Possible to record with no transcoding?

I’m thinking of getting a Tablo, one with HDMI output, but I want to keep/play back the best quality possible. Am I right in that the Tablo (all versions?) will transcode all ota signals regardless of what format (1080i, 720p, etc) they are originally in?

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The HDMI models actually do NOT transcode, they record as the original MPEG2. See the Specifications section at the bottom of this page…

Also confirmed in the Technical Considerations section of this page…

“TV-connected Tablo DVRs deliver and record Over-the-Air TV in its original, uncompressed MPEG2 format.This creates bandwidth-heavy streams of up to 18 Mbps.”

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Sounds like the HDMI model is for you. No transcoding but also no streaming. Make sure you read all the differences between models.

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Awesome, that’s what I’ll order.

I assume the Tablo Tools would still work for offline storage. (Larger sized files though obviously.)

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You may ask about that. The HDMI model is very different and I don’t think those tools work.
@cjcox Do you know if your app can work with the HDMI version?

I don’t have that device to test against. My gut says “no” (it won’t work), but can’t say how much work it would take to support it (?)

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Gotcha. Its on github I believe, so I might take a whack at it when I get mine. It seems that tablo ripper works, so in theory it should be possible, or at least this seems to indicate it does:

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That’s awesome! Please let us know how it goes. Tablo may no longer be an option for me if I can only watch on a single HDMI connected device. My wife uses our TV but I almost exclusively watch content on other devices. I’m hoping Tablo eventually supports streaming on the ATSC 3.0 devices. That’s the whole reason I bought a Tablo in the first place.

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Do not count on it!! There have been comments Tablo Ripper and Tablo Tools (not certain about confirmation) not working - all export apps work the same.

Yex there was that one great post in the begining… then there was none. Perhaps you need CEO access.

There havent been any comments about accessing the drive directly.

Well, the good news is Tablo Ripper works fine with the HDMI Tablo. (And the fireTv app streams from it as well.) It didn’t detect my HDMI Tablo, but it allowed me to manually specify an ip address, and it found and downloaded recordings fine with it. The bad news is Tablo Tools doesn’t find it, and also doesn’t let me specify an ip address (unless I’m missing something), so I don’t know if it has the same issue.

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There is a setting for you to enter a test tablo IP.

So the HDMI doesnt respond to the discovery but likely works as its function is similiar to Tablo Ripper.

Where do you input the IP address?

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