I think the key is many cord cutters already have many standalone devices such as Rokus, Fire TVs, Apple TVs, etc.
So this is not an additional cost.
I understand that. I myself owned a FireTV box & a Fire stick before I purchased my Tablo. I opted to purchase one more of each to complete my 4 TV system.
But if doing a unbiased comparison, you have to recognize that Tablo cannot work with TV’s without a streaming device & the need for these are the equivalent of the Tivo mini’s. A true comparison is that my 2 FireTV boxes & 2 Fire sticks cost $240 vs $600 for 4 Tivo mini’s, but the sticks lack badly in performance. An even better comparison would be $400 vs $600 for 4 FireTV boxes. One must also consider the strength of their wifi system. Luckily for me, my router was sufficient for the size of my home but just barely. I had to relocate it in the center of my home to make it work with Tablo. Everyone is probably not going to be so fortunate & find they need a better router &/or range extender, this obviously will add cost.
A fair comparison will conclude that Tivo is actually the better system for live TV, channel surfing & a more sophisticated DVR experience. Tablo wins in price & flexibility. The wireless nature makes setup easier especially for the handywork impaired, and the ability to stream to mobile devices at home or away also is a major plus in Tablo’s favor.
I am not interested in watching on mobile devices &/or accessing my TV content away from home, but Tivo’s lack of a PS Vue app was a real negative for me. I did save some money & I am happy with my Tablo, but I do not watch much live TV & I do not channel surf. For me Tivo would have been the right choice if they simply had an app for PS Vue. But since they don’t & seem to have no plans for one, Tablo won my business.
I have 1 Roku 3, 1 1st gen Roku stick and 1 2nd gen Roku stick. Right now I haven’t split my antenna out to every room yet. I’ve been using PS Vue for a couple months now which includes the major local broadcasts NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX so I get by on the others for now. I would like to get the antenna channels eventually on the others eventually. I just haven’t decided how I’m going to do it yet. I do have an IOGEAR that I had hooked to a Joey that was least used in one room that could be used in another room with an extra remote as it has the IR Blast built in. So, I could pick up a mini and that would take care of 2 rooms.
Yeah, they certainly lack in the App department but it’s not a deal breaker for me. Although I would like to see more apps like Sling or PS Vue, the device itself is rock solid and feature rich. I’m finding many of the features I missed when I had DirecTV like searching by movie, show, or Actor and then finding out what else they played in, bio, etc. I’m an Amazon Prime member so a lot of times it will find something I search for ready to stream. Live TV is a MUST with time shifting and this responds like any other whole home DVR one would be use to coming from cable or satellite. No buffering, no waiting. It does what I expect it to do. $600 to activate an existing Romeo someone gave me for Lifetime? Yeah, I told them they can kiss my A$$. But $359 with Lifetime? All over it.
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I was already invested in the Roku (2 3’s and 1 stick) ecosystem, so I “did not have to buy additional products”. I have since purchased an Amazon Fire box. So, for me, I would have had to invest a lot more. and at the time, “re-invest” in the TiVo Scheduling Payment system just to upgrade. As I said, No Loyalty from TiVo in my experience.
I am also heavily into Plex. I might have gone the way of the HD Home Run if this new Plex partnership had come out a year ago. I have not used a TiVo since the HD, but everything I have read indicates that the app selection and implementation is very much lacking, so that would have been a deal breaker anyways.
Well, right now I just had to have a solid solution for the main living room since the Tablo didn’t work out and this TiVo filled the void. I wish I would have just bought the 2 Tuner instead of investing $300 for the 4 Tuner only to find this was not going to be an acceptable whole home DVR solution. Maybe someone will buy this one or trade for HD HomeRun.
Iam about to buy me a Tivo my Tablo is not reliable… I spend to much time setting things up and the video jumps when i stream to my chromecast. I just want it to work.
regards
K
[quote=“Kelvin_Lyons, post:189, topic:7351, full:true”]
Iam about to buy me a Tivo …
… I just want it to work.[/quote]
You won’t be disappointed.
Agreed. If this one would have been available at the time I bought the Tablo, I would have bypassed the Tablo.
Tablo need to make a direct hookup to the tv with a remote and a ineternal hard drive.
Then it wouldn’t be a Tablo.
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No it doesn’t.
Tablo vs Tivo is a bit like Apple vs Samsung. It comes down to personal preferences and both are good products, doing a similar job in different ways.
