Tablo 4th Gen 2-Tuner Over-The-Air (OTA) DVR - Watch, Pause & Record Live TV, News, Sports & Movies Throughout Your Home Over Wi-Fi - Pairs w/Any TV Antenna - 50+ Hrs Recording - No Subscriptions

I’ve been a Tivo user since Tivo version 1 and have upgraded units many times over the years. Of course, I’ve been paying the annual subscription fees for just as long. My current unit has failed and as I was getting ready to purchase a new one, I decided to look around and see if there are any alternative Over-the-Air (OTA) antenna DVR products.And that is when I discovered Tablo!The specifications looked good, the reviews were generally good, the lower cost of the unit is appreciated and best of all – there is no subscription fee necessary. I triple-checked on that, and sure enough, the TV guide and operation is completely functional without subscription fees.I’ve been using it for a few weeks and so far, I’m genuinely pleased with this device.The main reason I’m writing this review is to share a few “features” that I only discovered after I got the unit up and running. I went back and read the specifications again, and the “features” were mentioned in the specifications on the website and Amazon description, but I didn’t fully get it until I was setting up and using the device. These are NOT bad things or deal-breakers for me. I just want to share so you are more aware before your purchase.1. This device does NOT connect to your TV with HDMI cable. It says this clearly on the webpage, but as I was setting it up, I was ready to connect my HDMI cable. How it works: It connects to your antenna and your home network (WiFi or ethernet) and then you control it, configure it, view live TV, record and manage TV shows all from the Tablo app that you must install on your Smart TVs, streaming devices like Apple TV or Roku and your mobile devices (phones, tablets).2. There is no native app for a Windows PC, so no watching on your PC. I just prop up my tablet next to my PC to watch live TV while working. 😊3. There is no out-of-home access to the Tablo 4th gen device, so you cannot watch live TV or your recorded shows when you are away from your home network.4. There is no ability to save your recorded shows on your mobile devices for later offline viewing.As I mentioned, these are not failings or deal-breakers for me. They are features that I would enjoy, but can live without for TV shows. I’ve got plenty of other content to take with me when I’m on the road traveling.So far, I’m really pleased and satisfied with this as a replacement for my TIVO – I certainly won’t miss that annual subscription fee.

Riddled with bugs and has the most user hostile interface that I’ve encounter in quite awhile. Just bizarre interface choices as to where the menu choices lead one to and the non-stickey nature of the Live grid.E.g., one can tell the Live grid to display only Favorite channels, but it isn’t sticky in that when one comes back from watching a channel the grid defaults back to all channels. E.g., when in the program grid, if a show is chosen to watch, then when the grid is returned to one is placed at the beginning rather than where one was before picking the show. Makes channel surfing in an already clumsy interface even more involved. E.g., if there is a scheduling conflict for recording shows that conflict is tagged on only one of the shows. Since, on the Library screen, scheduled recordings are grouped by shows rather than by time slots finding a conflict can be difficult in a longer list of schedules. Although not tagged as a conflict on the channel grid, conflicting shows can be found if one goes to the appropriate day.I could go on.Also, under Roku one needs to reboot the device as something Tablo is doing really messes with Roku’s head in that either Roku or Tablo consistently lock up.Table is obviously a hardware company (the device’s tuner is better than the one in my Sony TV), but the software acts like it has never been tested or that any thought was given as to how someone might use it.My solution is to split my antenna input between Tablo and my Sony and use the Sony tuner most of the time and Tablo only to record/watch a recorded show. Of course, I lose the free channels, but that's a choice I make to keep my sanity on a day to day basis.Football season is coming.The above comments refer to Tablo on Roku. Tablo on FIre TV has different, but equally annoying flaws. Perversely, the software interfaces across the Roku, Fire TV and my iPad are maddeningly different in subtle ways.Additional edit: So many software bugs and weird design choices continue to manifest the longer I use the device, but two bugs have occurred that I can't live with.The device does not record reliably. Often an episode, in this case a scheduled football/soccer match is split into two sections. Sometimes the entire match can be found thru both sections and sometimes not, but even then they often won't play and there is no scrub bar to move thru the recording.Out of the blue, Roku and also Fire TV couldn't find the Tablo. I rebooted the Tablo, Roku and Fire TV. I deleted and reinstalled the software. I assigned a reserved address to the Tablo in my router. All to no avail. My iPad can still find Tablo, so I know it isn't a problem with my network.Device runs hot enough to fry an egg, which is probably at the root of some of the issues.I wrote mainframe and Windows software and managed software engineeers for many years. If this software were written and/or beta tested by anyone on my team they would be terminated with prejudice. It acts as though it was writen by a summer intern.Unit sent back for refund.Edit #2: It occurs to me that a great deal of the interface problems can be resolved by running Plex on top of the Tablo hardware, but since I sent the unit back I can’t test this out. I bought an HDHomerun tuner instead and Plex works in addressing the ugliness of HDHomerun interface. Next stop is to run the Plex server on an Nvidia Shield and remove the need to have my PC on all the time. FWIW.