Silicondust has a long history of making rock solid hardware. I used them for OTA for 8 years before finding TabloTV. It will be interesting to see what these guys can build. For those cablecard wanters, this is a very attractive alternative:
Very interesting - did you Pledge is the question? 
"Playback devices include Windows, Mac, and Android systems, with a stretch goal of Kodi and iOS support."
No iOS support at launch is a big no-no though. Unless they hit the ground full speed, they’ll just be where Tablo was a year ago. But being able to record to a NAS instead of a USB connected HDD is a cool idea.
Kodi support is a big one up too - Kodi is the only thing missing from Tablo currently in my opinion.
im not a huge kodi/xbmc fan. the ui is way to cluttered, and the headache of constant maint. is something i no longer care to do. Also the nature of having to install a seperate mysql db that is managed, seperately in order to keep all of your kodi/xbmc content in sync is just something i no longer care to babysit.
I didn’t back it yet no. In its current form I doesn’t really gain me anything of my Tablo setup. I will likely never switch from PLEX to Kodi, so the added benefit of having livetv plugin via kodi is of little use to me. Also have you used the livetv plugin for kodi? its quite ugly IMO and just not very NOT TECHIE Savvy.
I also could are less about ios support, but thats just me. Im done and have been done with apple for quite some time.
Agree on the NAS recording. That is the way that SageTV worked as well. One could record content directly to SMB or NAS device, or on local disk. Cool stuff.
Taking all of that into account, there is one HUGE thing missing for me. And that is the Appliance Nature of Tablo. There, at least for me, is and has been VERY little maint. I am quite sure that their “install this program” nature of things leaves the door open for more maint. than tablo.
I pledged in at shall we say one of the higher levels. Not necessarily barbecue I’ll switch. I do support most of these kind of products though as I like to see them come to market as they create competition which results in additional effort for more features, better customer service, and lowering pricing.
I’ve also been in the CE industry for decades so this kind of stuff is very much a passion. I’m WAY more than any early adapter.
I’m the kind of person that buys one of each, uses them all, and then sells off what I don’t want to keep.
I like informed decisions.
No iOS (except at “unknown” stretch) and ESPECIALLY no Roku are big thumbs down for me.
Being able to pool multiple tuners is WAY awesome, let alone being able to mix different tuners for different purposes.
I REALLY wonder how this is going to effect Simple.TV’s relationship with SiliconDust though.
Looks promising but I am not a fan of established companies using Kickstarter to launch new products. Kickstarter was conceptualized to help start ups and private inventors.
Looks promising but I am not a fan of established companies using Kickstarter to launch new products. Kickstarter was conceptualized to help start ups and private inventors.
On the other hand … there is less chance of them poorly planning the development and execution of a product … where so so so so many first timers starting a business fail in their KS projects… they woefully underestimate the costs and time bringing a product to market… I think whats happening at silicondust is more a “marketing” exercise than a development funding … in other words they probably already were planning to bring the product to market anyway and are using KS as more or less a glorified advertising campaign … which while I agree sorta isnt what kickstarter was intended for… does give some degree of assurance that this product will probably actually get made and sent to the people who back it…
Looks kinda pricey for software with a sub. You add in the HomeRun and a NAS. Dunno on this one.
The “sub” is only for EPG data. Until they release test version, everything is speculation.
The bottom line regarding being competition for Tablo is the user interface. I spend a lot of time each week just deleting extra copies of the evening news, Today, etc, for lack of a simple selection of how many to record. Tablo lacks many user features, and refuses to even quote a road map beyond “Stay tuned!” SD is an established company with experience programmers, etc, whilst Tablo appears to still be just using up the funding kitty, rolling out features as a drip, drip, drip and all uppers come out as a surprise. I and others have been warning for months that they simply cannot continue operating as a hacker club, that someone will eventually eat their lunch. Now we know who. I’ll pledge enough to get updates, but if they come out with the user features that everyone here has been pleading for there is no reason not to switch, and the NAS storage is just icing on the cake compared to a two-USB unit that cannot even use both, plus odd file format, etc.
