Customer Ratings & Reviews

It just simply works. I live in a rural area--and the stations are 60+ miles away, so I don't get many stations. This doesn't help that--it helps with the TV shows that I want to watch on the stations I get. Removed 1 star simply because it confuses my boyfriend to no end. I have to put in an antenna switch to make it dead-simple for him to watch TV. Trying to explain what's antenna TV vs. what's internet TV is frustrating. He is not a bit tech-savvy. I don't recommend for a house with tech Luddites!

Does a great job of recording over-the-air tv shows! Easy to install, too!!!

I purchased the Tablo DVR & Streaming Player for my parents, who rely solely on an antenna for their TV viewing, and it has been a good addition for them. Setting it up was incredibly easy, and I had it running in no time. The built-in storage allows them to record a substantial amount of content without the need for an external hard drive. The streaming quality is good, offering clear and crisp picture quality. The user interface is intuitive and easy for them to navigate. They especially love the ability to stream live and recorded content to multiple devices around the house because they like to sit on the deck a lot. They use it mostly for streaming to mobile devices and recordings. The speed of the interface is a little slow, so they use their TV tuners for their everyday watching. Overall, the Tablo 4th Gen has exceeded our expectations. It's a reliable, and versatile device that offers excellent value for the price.

It works better than the recast I've been using. If I had a complaint it would be the menu for antenna channals. It is slow to boot up but that could be my wifi

I got tired of flipping inputs between antenna and streaming box and adjusting sound every time. I run the Tablo app on my Roku Ultra and never deal with inputs and sound adjustments. The unit picked up more TV stations than my TV could. The picture quality for the OTA stations is MUCH better. The guide and program descriptions are literally awesome. Setting up favorites channels is a great feature. The set up went better than I expected. You have to be a little patient first setting it up since it immediately begins channel scan and program guide downloading. After that, everything runs quick and is very robust. Set up instructions were very easy to understand. Mine is hooked up to my ethernet connection as is my Roku. This seems to allow for the fastest transitions between channels and built in streaming channels. Very pleased with this purchase.

Tablo is a great concept: plug in an OTA antenna and it will allow you to use their guide to record shows and play them back at any time. The problem is, it simply doesn't dependably record shows. When it works, it works great. You can set up a schedule to record all the ABC NBA playoff games, or the evening news. The reality is, 50% of the time, you go into your queue and are greeted with an error message, or 3 different recordings of 10 minutes each for the 30 minute news program. I know the antenna is not the problem as I have a Roku smart TV that allows pausing OTA broadcasts, and that works flawlessly with our roof mounted antenna. I tried turning off the Tablo built-in amp and that made no difference. Would I recommend it? Short answer is yes, as if you can get it to work with your particular setup (as many people seem able to do) then it's great. For me, it was so frustrating to have so many failed recordings that I just gave up. I ended up returning the device and am considering other solutions, but Tablo is the only one that doesn't charge a monthly fee for the guide data. So I'm back to just having to physically be in front of the TV to tune it to the channel I want to watch and then letting the Roku's 90 minute buffer capture the show. Of course the big problem with that is you can't be away from the TV to start recording, and if someone accidentally changes the channel, the recorded buffer is gone!

This thing seems to have a lot of negative reviews, but I think it is mostly not knowing what to expect (and not expect) as well as understanding how it works. Firstly: Make sure you live close enough to a tv tower and do your homework on what channels you can expect (or not expect) to have in your area. For example, we do not have NBC or basically any big news channels in our area. But we do pick up 73 channels like AMC, CourtTV, Local news, etc.. Secondly: Get a good antenna. The Insignia flat 60 mile antenna works great. It probably also works so great because we have a tv tower 20 miles away from us. Thirdly: This device DOES NOT CONNECT DIRECTLY TO A TV. It is more like a bridge. It gets the over the air channels, and then creates a platform so you can connect over the network from phones, tablets, Roku sticks, Apple TVs, and smart tvs to connect to it. For phones and tablets, you get the app. For smart tvs and devices, you also get the app. The Tablo app, once you login, allows you to view and control the unit as long as it and your device are on the same network. Fourthly: The "point" of this in at least one regard is that multiple tvs, phones, etc. can view the channels at the same time. ALSO, the other point is that this can be positioned out of sight in some other room or in an elevated location for better range, so it does not have to sit in your face by a tv or even in the same room you are in, again, as long as it is connected to the network. Fifthly: It has wifi. I still use a cable. If you can't use a cable, then yes, you have to take into consideration your wifi connection in addition to all the other variables this setup introduces (your tv network connection, your ability to capture over the air signals with your antenna, etc.). Sixthly: It records. Haven't tried that yet, so no comment. Looks pretty straightforward. Lastly: Yes, you need an app to use it and control it. For some people (with a "dumb" tv), that could mean using this device, and a smart device together to be able to use the functionality (namely, viewing over the air channels on your tv, phone, and tablet individually or all at once). My experience has been perfect, it switches channels and loads quickly, is crystal clear, and I have no issues. I don't like app based stuff but this was for my father, not myself, so I cannot complain. It works for what he wanted.

