Questions & Answers

Q: QuestionWe have 4 smart TVs. Can I hook those to the box via wifi, or do I have to have an app on them?

Asked 6 years ago by James.

• A:Answer I'm a 81 year old retired rocket scientist with no available grand kids who cut the Cable TV. I am the proud owner of a new 55 inch LG and have four old flat screens that are from 7 to 12 years old that I equipped with ROKU Premeires which gave me the ability to stream Video on all of them via WiFi. I get 64 local channels thru the TABLO that come equipped with commercials. I'm to old I don't have much time to watch commercials. I got the 4 channel Tablo to record them. It will not record streamed video. My TVs all play back the Tablo via WIFI which feed the 55 inch and the four ROKUs. I screwed with it for a week trying to get it to operate and finally relented and called the $49.00 Geek from Best Buy because I already have their 1 year maintenance plan that I bought when I got the 55 inch. Two Geeks showed up and they had everything working in an hour. They have more brains in their fingertips than I have in my head and they cut their teeth on it, and to top it all, they never saw a Tabllo before. When I ordered it at BEST BUY I had to repeat it several times because it was foreign to everybody, and they didn't know what it was or if I was slurring my words. They only carried the two channel and had to order the four. They sold me a two terra bite cloud hard drive that I didn't need that was way more expensive than the WD Elements 3 TB that I ordered from them at a around 40 dollar saving. Hope this helps. I adopted the two Geeks. Instructions that come with the TABlO come on 1/2 sheet printed on both sides that are totally insufficient. You do have to purchase the hard drive and the antenna to get the local channel reception. You Tube TV is my streaming channel of choice, you can record its streamed video and the wife is able to play it back after the program is over and can skip the commercials. I like the you Tube TV because they do stream the local channels, Fox News, CNN, sports and too many others to mention. Infinite storage for recordings. Hope this helps, I had to and am still learning the hard way. I just hate to admit my own level of incompetence.

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  Answered 6 years ago by donaldVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionThinking seriously about cutting the cord and looking at this DVR. Will it allow you to record daily ongoing shows like soap operas or weekly ongoing shows like Hawaii 5-0?

Asked 5 years ago by Micki.

• A:Answer Micki, The simple answer is yes. For about $50/year you can subscribe to their listing service which allows you to record shows by title - only new episodes or all episodes, no matter what channel broadcasts the show. It is very easy to do this. You can set it up to record from your smartphone, pc or from the receiver itself through the TV. If you don't pay for that service you can record only by individual date, time and channel. For example if you want to record "The Big Valley," you have to program in Saturday, July 27 from noon to 1 on channel 4.3. If you want to record another episode, you need to program that in separately. I think it's worth the $50 bucks/year to pay for the service. We left YouTubeTV for Tablo about 3 months ago. We're very happy with our choice!

  Answered 5 years ago by FilugaVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionWill this dvr work with cable TV or a satellite ?

Asked 6 years ago by Mike.

• A:Answer No the Tablo dvr works only on an over the air antenna there are many antenna I have a Mohu sky 60 which picks up 54 channels

  Answered 6 years ago by RickVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionDoes this 4 tuner model Tablo allow the program being watched(live TV, not being recorded) to be paused while I get a sandwich?

Asked 6 years ago by blogboy70.

• A:Answer Yes, but it depends on the sandwich. You can pause or stop and it remembers where you were. Can also now skip commercials automatically.

  Answered 6 years ago by DaBer

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Q: QuestionI already have 3 Amazon Alexa Fire Sticks which is why I’m asking about a DVR to replace one when I decide to drop cable from Spectrum

Asked 6 years ago by Mick.

• A:Answer In November of 2018 myself and my brother both purchased a Tablo 4 tuner dvr we are very happy with it .You can hook it up 2 ways either using Wifi or going direct to your modem which is the best.They have smaller units of Tablo which is a 2 tuner unit,we do a lot of recording is why we picked the 4 tuner.We purchased it at Best buy for 199.00 and also had to buy a hard drive it was a 4tb for 100.00 . Tablo comes with a 24 hr guide which is free and an optional guide that runs all the time picking up things from your hd antenna its amazing to see the things that are over the air We are very happy with it and the service from Tablo

  Answered 6 years ago by RickVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionI would like to buy a UPS for my 4 tuner Tablo since we have been having frequent power outages. How many VA does the Tablo and its external hard drive require?

Asked 3 years ago by Denny.

Q: QuestionCan I record, burn a DVD from a camcorder

Asked 5 years ago by DM.

• A:Answer Nope, Tablo is a OTA DVR.

  Answered 5 years ago by kdecaddesignVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionDoes this DVR (or any model DVR) have a HDMI input and a HDMI output? Can you program it for the 7 days of the week? What does the remote look like?

Asked 5 years ago by Steve.

• A:Answer No, that is not how the Tablo works. - It's a great system and works with your streaming devices. Everything is wireless, except your streaming devices. I have Roku and they have the HDMI connection to your TV. Setup etc., ultra easy, tech support is great. You can program what ever you want and can receive (depending on your antenna). The TV-Guide from Tablo is great and very easy to use. Much better than DirectTV or DishNetwork. There is only subscription for the tv guide by Tablo etc. and cost $4.99 a month. The Tablo does not have any remote, it's controlled via your streaming app, like Roku or your computer. With the one I have you can record up to four shows at a time. Hope that helped.

