Tablo TV 4th Gen 4‑Tuner Over‑The‑Air DVR
Worked fine then I updated the firmware and while watching a movie, it bricked. No power to device anymore. No lights, dead! I verified the power supply is fine. I got support and went through their steps. They agreed it was under warranty. Then they refused to replace it after saying a new one would be there in a week, when they found out that Amazon fulfilled the order. I called Amazon and they refused to replace it even though I spend over 50k a year with them! Once the Amazon support person said they would not replace it I asked to escelate the call and she litterally pretened not hear me anymore and hung up. Nice service all around.
Clearly, the device is faulty, it was behind a APC battery backup so power was pure. They acknowledged a replacement was needed and even mentioned others with similar issues.
Seems like I have a useless paper weight now. I will be forced to find another tech solution. Overall I liked it while it worked but with that experince I don’t see giving them more $$$$.
Has ANYONE found a way to mod the board to make this common problem go away and get power to the device again?
I have heard of others having trouble with Amazon purchased units. I don’t understand it. I wonder if there are unauthorized reseller on Amazon. I bought mine on Amazon in 2024. It burned out just out of warranty, and Tablo replaced it without a second thought.
Your problem likely had nothing to do with the firmware update. There are some known overheating issues that will burn out one or more of the capacitors if the unit is not placed where it can cool properly. A number of us, myself included, have opened the cases, added a fan, or both.
Keep trying with Tablo. They will likely take care of it for you. Higher tier tech support and costumer support monitor this forum and are often very helpful.
Thanks for reply. I will reply to the email rejecting the warranty replacement. I don’t expect much. I have started looking for alternatives. I have like 3 raspberry PIs laying around doing nothing. I assume I can assemble a similar solution, but roku or other connection is much harder.
Don’t give up on Tablo. It is a good device. Set up and fine tuning can be a little tricky for some consumers, but if you are monkeying with Raspberry Pi it should be easy for you. (You didn’t mention how long you had been using the Tablo.)
There are some competing products out there, but I have found that Tablo is the simplest and certainly most cost-effective.
Also, if you work with electronics, you could poke around in that case. I would bet you would find one of the capacitors has burned out. If that is the case, and you basic soldering skill, it is easy to swap it out with one of better quality.
Am still hoping someone makes a DIY video on youtube because I have a dead 4th generation tablo that I would like to fix myself to have it as a backup but am not tech savvy and don’t know how to fix that faulty capacitor without some tutorial and tools to buy.