If tablo had changed the subscription policy so that all those that already had multiple units had to pay addition subscription fees per unit over the first unit, I would have pulled out my credit card and made the additional subscription purchases.
At some point there are more important things in life.
I can see it as frustrating, but that’s it. They are allowed to change their business decisions going forward. For example it’s been advertised at $200 USD, but they could tomorrow say it’s now $350 USD for the new units. They are allowed to change their minds and advertisements. Everyone is in the same boat, you want it, you got to pay more for it.
And to the clear the new subscription is still tied to you, you can swap out new Tablo units on the same subscription (say you want to upgrade to a newer better model or your Tablo dies). The subscription is for only 1 Tablo, but it could be any Tablo - it’s not tied to the device.
I’m with @douga on this one. I decided in January I would cancel Dish and go with Tablo for my local channels, but I would wait the 2 months and buy the new QUAD. Now the subscription I will buy has less value, even though I didn’t have any intention to buy more than one device.
It would have been a smoother transition if this subscription change had been announced prior to the cutoff. Then you would have had the option to buy before the cutoff and lock in a grandfathered subscription. And I’m fine if that cutoff is the day before the QUAD goes on sale. At least I would have had the option to get in with 4-tuner or DUAL purchase.
And what better way to clear old 4-tuner inventory than to incentivize me to buy it with a grandfathered subscription? That would have actually given me pause to consider purchasing the 4-tuner, not the poorly pitched free year of subscription (which was meaningless to anyone buying a lifetime anyway).
Well not meaningless or worthless, I paid for a full year subscription fee before I decided I wanted to go down big for the lifetime subscription. I wanted to evaluate the product and subscription to see if it was worth it. So I think the free 1 year sub is a great offer on their part.
Then go with Tivo. It’s a mature, solid, reliable product. And it’s lifetime subscription fees and policy are well known.
There is no reason to continue to be frustrated.
Sure, that is a fair point for someone looking to do a trial. I had no intention of that so I continued to wait for the QUAD.
And I’m not frustrated about this because I have no intention to be a multi-device user. This change will have no affect on me unless and until I want to add another device. I’m still going to buy a QUAD day one and add a lifetime sub to it.
But I can empathize with someone who was intent on waiting to buy 2 QUADs, or someone who would have gone with a 4-tuner and a grandfathered subscription if they knew about the change.
Yes. Had I known that waiting to buy the quad would have prevented me from being grandfathered into the Lifetime Subscription tied to me and not the device, I may have decided to pick up a 4-tuner or Dual Tablo in January. I could then add a Quad in March/April and not have to pay another Lifetime Subscription fee.
Again to the clear the new subscription is still tied to you, you can swap out new Tablo units on the same subscription (say you want to upgrade to a newer better model or your Tablo dies). The subscription is for only 1 Tablo, but it could be any Tablo - it’s not tied to the specific device.
Yes and no. It is now tied to me AND the device. Yes, if the unit goes bad or I want to swap it out I can. But, I can’t add another device under my subscription. That is how it was advertised. Why do you think everyone was so upset?
Yes everyone got so upset because that’s not what they paid for - keyword is paid.
I’m done discussing this with you @theuser86 . I’ve explained my point of view clearly. You have the right to disagree, I’m just not sure why you care so much.
This is almost like psychotherapy.
You lie on the couch. The therapist puts on a recording asking a length list of soothing question, leaves the room for a an hour or two, comes back declares you are doing better and charges you $800.
Of course you are not getting any better.
Ok, just joined the community so this may not be the correct forum, but ever since this all started (like 2 days ago) my Tablo will not record any of my scheduled programs. It is acting like I don’t have a subscription but I have had a monthly ever since I bought Tablo in early 2017. (I can go to the guide and click individual programs to record, but can’t record an entire series). I read some troubleshooting ideas and refreshed my subscription, checked to be sure I was current with all payments in my account, waited 24 hours after refreshing, etc. About 3 shows should have recorded in the last 24 hours but none did. When I check upcoming under scheduled, there is nothing there. Any ideas? Any help would be appreciated.
You need to go into Scheduled in the All view and for any series you have set to record you need to “toggle” them to get stuff to record. In my case I have all series records set to New so I selected All and then New again and the upoming new episodes then showed as scheduled. Annoying but a valid workaround.
And their lifetime sub IS tied to a device. And it’s expensive. And they won’t do it “after the fact” if you start out with monthly or annual. AND they connect to ONE TV. You can add more units but another Bolt means another sub. Minis have the lifetime “built in” but that’s because they actually run off a main unit (like a Bolt) as satellites (using a tuner from the host unit).
Right now… today… it would cost me more to put lifetime on the 2 Bolts I have (if they’ll do it) than it would to buy a Tablo Quad, hard drive, and lifetime sub. And my Bolts are almost 3 years old. If one dies and I need to replace it, guess what… need to buy yet another lifetime sub.
My wife and I are retired. Pensions and Social Security only go so far. If the Tablo Quad works out as well as I’m hoping it will, I’ll sell you my 2 Bolts and 2 Minis. Subscription service will be up to you. Have fun. 
Nuvyyo made a change. For me, they did it before the sale. The choice is still mine as to whether to go forward. For me this is a non-issue. Glad they did take care of their existing customer base though.
Why would charging for a new feature be worse than going against a previous agreement?
The right answer would be, be more like Hulu and say “commercial free experience is another $4/month”. Otherwise, you continue to get what you always got and agreed to.
Software goes through upgrades, and features and enhancements cost money. People have been paying for feature upgrades forever. Commercial skip shouldn’t be any different.
On the other hand, I would not pay extra for the simple and obvious feature of having the system manage recording priorities automatically based on my programmed preferences…
Commercial skip will not be free. I would assume that this change in how subscriptions are managed is to prepare for the monthly charge for commercial skip (as well as for cloud DVR service).
Whoops again. The good news? There are lots of Tablo alternatives out there now. And, while strange, all this is leveling the playing field. Choose the one that stinks the least.
I will say, I too am a little disappointed that because of me waiting on the Quad that I missed out on this. I would have bought the 4 tuner if that would have been the case and I was aware…
Has Nuvyyo announced that Commercial Skip will be an additional service fee? I missed that. Have they stated how much?