For your own case, I don’t think you can really judge the Tablo performances if you use it with a Chromecast. If you intend to make it your main way of watching TV, you should really invest in a quality streaming box before you can really compare the 2.
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Not quite. It is more like a fitness band vs a smart watch. There is some overlap, but they have a different primary functions. Tablo is a DVR box/server. Tivo is a DVR/set top box that can act as a server to other Tivos. Tablo is designed to be headless and sit in a closet, Tivo is designed to be your set-top box and sit near the TV.
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on a horse.
Or a creepy cellar
I jumped from Tablo to Tivo Bolt and two Tivo Mini’s. I couldn’t be happier with that. When comes to Value this what cost me with Tablo.
$299.00 for 4 tuner Tablo
$100.00 For 2 TB Hard Drive.
2x $199.00 For Nvidia TV Box. The reason was for having same remote on two TV’'s
I could go with Amazon Fire which is $150.00 but I hate Amazon just like Apple Controls What you can install on it. If they don’t like something then will be gone.
$50.00 For Lousy Guide. (1 year)
With Tivo it cost me as I would pay for new but I got them Used on Ebay. ($200, $90.00 and $110.00)
$299.00 Tivo Bolt with 1TB hard drive
2x $145.00 Tivo Mini (But you can watch it on other boxes with their App but prefer the right hardware)
$150 for Guide. (1 year)
So total is:
$850.00 for Tablo that had every day problems with disconnect and turning it self off. I can’t say with the Old Tablo but new one have a problem. Channel changing that it takes up to 30 seconds to load for each channel.
Very weak tuner.
$740.00 for Tivo Setup. Which I’m getting stronger signal, better guide, better recording, no channel buffering, Channel switching at any time, Large Guide, mini guide , channel return, plus App like Netflix, Hula and few others that after first log in will remember you so you can go to netflix or others like it would be part of the Channels.
This year I saved $110.00. Actually I saved more because I purchased used.
And I did not had a single problem with it yet. So any one saying that Tablo is better then wake up and smell the coffee. I don’t mine spent a $100.00 a year and be happy with it, then have something and having problem every day.
(But it cost as used one Total $550.00. with the Guide for one year.Plus Tivo will service them for no cost or small replacement fee)
Next year it will cost $150.00 for guide while Tablo $50.00 that would be $100.00 more then I would be stuck with Tablo.
Of course, if you go with a couple of Roku Primere boxes, that’s down to $90 each. Reducing the total initial cost by $220 and having a massive number of other “apps/channels” with the Roku.
That could easily read $630.
Instead you are stuck with a higher annual fee and higher initial cost.
I can’t speak to your experience with tuning and system problem. My Tablo is as good at tuning stations as my TV. My Tablo has only had a problem once after I got it working. Although it does run hot.
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First Roku Sucks and faster one it cost over $125.00. It’s not $220.00 but $150.00. You can save even more if you get a roku 3 or Roku Stick but lets be fair. You want something good at least me that’s why I went with Nvidia. I have Roku and is very slow with that Tablo App. Other channels on Roku are faster.
And the channels that they have you need to pay or free one is the same as internet side.
I can very easy turn on the Smart TV apps if I need it or use Android Box. You can only watch one thing on TV so switching between TV or Android box or Tivo is not a problem. You need to do same thing on Roku Box.
I’m Paying extra for Guide that is a 100 times better so I don’t care and it’s not initial higher cost, it is less.
But like I said, not a single problem with Tivo compare to Tablo every day and not only once but few times per day.
You will find lots of people who disagree with you on that.
The $125 model is the Roku Ultra and the only think it has over the Primere+ is that the Ultra will output 4K. Since none of the other devices you mentioned do that, you aren’t having a fair comparison.
This is true of all the IPTV boxes you mentioned. Android, Smart TVs, etc.
Great. But that isn’t everyone’s experience.
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Yes it is fair comparison. Because it is faster then other Roku but still slow when comes to Tablo App. On mine kept freezing for few seconds and then if you pressed few times button while was frozen then it would jump over when waked up fro frozen stage.
If every one can live with that fine but I can’t. That’s why Goodbye Tablo and Hello Tivo.
The other way is why I went with Nvidia. First is the fastest box up there. Second You can get thousand Apps plus you can Play Games. Which Roku can’t do it.