Tablo Gen 4 out of the box question

General Discussion
1

You may need to bear with me for a few sentences. I come in this thread as a long time legacy user and also a network guy by trade. I know the reactions are going to be why would you want to do what you are asking and hopefully I will explain my reasoning.

Using the newer Gen 4 Tablo is it possible to grab ONLY the basic OTA networks I can get using my very good attic antenna? I literally could care less about the channels noted here as “free crap off the internet” by connecting. I don’t mind connecting to my LAN via ethernet, which I do already using my legacy gear.

I have tons of streaming apps including most of the major players. I have more channels than I can watch BUT I need the antenna OTA networks for my local news and weather, etc…

I feel from reading through the forum that all this extra internet channeling is buggy to put it nicely. Perhaps turning off or somehow disabling everything BUT the few true OTA networks that I want might leave me hassle free and quite unlike all the posts I am reading about Gen 4.

So from experienced users here on Gen 4 can this simple task be performed OR is such an option not available?

2

You can Add channels to your favorite list

3

Thanks.

I get that but can I designate that the Tablo Gen 4 will NOT go out online and attempt to even capture all the other unwanted stuff?

4

When you scan for channels (Settings > Guide > Channel Lineup), you can unmark any channels you don’t want appearing in your guide, including the FAST channels offered by Tablo. As a further refinement, you have the option of designating any channels in your guide as Favorites, but if you’re going bare bones, that probably won’t be needed.

2 Likes
5

Yes. Simply don’t add the FAST channels to your guide. It’s what I do. However, the device still needs an active internet connection.

1 Like
6

This is what we do, too - we disable all the FAST channels and don’t use them and only add the channels we watch, so we only have 40-50 total channels out of 200+ selected in our guide. This seems to work well for us.

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7

Me to! I only have 7 channels selected out of 125 over the air in my guide and only one of the Fast Channels since for ION since it’s in HD while my over the air ION is 480i. I only select the 720p or 1080i channels because I’ve never wanted to watch stuff on any of the 480i channels.

2 Likes
8

My understanding is that de-selecting the FAST channels in the scanned list does nothing other than preventing their listings appearing in the guide. Any communication/connection in the background remains.

9

Any communication/connection in the background remains

The Tablo is not going to record anything you don’t tell it to record. It will use the Internet to get its program guide for your OTA channels - is that what you’re asking about?

The mere fact that you have a bunch of streaming channels configured does not mean that it’s constantly using the Internet - not until you choose one to watch or record, anyway.

10

If I select favorites, I can’t find the channels that have “No Program Data” and watch them. Tablo can’t get their Program Guide corrected and that’s another issue.

11

If the guide shows “No Program Data” for a particular channel it may be that the Guide company does not have or get information from that channel. In my area I have START TV that shows “NO Program Data”. If I click on the Channel name on the left side of the guide I can watch that channel. I believe if you open a trouble ticket with Tablo they can add the channel in question In the guide (takes about 10 days for it to update with the guide provider). That is of course the broadcaster itself provides that programming information to the guide company, som broadcasters do not especially on the secondary channels.