Have had the Tablo for about 9 months and I can honestly say it’s one of the worst pieces of electronics I’ve ever dealt with.
I can’t rely on this POS at all. Unable to connect to it, loses signal, fails to record & play shows, changing channels is amazingly slow, etc.
Not sure how a company stays in business with such a janky product.
Anyway, if anybody has ideas on a setup that actually functions as a reliable, easy to use setup, it would be much appreciated.
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TL;DR…
Yes, Tablo OG (a.k.a. legacy) models.
Details, if you like details, and humor…
I have 2 (4-tuners): one for me; one for my wife… this saves marriages.
I got 1 (2-tuner) for my mom.
She’s 79.
I use a Google Chromecast (4K) with Google TV.
My wife uses a Roku Ultra, and so does my mom.
They all just work.
My Tablo recently recorded the Oympics.
All broadcasts: 151 recordings (1TB).
Not one issue.
The Chromecasts outperform the Rokus, especially on switching channels.
Also, frequently, Roku OS updates, which you have no control over receiving, break the Roku Tablo app.
I haven’t experience this using Chromecasts.
Regardless of which OTA device you get, the key is the antenna.
Doesn’t matter how good your OTA device is, how fast your internet is, how powerful your amplifier is, if your antenna sucks.
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Zapperbox.
More expensive, but works solidly, receive and decodes the next-gen ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, is actively supported by the manufacturer, with firmware updates coming about once a month or so. Attaches to your tv via HDMI cable, but a networked system where you can share recordings to another zapperbox in the same house is about to be rolled out in the next couple of months.
There are things I don’t like about it, but on the whole - solid device. Add an external drive, and you can record shows and watch later.
I’m a known person on here that plays devil advocate… Besides the server dropping last week and back in Feb. I spent Dec '23 all the way into Feb '24 working on my Tablo and Network.
I got it run really smoothly. Beyond the Server Outages, most errors are internal to the users setup.
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Except for some recording and playing FAST channels can be a train wreck.
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I’ll reply with options that I personally have. Also, my first unit had an issue where the client wouldn’t connect to it and I had to do a reset every few days. I returned it for another unit and haven’t had that issue at all. So, don’t rule out the possibility of a bad unit.
Regarding TABLO4, I found a few things I had to change to make it reliable at my house. I had to turn off Antenna Amplification in Settings. I have an antenna in my attic so perhaps the amp juices the signal too much. The other issue is wifi bandwidth to the media player. There are apps that allow you to do a speed test and some devices like Roku will have a test built into it’s settings menu for network. The 3rd thing I did was hard wire the TABLO4 box to the router via network cable instead of using Wifi. Not all apps are equal either. I have found the Android/Google TV apps to be the most solid in my experience. Roku works but can crash on failure to tune in a channel and some other hiccups. Not sure if you want to look into any of these, but that was my experience if it’s of any help.
So the other option I have is called AirTV Anywhere. This box has 4 tuners and a built in 1TB HDD. It also has the option of being able to subscribe to cable channels that are integrated within the OTA channel guide. One feature I like is that it has a web app, meaning that I can access it outside of my home. I also just prefer to use the website instead of installing an app just to watch TV or a recording from my laptop. There are also apps if you prefer. I won’t give you a review here as there are plenty available online.
Another option is to buy an HDHomeRUN network tuner, and then use Plex as an OTA DVR. I also have this setup and it has the added advantage of being able to add your own personal media to it.
Another option is called Channels DVR. This one also uses an HDHomeRun network tuner and works well. It’s not free though, and costs $8/mo for the guide data.
And one more option that I used to use, but not anymore, is the HDHomeRun DVR. They make a network tuner with the DVR built in or you can just run the DVR software on a PC. It’s not free but only $35/yr so pretty cheap for the guide data.
Hope this helps and good luck.
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