Trying to figure out which is the best Tablo to purchase for an OTA DVR. We want to record 4 shows each week regularly. I know about the need for an external HD and the TV Guide subscription.
We have a robust ethernet mesh network so there are ethernet ports near both (two) TVs. We don’t watch both TVs at the same time but we do want to start watching a DVR recorded program in one location and move to the other TV to finish watching it. We only need 2 tuners. I would much rather use the Ethernet network rather than the wifi network. Bonus if I can use the hdmi on the main TV and ethernet on the secondary TV.
Some models have HDMI and some don’t. All seemingly have ethernet ports. Thanks in advance.
There are network models and TV connected models (HDMI) both the Tablos can be WIFI or Ethernet (Ethernet best of course). Ethernet for viewing would depend on client Roku etc. some have ethernet some don’t. other differences between HDMI (TV Connected) and Network model explained here. Official Tablo OTA DVR Site | Over The Air (OTA) DVR | Tablo (tablotv.com)
I just got the Tablo Dual Lite and WOW the compression artifacts are really noticeable. Its even worse than YouTubeTV. This is just a placeholder until ATSC 3.0 is available. I have to decide if its worth the extra $50 to get a decent image. None of the refurbs are in stock.
What are your quality settings at? I use 8mbps and only issue I notice is with sports (and even then it’s tolerable for me).
Lots of factors involved. We sit a fair distance from the TV (despite my efforts to move couch closer – the family resists!), so I know that makes my viewing more tolerable of artifacts.
I was 30 years in film and video so my tolerance is pretty low. We are looking for a replacement for YoutubeTV. Tablo will do until we can get ATSC 3 and have 4k video.
All the film/video production work Ive been doing the last 3 years has been 4k. Some projects have been 8k but they are rare. Its just the transmission thats been 2k. The storage requirements for 4k are beyond comprehension and only major TV markets are willing to make the investment. I imagine local TV news is still 2k and will be for a while since they produce so much content. For me if content is produced in 2k and broadcast via a 2k transmission system it suffers major quality loss during compression/transmission. If the transmission system is 4k capable the chances are the quality at home will noticeably improve. BTW. 2023 Superbowl will be in 4k. I don’t know if my local station will air it in 4k.
It’s a “spectrum” problem. If, let’s say, the gov’t handled out some new frequencies to them, then they’d likely be doing 4K, but as it is, this is going to be really slow because they have to deal with what they have. Somewhat of a catch-22 scenario.
This is an interesting discussion. How does the data bandwidth for ATSC 1.0 MPEG-2 compare to that of ATSC 3.0 using H.265? Is it in the same ballpark at all?
To an end user it’s unimportant how much storage a broadcaster uses to store it’s data. the end user will probably receive whatever they get in HEVC H.265 compression. That is probably going to be true for ATSC 3.0., DVB, or youtube. Thus it’s all compressed. And would one pure 4K broadcast fit inside a OTA RF.