I have aTablo Dual light I’ve been using for about 10 months and it’s been working great! The Tablo is connected via an Ethernet cable. A month ago KGNS NBC Ch 8 in Laredo, TX and KYLX CBS Channel 13 also in Laredo,TX, video started flipping, splitting and sometimes zooming vertically. With the lower half of the video frozen on one scene and jumping, and the upper half working but jumping. The sound is working. The sub channels 8-2, 8-3, and 8-4 work and have a solid signal. Sub channel 13-2 also has a solid video. The main channels 8-1 and 13-1 split and jump. All the other 30 channels work perfect.
I’m in the middle of the city and between all the broadcast antennas. I’m using a Clearstream 2MAX antenna about 25 ft high connected to a Channel Master 4 port antenna amplifier.
The signal on all four TVs is great. The signal level on the Tablo shows 5 green dots on all the channels.
Some of the things I’ve done:
I’ve reset the Tablo three times and rescanned it at least 20 times. I moved the Tablo to different TV connections in different rooms.
I have an extra 2MAX antenna and cable that I use with my RV, so I replaced the antenna and the cable. I also connected the Tablo directly to the new antenna.
I’ve replaced the Ethernet cable. I’ve connected via Wifi.
I’ve read about the cliff effect and connected a 100 ft cable for attenuation and got pixelation and the split. Connected a 50 foot and a 25 foot with the same results.
The main channels 13-1 and 8-1 split and jump, but the sub channels work fine. How can that be? Are the networks now protecting their signals from recorders?
Those are signs of reception issues (usually).
Thing is if it were a reception issue why are the subchannels working? They are transmitted on the same data stream as the the main channel.
It worked fine for about 8-9 months and I’ve replaced everything. It also has the latest firmware 2.2.28. I’m stumped!
Thank you so much. I’ll call the station tomorrow and have them check their signal. I’ll also suggest them check the picture structure.
Here I am going nuts changing everything! I’ll post my results.
Thanks again!
Well I’ve contacted the station and was told they would call back. It’s been two days and I haven’t gotten a call. I also sent them an email to check their signal and no response. This has been happening for about two months. What do you suggest is my next course of action?
Create a support ticket and Tablo will contact them. For the two previous instances both stations resolved the issue fairly quickly after Tablo contacted them.
https://support.tablotv.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
I didn’t get a very good response from the station engineer. He said if it works on my tv and not the Tablo then it’s the Tablo. I’ve been fighting this battle for 2 months. After 2 Tablo’s, 2 antennas, two cables, added an channel master antenna amplifier, added channel master a distribution amplifier, two Ethernet cables, I give up! I’ve never had such a bad time setting up an electronic device in my life! The station is 5 miles away and the antenna is now 30 ft high. Yes I’ve tried attenuators, to the point where I get pixelation.
The video is perfect on all four of my TVs. People at Tablo want me to put in a ticket so they can call the station. No more! I’ve spent too much time and money.
I had a friend bring his $34 Ematic AT103B converter box he bought at Walmart and it worked perfect!!! I got a perfect recording too! 1080p perfect recording! The menu is a bit clunky to record, but it records! Tablo has a better menu, but it useless!
I got the extended warranty at Best Buy and talked to the manger. He will be giving me a full credit on it!
No more digital cliff, station is bad, or signal is bad. After two months, hundreds of dollars, lots of going up and down the ladder, I give up on the Tablo POS!
Ematic AT103B works great! I’m getting one and I also letting them know my experience on the Facebook pages.
I’m sorry you are giving up but if you spend 5 minutes submitting a ticket and give Tablo and the station a few days to communicate and work through the issue it should be resolved assuming this is the same issue I referenced.
The engineer won’t see it unless he transcodes the video which is monitors don’t do. It’s an issue with one of the flags on their equipment. If we can get a sample of the video to confirm, we’ll be happy to touch base with them directly to provide the guidance they need to make the tweak.
I have been having the same issue Marky I’m from Laredo, Texas any luck?
Submit a ticket and Tablo will most likely contact the station:
https://support.tablotv.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
No, I didn’t get it to work. I live in the middle of town in Hillside. I tried everything! Another antenna, cable, added an antenna amplifier, a distribution amplifier, and attenuation. I ended up emailing KGNS. Talked to them and they told me if the TV works, then it’s my Tablo. I talked to a tech at Best Buy and he told me customers return all of them and they have a cheap tuner. They sell the Aluratech DVR for $49 and that one works. It’s the same as the Ematic from Walmart.
I connected my friends Ematic AB103B DVR, which he told me to get in the first place, to my antenna and it worked like a champ! He’s had it for two years. They cost $39 at Walmart. I’m doing a curbside pickup this Saturday and I included one. Ematic has a new and updated version, the AB103C. The only thing is, it only works with one TV, but for the price you can buy 3 and still save money! You don’t have to pay for a subscription either. It has an added feature that the USB port for the drive also reads mp4 and mkv movies! You can also adjust the recording times or even set it manually. You can record one channel and watch another. The Ematic has two f connectors in the back. One for the antenna and one for the TV. If you want to watch TV while recording, set your TV to antenna. If you want to watch the recording then set the TV to HDMI.
If you read my posts they asked me to submit a the paperwork and they would call the station. You might want to try that. I gave up!
Never heard of this box. Can you show us some screenshots or photos of what the Live TV guide and UI look like? I’m just curious.
Thanks!
There are lots of YouTube videos on the box. The company has been around for years. The box is sold under several different brands, they just change the plastic faceplate and name.
Besides the grounding blocks, I highly recommend getting a surge suppressor power strip with f fittings or cable fittings for the antenna. If any static builds up it’ll discharge through the power strip.
Here is a YouTube video on the Ematic.
This is the Aluratek box sold by Best Buy. It’s the same as the Ematic at Walmart. Best Buy also has it on sale for 39.99. The menu is a little different on these boxes, but it’s because it has so many options. I’m older so I did VCR programming which was exactly the same, so I had a zero learning curve! I’m getting mine Saturday, so I’ll give you a full review.
How is the Ematic working for you? Do you recommend it?
fter of week of using it it works great! It has a solid signal on Ch 8 KGNS and channel 13. It records beautifully on both channels and the picture is 1080p, The menu’s take a little getting used to, but it has a super flexible recording start and end times. I just went back to the YouTube videos for the operation.
It connects to the TV via HDMI, so you can only see it on one TV and it’ll record only one channel at a time. I figured I could see our recorded shows on one TV or watch nothing with the Tablo. If you need to record two channels then get two boxes. You’ll still save money.
I checked the reviews on the Ematic and found some were not good. Then I found out there have been three different versions of this box. The bad reviews have been for the old box. So people even gave bad reviews because it didn’t come with cables!
The AC103C is the latest and Walmart sells it for $39.99. In the AC103C version Ematic is updated and Ematic fixed the problems. So it works great!
I would highly recommend it.