Help. I am considering buying a Tablo for a couple of reasons. First, I’m hoping the Tablo will act as an external tuner for my primary tv. I’m pretty sure it has gone out. I no longer am able to pick up OTA channels for some reason. This just suddenly happened and I’ve tried multiple antennas. All I get is the blue screen.
Secondly, I like the idea of being able to use the Tablo with two televisions and the dvr.
Sounds like you need to replace the TV first. Then you need to make sure your antenna, internet, modem and router are in good shape and less than 5 years old.
The answer is yes, it will replace your tuner.
I use mine with a Linksys WRT54G from 2002, don’t worry about the age of your network components.
As long as the TV actually works (can you watch DVDs on it?), then you could used the Tablo’s tuners - but will probably need a playback client (like a Roku or FireTV). Talking about Tablo network DVRs here.
Or you could look at the Tablo HDMI units too, again, provided that the TV actually works. However, Tablo HDMI units have guide subscriptions that are different than the original Tablo network DVRs, so research carefully! Although the Tablo HDMI can 'stream" (with licensing considerations as just mentioned), it’s mainly intended to be direct connected to the TV.
Edit: Or what @u230148 said - yes it will! 
My Vizio TV (over 10 years old) started having tuning problems. Would have a hard time tuning channels and take a long pixely time to tune them. Like several seconds or more instead of instantly like it always was. I looked through the settings for every feature that mentioned anything like delete data or reset to factory specs. Did all of them and the TV was back to normal. I took pictures of all the settings with my phone camera before doing this so I could set things back to how they were. And of course I had to rescan the channels.
Whoa are all your playback devices wired via Ethernet to the router though? WiFi streaming over Wireless G might not go well for those trying to use the 1080p 10 Mbps option.
For the OP, consider the network connected Tablo DVRs versus the HDMI connected Tablo DVRs. The HDMI connected ones need a subscription for in home streaming and also streaming via WiFi may not go well as it records the high bitrate native MPEG2 video, while the network connected DVRs transcode the MPEG2 video to h264 video.
G is more than capable since it can do 50-100 Mbps depending. And at 2.4Ghz it can go through walls like crazy.
I agree the 2.4 GHz is better for distance, but I have found wireless N 2.4 GHz way better for streaming than wireless G 2.4 GHz. My understanding is the distance coverage of wireless N 2.4 is better than wireless G 2.4 but I am no guru. Just saying in 2021, maybe get a good wireless AC router and not worry about WiFi problems.
I was just pointing out that it’s usually more than sufficient for Tablo use even on “high”.
The ethernet port on my Tablo failed, and I use both Roku Streaming Sticks and Tivo Stream 4k’s, so I’m totally wireless.
My live and recording quality is set to 5 Mbps, and I haven’t had any issues using old routers. I have a hard time seeing any difference in quality at the higher settings, but most of what I watch is in SD anyway.
I have routers set up as access points close to the TV’s, so the sticks get strong wifi signals. The Tablo is next to my main router also.
I pick up old routers at resale shops for under $5 so I have several set up as access points or repeaters to keep a strong wifi signal everywhere.
I can appreciate getting the deals. I would be more concerned about known security vulnerabilities in those older router models that no longer get updates that could be a major security issue unless you are running custom firmware.
I load DD-WRT on them. The older Linksys WRT54G’s are actually better because they have more memory and can run the firmware with the most features.
Fair enough. I used to have a WRT54G and bounced between run Tomato and DD-WRT on it. I’m not current on those builds since I’ve moved to a different router but assuming the DD-WRT builds for it are still being maintained and new vulnerabilities patched, the WRT54G is the cockroach of routers, those things never die. 
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