Good points, but it depends how you look at it. Unless you already have NAS storage, NAS storage is a lot more expensive than a USB HDD. As well, just the aspect of having a NAS already limits you to a select population who are tech savvy. For the every day consumer, plugging in a USB hard drive to the back of the Tablo is a lot simpler than setting up a NAS.
For now, the lack of Roku support would make me stay away.
@oldmike
Good points, but it depends how you look at it. Unless you already have NAS storage, NAS storage is a lot more expensive than a USB HDD. As well, just the aspect of having a NAS already limits you to a select population who are tech savvy. For the every day consumer, plugging in a USB hard drive to the back of the Tablo is a lot simpler than setting up a NAS.
Read through the campaign. You can record to your PC, MAC, OR NAS. SiliconDust is only going to the NAS for people that don’t want to dedicate a PC to be on 24/7. Likewise SD will let you use multiple tuners so not only can you have more than 2 or 4 tuners you can use the boxes which are best suited for your needs. IE CableCard box for premium cable channels and their new HD box for untouched broadcast signals with (likely) 5.1 surround.
Looks kinda pricey for software with a sub. You add in the HomeRun and a NAS. Dunno on this one.
$30 for a year is not bad. It’s less then others for a year. Even for lifetime it’s not bad. $30 x 5 years = $150. TV will be completely different in 5 years and you likely won’t be using the same equipment anyway.
HomeRun boxes can be had for under $25 used. They’ve got multiple models, been selling for many years, and sold millions.
NAS is an option. You can record to your home PC if you like. There are also $100 2TB NAS from WD, Seagate and many others. Not much more than a regular USB external.
Tablo has a great concept but product development and the app itself is too slow. While they are not exactly the same product (PC/NAS server vs. network appliance), they are without a question competitors. When SD releases this product, a lot of current and potential Tablo owners will be re-evaluating their options.
Tablo has a great concept but product development and the app itself is too slow. While they are not exactly the same product (PC/NAS server vs. network appliance), they are without a question competitors. When SD releases this product, a lot of current and potential Tablo owners will be re-evaluating their options.
There’s obviously quite a lot of interest. The campaign pledges have been rolling in exponentially. Had SD been a little more giving with the pledge levels I would have pledged in at an even higher level then I already did.
SD is less than 2 days in, with 28 to go and 50% of way to goal.
If Tablo needs a reason to put in some overtime and higher a few temps this is it. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row BEFORE SD launches. It’s going to be harder to get traction AFTER the fact.
Well, the heat is on for Tablo. Quick read tells me they understand most people think OTA recordings should be for keeps if you want them to be. For me, this is reason enough to switch. And, they will be recorded directly to my NAS, another reason to switch. The little HD idea isn’t a good one. Tablo surprised me to no end when I found there wasn’t a built-in way to get my recording to my NAS.
My eyes are watching…
The last item on Silicondust’s Pledge Pages is what I have setup right now, except I have Tablo 4 tuner, not the Silicondust 4 tuner. The QNap TS-451 is the “cats meow” from what a months use tells me. It is so much better than a PC based media server in every way. Even transcoding works fine running up to 5 transcodes at a time.
If Tablo wanted, they could tie the Tablo right in to it. It is made to provide storage to all types of plug-in devices, right though the build-in USB port. This would be a great option to have, no more worries about HD space or transferring content to another storage point.
-Rodger
The last product I used that had SD associated with it couldn’t even tune in my local ABC affiliate that has 100% signal/quality on the tv’s internal tuner and on the tablo…Hopefully they are using better components that dont use the same problematic parts.
The last product I used that had SD associated with it couldn't even tune in my local ABC affiliate that has 100% signal/quality on the tv's internal tuner and on the tablo..Hopefully they are using better components that dont use the same problematic parts.
We’ll have to see. I’m already received three emails regarding the return including:
1) Tracking details of new unit already sent out in less than 24 hrs.
2) Return pre-paid label for current unit to go back to RSS STV.
3) Step by step details of everything going on.