Hi,
I would appreciate your comments if a Tablo help solve my problem. I do not own a Tablo but am considering buying one to solve my problem (see solution 1).
The Problem
My OTA TV reception becomes spotty during the summer months but not during the winter months. By spotty my 2 VHS stations become pixelated or not viewable during the summer, but the winter months these stations come in fine. The UHF stations are usually fine. The signal is just too weak during the summer, but this was not always the case. I installed the antenna 10 years ago. Initially, I had great reception year around, but over time the signal loss grew.
My guess is that the loss may be caused by trees between my house and broadcast stations, which are less than 20 miles away. Over the years the trees have grown, and during the summer they have leaves. But, during the winter they lose the leaves and reception improves. This is my guess.
My antenna (Channel Master CM2018) is in the attic and is connected to an inexpensive antenna amplifier. The antenna signal is carried to the basement by a coaxial cable (about 40 feet in length). In the basement coaxial cable is split 3 ways in basement and then distributed about the house. In turn, these coaxial cables connect to TIVOs that in turn connect to the TVs. Note, there are Rokus next to the TVs and are connected to the network by ethernet cables (not wifi).
The Solutions
I have identified 3 solutions but only the first involves a Tablo.
I could substitute a Tablo (or a HDHomerun) for the 3-way splitter in the basement. The antenna cable and my network router are in the same location and making a connection to the Tablo would be trivial. Additionally, the TIVOs would not be needed. Remaining the same would be the antenna and its amplifier in the attic. For this solution to work the gain in signal from the removal of the 3-way splitter outweighs any signal loss from the Tablo to the Roku (if any). My question, would a Tablo improve my reception during the summer months?
I could move the antenna from the attic to the roof. There should be a gain in signal from the antenna on the roof plus the antenna would higher by maybe 6 feet. I guess the cost would be $100 to $200 to have somebody install it on the roof. I pretty certain that this would work. The 3-way coaxial splitter and TIVOs would remain.
I could buy a better (more expensive) antenna amplifier and leave the antenna and 3-way splitter in place. This is easy to install, and the cost is $100. This should work but moving the antenna to the roof maybe would be better.
Obviously, I could do all 3.
If it really is the tree foliage that is hard to defeat. A high quality signal may not be penetrating the foliage. So what would a better amplifier be amplifying.
A Tablo itself will not fix the signal issue. Essentially replacing the 3-way splitter with a Tablo might not fix the signal issue either as the Tablo (Gen 4) will either split the signal 2 or 4 ways (depending on how many tuners are in the Tablo) but could possibly be more efficient.
If you haven’t already, test the signal by removing the coax coming in from the antenna from the splitter and coupling it to a wire going out to a tv from the splitter and seeing if the signal is back or better. Then you will know if it is a splitting issue.
You could add a 5G/LTE filter to reduce interference if there is any. I use one even though I can’t see a cell tower anywhere near my house and it helped enough that I don’t use an amp to the Tablo and I’m 24mi away from the towers.
The cheap amplifier could also be going bad or introducing more noise than amplification so you could try your option 3. Also, if you decide to keep splitting the antenna signal make sure you have a good quality splitter that has low signal loss.
There is no signal loss from a Tablo to a STB (Roku, etc) as that is data going over your LAN. Of course, crappy network / Wifi would introduce a new set of issues.
The signal does penetrate the foliage because I receive the UHF channels during the summer. Also, the TIVOs have an option to test the signal, and there is signal but it is a little too weak in the summer.
20 miles from the tower isnt far at all. My home doesnt doesnt clear my tree line and I’m behind a highway wall. My roof barely clears that. I also live in the mountains. I’m about 15 miles away from my towers. I get decent enough signal, year round.
I would first check to make sure all connections from the antenna on down are good. A suggestion to isolate the splitter out from the splitter is a good start. The amplifier could be going bad is to be considered as it may not be working as well as it did when it was first installed.
An LTE signal will not interfere with VHF signals so I wouldn’t worry about getting one.
VHF signals do strange things in the summer so it is possible there isn’t much you can do because of your location.
Putting it on the roof instead of the attic is also a good suggestion. Raising the antenna will do wonders to capture the signal.
It is not the location (valley and mountains) because the signal is great during the winter months.
The connections are also fine. This is not the first year that the signal has deteriorated during the summer months and then improves during the winter.
I was not wanting to carry a TV into the basement and to test the signal. But, I might give it a try. But, suppose the signal improves when the splitter is removed, and the VHF channels are viewable. exwxman95 stated that the Tablo might not improve reception even with a solid coax signal.
If you live in and around mountains you may be getting 1-edge or even 2-edge reception and not LOS. And at 15 miles multi-path interference is probably lower. I’m 600 feet up a 1800 foot mountain. I have LOS from the from but can point the antenna out the back for great 1-edge reception. And that is for hi-vhf at 13 miles and uhf up to 31 miles. The only answer lies in what the signal strength is and the S/N ratio.
@daddio I stated it might not help but it possibly could. My setup is a one split signal to my Gen 4 Tablo 4 tuner (the other line goes to my Legacy Quad 4 Tablo) with no amplification and about 24 mi from the towers and I get very good signal. The one caveat is in my area (Charleston, SC) there are no stations broadcasting on VHF so my experience might not be relevant to you.
I do not live around mountains and valleys but live in Maryland near Washington DC. Initially when I installed the antenna, I had fantastic reception. I received the DC and Baltimore stations fine. Over time the Baltimore stations became less accessible.
According to this youtube video a 5G/LTE filter should improve reception for the UHF channels caused by cell phone towers. My problem is that the UHF channels are fine in summer and winter; it is the VHF channels that are weak in the summer.
The problem is seasonal. I have good reception during the winter months but not in the summer months for VHF channels.
As per the above article, you can also switch it off should your troubleshooting alone do the trick. In fact, it’s better to rely on your troubleshooting over the built-in amplifier.
I have found the Tablo 4th gen tuners (at least in my 2 tuner version) to be far superior to the tuners in my TiVo Bolt. I’m unfortunately limited to an indoor antenna and the TiVo would only reliably receive 2 of the 6 major channels in my area. The same indoor antenna with the Tablo picks them all up. Given you would be eliminating some of the loss if you went this route by eliminating the splitter, there is a reasonable chance the Tablos will perform better. You could order the Tablo from Amazon, give it a try and if you aren’t happy, ship it back in a week or so for a refund.
