I have a dual tuner HDMI Tablo that I have the TV listing subscription on. The renewal is coming up soon and it is $49. For not much more than that, I can get a new gen 4 unit, maybe with 4 tuners. I also have an older Dual Light 2 tuner unit with no subscription.
I use the HDMI unit on my home theater setup with surround sound. Unfortunately, I can’t use it on regular TVs because I have it set for surround sound. I won’t disable that because I want full surround sound on my home theater system. So, I use my old Dual Light on other TVs that don’t have a surround sound system, but with no subscription, it is limited.
I bought the HDMI unit because the video quality on broadcast sports, particularly on CBS was terribly jerky on the Dual Light unit.
So, I have some questions:
Does the gen 4 unit have the same video quality as the HDMI unit?
Does the gen 4 unit allow you to have 5.1 surround audio on systems that support it and still play back the same recording on regular TVs that don’t have a surround sound system? The HDMI unit cannot do that.
Would this be an upgrade? From what I’ve seen here, it appears the gen 4 units have some growing pains.
Responding as a long time legacy user. If a product lists a dozen great features and they all worked, all the time (as advertised), that would be one thing. What good is a list of amazing features when half the time they don’t work with any regularity. My legacy equipment literally works like a Swiss watch - not kidding. If you decide to go with Gen 4 gear and your legacy is still working there are numerous folks that would buy it from you! Maybe a year or two from now the Gen 4 will achieve the legacy level of dependability. Many of us are starting to have our doubts at this point. Read the forums and see if I am making this up. .02
Yes, it should have the same quality because it records the same way (straight MPEG2 video). I do notice a difference in 1080i sports between my legacy and the 4th gen (4th gen is better).
Yes.
For the HDMI version, I would consider this an upgrade. The legacy network version is still the most stable of all Tablo versions and can do some things that the 4th gen cannot, but I am not sure there is anything the HDMI version does better than the 4th gen. 4th gen works on mobile devices and AppleTv, while HDMI version does not.
I thought you could use a guide subscription for multiple devices? I too have a 2 tuner hdmi Tablo and love it (wife loves it too). We have it attached to our living room tv which is where we watch recordings. For live tv we use the tuner in the tv. We have a Roku stick attached to our kitchen tv for watching live there, and a Fire tv stick on my man cave projector. $49 a year for the guide is not a lot. I don’t plan on upgrading unless my unit dies.
I have tried the Gen 4 twice; about a year apart; returned them both due to un-resolved issues. Will continue to use my trusty Legacy dual, it has never failed me.