The setup and installation were easy. I also bought a Sandisk 500GB USB thumb drive, which is "plug and play" with this unit as decent sized DVR. This 4th Gen Tablo does exactly what I wanted it to do, which is record programming in high def from a free on-screen guide. I can now record NFL games off the local CBS and FOX channels that DirecTV no longer carries.

I purchased the Tablo - 4th gen, in hopes that it would transition us away from a very expensive satellite bill. all in all it is working very well, only problem that I am having is, I set the app up on my phone and followed all the steps and bypassed the antenna setup. now I am having problems trying to find where on the app to correct that error. so my advice is to take time setting up the Tablo and the app.

This lives up to the advertising. We live in an area with good antenna reception. That is a must. On our local network it is excellent. Recording tv shows is 95% perfect. One movie recorded but the audio track was off by a couple of seconds. It isn't a big deal. I just recorded the next time it was on. Watching on our devices or Apple TV is seamless. I'm very happy with the purchase.

This generally works well, and is fairly easy to set up and navigate. Only drawback is that the channel guide often does not work which prevents the recording of shows.

We recently upgraded our legacy tablo with two new tablos, but tablo app doesn't work on Roku. It can't find the tablos on our networks. So I added firesticks to all our TVs, added to tablo app and all our Tablos are working on Firesticks. Still would like it to work on Roku. Overall, Tablos are great to record local stations over an antenna. Other than the Roku issue, I highly recommended Tablo.

Good product but seems to lessen antenna strength and pause, review is misleading because indicator bar on bottom of the screen goes real fast for the first few seconds then slows down

I have been looking for a digital video recorder since they stopped making VCR tapes. This Tablo is a great product. Setup was fast and easy. The Tablo APP allows us to view programming from every device. Watch on your phone, pause and continue show on the TV. WITH NO MONTHLY FEES! The purchase price is the only thing you pay for, once. This device OTA DVR only records Antenna TV but also offers its own list of streaming programming. With Live Programming, News, Sports, and Entertainment galore! You must use the Tablo App with a Roku Box or Amazon Firestick on LG TVs and Samsung TVs. We use both in our house and the Tablo runs flawlessly on both. The App is especially user friendly and makes viewing fantastic, on all our Android devices. When viewing recorded shows you can fast forward through commercials or the programs themselves, with the most responsive and visually useful interface that I've used over the years.

I wanted to share my experience with the Tablo DVR which I purchased in October 2025. The current OTA antenna I have itself is excellent, picking up numerous stations with minimal issues. However, the Tablo setup has been problematic. Initially, the installation and setup of the Tablo were straightforward, and the concept seemed promising. Unfortunately, once configured, I could no longer access my OTA stations as before and had to use the Tablo app on my TV to watch those channels. In my opinion, the Tablo app on the phone is essentially useless, and I never use it. While setting up recordings for OTA TV series and sports was simple, watching them was not as smooth. Often, I had to exit the TV app entirely and then reopen to get it to work. Additionally, the app was very finicky when trying to skip commercials, rewind, or fast-forward, frequently causing it to stop working altogether. This issue occurred far too often, and I had to reboot the system repeatedly. Overall, I would not recommend Tablo as it has proven to be more of a hassle than it's worth. There must be a more reliable alternative out there that offers the same concept without the ongoing issues.

First, I don't think it's 128GB, the 2 channel is about 56GB. But It works wonderfully well and I think its a bargain! I had more trouble setting it up than most report. It hung up in the process several times, finally a reboot of everything got it going. The guide is great, function is logical and easy and so far its issue free

I purchased to stream antenna channels in 2 tvs. The Tablo interface is great and its functionalities are super beneficial. The downside is channels with high quality reception without the Tablo come back with errors related to antenna signal strenth. In my experience i had it directly connected to my router and the inconsistent signal/error did not happen when i used the antenna independent from the Tablo.

I like Tablo. I had a previous 4 tuner model. I sold it to buy this 2 tuner 4th Gen Model. This unit has some problems I am not happy with. I watch it with a Roku and sometimes after 3 to 20 minutes it just quits and goes back to the Roku Home Page. Tablo Tech Support said they are aware of the problem and Roku is working on fixing the issue. Sometimes it will just lock up and I have to shut it down and start all over. When I responded to one of their emails I stated that I thought the Tablo I have is defective and should be replaced. I have not received a response back and that is disappointing. When the Tablo 4th Gen is working properly it is a nice piece of equipment.

So far so good, able to record two shows at the same time. Recordings are good quality. The only issue, sonetimes Tablo has a hard time connecting to TV in different room.

I’ve been using the Tablo DVR for a few months now, and I’m really impressed. It’s a simple, effective solution for anyone looking to drop cable or avoid pricey streaming bundles like YouTube TV, while still keeping access to local channels and PBS. Setup was smooth. Just plug it in, follow the prompts, and you’re rolling. I did need to swap out my antenna to get better reception, but even with it barely mounted on the side of the house, it still works great. That’s more of a win for the antenna, but Tablo handled the signal cleanly. The software has a few quirks here and there, but nothing that breaks the experience. Even if it never got another update, I’d still be happy with how it runs today. The DVR functionality is solid. It’s easy to record shows, and the automation features like grabbing upcoming airings from the TV guide are super handy. Overall, this is a big upgrade from just using basic rabbit ears. If you’re looking for an affordable, reliable way to bring local channels into your streaming setup, Tablo nails it.