review here: Review: Tablo Quad 4 Tuner OTA DVR For Cord Cutting
First impression: “Very nice”
Bottom shows a fan port but it was decided no fan was needed.
Anyone know if the new quad allows for setting a static IP within the gui? I’ve had my 4 tuner since 2014 and the only nagging issue I have with it is the dance I have to do when the IP lease expires.
Why is your IP lease expiring?
@FlyingDiver, my FIOS router allows what Actiontec calls static IPs to be set, but it forces you to set a system-wide lease time which I set to 2880 minutes. If the Tablo doesn’t connect for two days, the lease expires. This doesn’t effect my AppleTVs since I can set an actual static address in their network configs.
Odd that they would require you to set a lease time that impacts reserved/static IPs that you have created. Sorta defeats the whole purpose of having that ability to begin with.
So why is the Tablo not connecting? Are you turning it off?