Am I just lucky? My refurb Tablo 4th gen with firmware 2.2.5.4 worked with my Roku Ultra right out of the box. It downloaded and installed the latest firmware. Then it found 168 channels! The antenna and Tablo unit is on the second floor. The WiFi router is on the first floor. It’s been solid as a rock for a week. Loving it!
Keep us posted
thats great my 4th gen on android tv is working perfect also
I’m not surprised. If you have a good antenna, and a well sorted home network (and are a little tech-savvy) the Tablo works really well. To be fair, there have been relatively few Roku-based problems lately.
I was just noticing how relatively quiet both this forum and the Facebook group have been for the last week or so. That was not the case in Fall, when there were lots of Roku troubles.
I’m using the stock Tablo mud flap antenna. Is that considered a good antenna? I have no idea.
A step up from “paperclip”. I used to use a flat antenna indoors up against a window. I mean, it’s “ok”, but nothing compared to having a reasonable antenna in the attic or outdoors (for me). Night and day.
Now, if you’re close to your broadcast towers, sure, it might do the trick just fine. So, it’s a hard question to actually answer. I mean… it is an antenna. And in certain circumstances, it should work just fine.
I am not a fan of those flat panel antennas. In fact, I think they are junk. However, if you live really close to the broadcast towers, and you can get it in the right position, they work well for some people. What I don’t like it them being sold as an all around solution. To get the best out of the Tablo you need to get a good quality antenna that is appropriate for your situation… distance…terrain…obstructions…tree cover… and that takes some time and research.
But, in a way, you answered you own question. You say you are getting 168 channels. I assume that is nearly 100 in addition to the included FAST channels. That is pretty damned good. Are you getting good signal for all the channels you want? If so, then the mud flap was a good choice for you. If you are missing some channels, or they are not coming in reliably, we can look into that further. If it ain’t broke…
Thanks you guys for your fast responses to my comments. It’s all working great for now so I’m not going to fix it if it ain’t broke.
I have a tree in front of my house. A portion of the branches are in front of my antenna. But the leaves are off this time of year. It will be interesting to see how it works when the tree is fully leafed out.
Signal through the branches of a tree are not usually a problem. Signal through a forest of trees…on a hill… That could be a problem.
How far are you from the tv tower?
What type of wifi router do you have.
Nice to have that information to help other folks setting up a Tablo🙂
Welcome to the Forum.
According to RabbitEars.info: The main channels ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS and dozens of other independent broadcasts like religious broadcasts are 12 - 15 miles away. But I am pulling in stations that are 50 miles away or more. Some are blank because they don’t broadcast full time.
My internet provider is Spectrum. The router is a Spectrum WiFi 6E. The antenna is on a second floor window. The router is on the first floor. I have a few tree branches 20’ away in front of the window where the Tablo antenna is mounted (not the whole tree just a few branches). Leaves are off this time of year.
As a side note, I will be ditching Spectrum TV and internet. Reliability is one reason, charges and fees are another reason.
I hope this helps someone.
It sound like you’ve got a great solution and it is working for you. I don’t expect those branches will give you any trouble. You will know for sure in the spring.
For me, I got rid of DirecTV (about $150.00 per month) having realized that I used it 80% of the time to watch the major networks. I also switched from Optimum internet (200mbs for about $110.00 per month) to Frontier direct fiber to the house (500mbs for $25.00 a month). Between the Tablo, the antenna ( Televes 148883 Ellipse Mix), and an external hard drive, the whole setup paid for itself in less than two months.
I now have better than 95% reliability with my Tablo setup (about as good as my DirecTV setup). I really couldn’t be happier. I am considering adding a second antenna to get the couple of channels in the neighboring market that I would like.
$25 for 500mbs is pretty good.
I pay $85 for 1G from Sparklight.
Don’t really need a gig, but I was paying $95 for 500mbs and they offered me 1G for $85.
So what could I do?
I think it was an introductory offer since they had JUST pulled fiber in my neighborhood. I could have gotten gigabit for $60.00, but didn’t need it. So far, they haven’t said anything about that intro offer expiring. I’m not dumb enough to ask. But, even if they double it, or quadruple it, it is still less than I was paying.
We have Ezee Fiber bombarding us with mail for their 5G and 8G fiber network.
Pretty useless when your equipment and what is on the other end of the wire doesn’t run at those speeds.
I have a 2.5G lan that almost everything is on.
PC’s and Servers run at those speeds and is a definite an improvement.
I wish I could get a price like you have. I’m thinking of trying Tmobile home internet.
Have ATT UVerse at the moment. I could get Xfinity but they would have to drop a line from my backyard where the box is at. I don’t trust them as I have a line from the box to my neighbors yard still not put underground even though I got a work order number from them and called multiple times. It is almost a year now. I would get ATT Fiber if they decide to pull it in my sub-division. So close and yet so far
That is a great deal.
You might be surprised how much better things run at 1gbps. We were using Spectrum at 300/10 (yes, 10 up) for about $85/month and switched to local fiber at 1000/1000 for $45 (intro offer) as soon as it became available. It was a no-brainer like yours.
Another thing people might not realize is that their home network might run better if you have a static IP from your ISP. I got one from our fiber provider and things have been much better. Adding a static IP can be advantageous. Advantages/Disadvantages.
@Ed_InstrEd - I’m sure you’re aware that UVerse is officially shutting down…soon. It was no longer available to new customers back in 2019/20. If you get fiber with a buried conduit, it’s really nice. I just got Novos Fiber and we’re real happy with it.
The home 5G wifi is pretty slick - no wires except to your router and you get some pretty good speeds. The only thing I was worried about was throttling by the cellular company and emergency situations. Cellular can easily be saturated during emergencies or even prioritized for first responders.
Has anyone tried to cancel service from Spectrum? OMFG! I had my wisdom teeth pulled faster with less pain.
Who are you planning to switch to for internet service?