Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I spent a lot of time searching for a DVR and always came up empty save for the few offerings that required satellite or cable service to get them, or those few that were made but not well supported because so few bought them. Why would I want to pay a monthly fee, hundreds of dollars a year, for the right to record OTA TV? Or IU was finding stuff that when I clicked the link I found the company stopped making them for some reason or got a lot of "no longer available". I had given up - until I had trouble finding DVDs for our DVD recorder and decided to look into DVR again. This time I got results - I kept seeing the word "Tablo" pop up on Amazon.com and on tech review sites. Most had "good" reviews, some said "young product" or "not mature" but they all loved the concept. So did I. It was what I had been hoping for without realizing it. Even better than expected this used an external drive, had multiple tuners, and no need to tether it to just a single TV if you have 3 or 4 or 5 TVs in the house. I read all I could and decided with Amazon's return policies I couldn't lose. Thanks Amazon but I won't be needing your return policy. The really good: This device is LIGHT, small, low power requirements (it uses a small external transformer or power supply, proving how little power it really consumes. One could call it going green AND cutting the cord to those crazy cable fees.), For location or placement of your Tablo that is limited only by where your existing antenna needs to sit, where your roof antenna cable terminates or where you have room for a new antenna. (by the way, *free TV has never gone away*, it's always been there, free over the airwaves regardless of what the cable and satellite companies would love you to believe. It's not because of any mandate or law like the makers of that antenna sold on TV commercials try to convince you, it just never went away, only converted from analog to digital. Those roof antennas aren't just for show.) Mine sits on a small shelf on the bottom of an end table in the front room. Antenna cable, short USB cable to slim drive for the recordings, Ethernet to my Netgear 2200D router, power supply. The connection to the TV is over Wi-Fi using a Chromecast device plugged into one of the 3 HDMI ports on my TV. (I could watch on other TVs by buying other devices such as more Chromecast, or move this one to a different TV. The Tablo can stay put, no need to even look at it.) It's also Wi-Fi equipped (more on that later) Their support is quite good, responsive and cares. They listen to suggestions and requests and are willing to look at customer input or ideas. They keep adding features where and when possible. It can broadcast live TV and/or recorded shows to multiple devices (depends on number of tuners and other things) Here is the "more on that later" part - Wi-Fi. It can utilize Wi-Fi to connect with "control devices" which mean a tablet, Android phone, PC, iPad, etc. and to the receiving device - Chromecast, Rokue and other things - the list keeps growing. HOWEVER, Wi-Fi success depends on YOUR network, your home layout, walls, etc. Wi-Fi is fine for convenience and data but isn't always the best thing for streaming media like TV shows at a decent resolution. There are a lot of "what-ifs" involved there. I strongly suggest using the Ethernet port the Tablo is equipped with and wiring it to the core of your network - your router or a good switch next to your router in your network configuration. This way your Wi-Fi is used only to get from router to streaming device. In full Wi-Fi mode the program has to traverse Wi-Fi from Tablo to router, then from router over Wi-Fi to the control device (iPad, phone, computer and from there to Chromecast, etc. If you wire the Tablo to your network, the Wi-Fi is used for only the last parts and it's much faster/better. That's not the fault of Tablo or the device, that's just networking 101, Wi-Fi as it is. There's a bit of a learning curve - setup is SIMPLE and fast. You can record without reading a thing, but playback can require some thought or reading because you aren't popping in a disk and hitting the play arrow. But on the other hand, it's mostly intuitive and is well supported by Tablo and by a growing community of Tablo fans who know these things inside and out. As General Zod said "you are not alone" - if you buy a Tablo there's a wealth of information and support out there. Oh, on the topic of monthly fees - there is one but only if you want to pay. It's for their guide. It's CHEAP, and it's wonderful and I absolutely DO recommend it. Click to record. Otherwise you can skip the fee and manually program shows to record like we used to do before DVRs (for any of you old enough to remember VCRs or DVD recorders) If it's this great and still so young, it can only get better and smoother with age. Buy a Tablo right here on Amazon. You can't lose with their return policy. Buy directly from the Tablo web site - they also have a good return policy. They will also strive to be sure you are happy with it. If you have questions, shoot Tablo a message or ask on their online community. It's hard to go wrong! In the photo - 3 wires. White is antenna, yellow is Ethernet to my router, thin black is to the power supply in the outlet. The thin small silver device is a 2T drive to store the recordings on. That's hundreds of hours of TV.