Could be the VHF antenna is strong enough without amplification for the TV - usually a TV tuner is better than a DVR tuner. Maybe try adding the CM distribution amp before the internal 4 way Tablo split (with a 30 day return policy for the CM-3412). Or strengthen the VHF antenna receptor as I mentioned before.
At 8 miles out, an old fashioned rabbit ears VHF antenna for $10 would be sufficient. You can even try that separately from your UHF antenna.
swap the cables leading to both halves of the split signal. the one leading to tablo could be nonoptimal.
also how long are these cable runs? (especially if it’s a longer run, and if it’s RG59/58, then consider swapping to RG6?)
if removing the splitter and going straight-thru to the tablo results in any improvement that is consistent with addition of preamp maybe being helpful. or the particular/original splitter being faulty. or both.
another alternative, wait until winter dry air and leaves-fall and the problems may disappear.
at 8 miles there ought not be any signal strength issues. I can belch further than that. take my word for it or surf to belchweb.org and PM me the angle.
@zippy @MarkKindle @bald2718281828
Hi guys,
I just received my CM-3412. I installed it and my problems seem away! But I had to change my antenna position. Before the amp, I was pointing 103 degress NW and had all green dots for my 4 channels.
After installing the amp, I only had 2 channels, 8.1 and 13.1. The others went away. I suspected some kind of tuner overdrive, so I put the antenna 15 degrees and all green dots were back.
At this time, I didn’t see any pixelation. Crossing fingers that my problems are finally gone!
Thank you all for the help and tips!
What this proves is that the Tablo tuner (not the TV tuner), after its internal split, could not deliver a solid VHF signal on that one channel. The overdriven UHF channels did not need the amp but 8.1 did BUT only for the Tablo.
The question then is - what use is the Tablo’s internal amplifier? It doesn’t seem to deliver good results in doing the split. If I were Nuvvyo I would take a look at how effective its internal amp really is…
Maybe the problem is that the amp needs to be directly close to the antenna and not in the Tablo?
I have a 10 inches coax between the antenna and the CM-3412 and then 50 feet (RG6) from the amp and the Tablo.
No, your problem is that only the VHF channel needed amplification. That VHF rod on your antenna is not that good. The UHF channels are being overdriven by the amp but not the VHF one.
One solution would have been to have a better VHF antenna separate from the UHF one. I rarely recommend combined antennas. It is known that a VHF component on a UHF antenna will cause the UHF portion to lose signal strength. Better to have two separate antennas (UHF and VHF) and join them via a UHF-VHF combiner.
Where your distribution amp is OK. By moving the antenna several degrees away from magnetic north you lessened the strength of the UHF portion thus lessening the overdrive. In any case you have a solution for the time being but it does point out some problems with the Tablo internal amp (on every Tablo box not just yours). The Tablo’s internal amp when coupled with its internal splitter is just not that good. Many people have noticed that and were also forced to buy an amp to compensate for Tablo’s inefficient signal split inside.
The real cost of a Tablo for many people is Tablo + disk + amp…not just Tablo + disk.