  I would recommend:

  • 

    Tablo - 4-Tuner Digital Video Recorder for HDTV Antennas with Wi-Fi - Black

    User rating, 4.04 out of 5 stars with 114 reviews.

    (114)

  Answered 5 years ago by kdecaddesignVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionCustomers are saying it needs an external hard drive to record TV shows, what about using an 8 G Computer with a Hard Drive Capacity 1000 gigabytes hooked up to my LED Wi-Fi TV that's connected via cable modem to internet?

Asked 5 years ago by MP.

• A:Answer not sure I would get a usb tuner like Hauppauge 1191 win TV-HVR-955Q so easy to record to computer they are cheaper .

  Answered 5 years ago by CbtechVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionWill the Tablo stream directly to an internet connected smart TV, via the home wifi network, without the need for a Roku or Apple TV?

Asked 6 years ago by Drlev.

• A:Answer yes if your tv has the tablo app it will be east if not you can use internet app on tv to connect to tablo

  Answered 6 years ago by CbtechVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionThe Tablo SPVR401NA. I have spectrum with a converter box, can I use this model to record and play back? If not what DVR with model # will work?

Asked 6 years ago by AlS2291.

• A:Answer this model only recorders over the air channels. you connect antenna to it and a external hard drive set it up to your wifi you will have to have roku or fire stick are streaming device. not sure about recording cable channels

  Answered 6 years ago by CbtechVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionIf we buy the Tablo n run off your Best Buy hd antenna do we have to pay separate fee to tablo to record my cbs shows we pay for I stream it all n prime already plus have Netflix but want to drop Satelitte!!!

Asked 6 years ago by Woody.

• A:Answer Completely free (no charges)

  Answered 6 years ago by SamuelVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionIf I buy this as an upgrade to the two-tuner version, will it transfer my current recording schedule? It'd be hard to recreate all my scheduled recordings (I love my 2-tiner model and have a LOT of recordings scheduled :)

Asked 6 years ago by ContinuingBestBuyCustomer.

• A:Answer I CAN NOT ANSWER THAT QUESTION I WOULD CALL THE COMPANY FOR THAT ANSWER I WILL ADD THE ONE I HAVE IS OUTSTANDING

  Answered 6 years ago by LeonardBVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionCan you watch the record d shows on your tv? Does it come with a hard drive?

Asked 6 years ago by Cheri.

• A:Answer Yes, if you have an antenna (is what I have) you can record 4 show at once. If you have cable, I'm unsure... and yes you need a separate hard drive to record on a two TB is what I have. I wanted to save money so I cut the cord from cable and satellite. Save about $ 120.00 each month (Tablo) Tech support is great too!

  Answered 6 years ago by AnonymousVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionIf the first question I asked isn’t what I’m wanting, which DVR is compatible for WiFi & Amazon Fire Stick or cable? Saw a few of yours around the $100 to $199 range.

Asked 6 years ago by Mick.

• A:Answer Mick- If I were you I would use a Roku device instead of a DVR- all of my TVs are either Roku TV's or have a Roku attached (I like Roku Ultra). I currently use the streaming services, Hulu with live TV, and Philo (both have live TV content that let you select shows you want to record). They also allow you to watch some archived shows. I also subscribe to Amazon, and CBS on demand (without commercials). What's nice about CBS on demand is that all content automatically is there to watch including past seasons, and I'm even enjoying some of their original content. With Hulu, when a football game is on I want to watch (for example), I wait until its been on for a few minutes and I start it at the beginning and then fast forward through the commercials. There are a few things on Hulu that I record from cable networks where you can't fast forward through the commercials but not that many, so it's not that big a deal. Between Hulu live TV, CBS, Philo, and Amazon. I have all the content I need, plus its still way cheaper than cable.

  Answered 6 years ago by JanetVerified Purchase

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Q: QuestionDoes this work with Amazon Fire Stick, recording movies or regular TV shows such as a game show that is on everyday at the same time and you want to set up a series recording to record it everyday on new shows or reruns?

Asked 6 years ago by Mick.

• A:Answer I can't answer, because I got a defective Tablo that didn't work and had to return it, in the meantime I discovered that if I upgraded the Hulu I already had to Hulu with live TV, and paid $99 per year for CBS on demand (with no commercials), and 14$ per month for Philo (mainly for the game show network), I could record anything I wanted. Each one of my TVs now has a Roku Ultra attached to it. I only had one firestick in my living room before cutting the cord, and it has been retired and replaced with a Roku 55" TV (I also still have Amazon prime that I access from all of my Roku's). All of this is way cheaper than cable.

  I would recommend:

  • 

    Roku - Ultra 4K Streaming Media Player with JBL Headphones and Enhanced Voice Remote

    User rating, 4.76 out of 5 stars with 3629 reviews.

    (3,629)

  Answered 6 years ago by JanetVerified Purchase

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