Hello: This is my second post. I realize this issue has been discussed before but most of the posts are older ones from over 18 months ago. We are now into the end of Sept. 2016.
I love my 2-tuner Tablo TV unit but since the political debates are going on right now, I want to record all the political commentary. If I were to purchase a 4-tuner Tablo, can I record six programs on one account and one internet router in the house? I realize that a new Tablo requires a new hard drive, but that is not a problem for me. I still want to record a lot of stuff.
Also, part 2: Can I purchase software that will allow me to archive Tablo video files in crystal-clear quality without dropped frames. I like the AVI format the best since it’s not compressed like MP4 videos that seem very bit-mappy at times.
Yes, you can add and use another Tablo on your account, no issues there, other than known issues involving unavailability of the tuners for other uses such as thumbnail creation, or streaming to watch which may require the use of a tuner. Also, if you have any marginal TV signals, installing a splitter between the antenna and your two Tablos may cause some signal degradation making those channels unusable.
There are several 3rd party apps for pulling Tablo contents off onto your computer. My favorite is Tablo Ripper, created by a guy on these message boards named Cycle J, but there is also Tablo Exporter (again, created by another guy here. Tablo Ripper is for Windows computers, and Tablo Exporter is Java based, making it usable on almost any platform. Additionally, there is a plug-in for Video Lan, which allows you to export Tablo content in multiple formats.
I know that Tablo RIpper exports Tablo contents in mp4 content, though at some point CycleJ may open that up and allow other formats since he takes advantage of FFMPEG. Not sure what format Tablo Exporter saves to.
Tablo does store MP4 internally, using the video quality you select for recording. So there’s no way to up-convert the quality back to the original OTA. But even at the default setting, it’s better than cable/satellite (IMHO).
Personally, I’m happy with mp4 format. I have a Nexus Player on one TV input that allows me to play video files stored on my NAS drive and it looks really good on my 55" TV, and certainly much, much better than the quality I was getting from my satellite provider prior to cutting the cord. Also looks good when played on my tablet or laptop.