Internet OTA Tablo

[professor229]

For most of my years I have lived out in the sticks and remember our first cable back in the 1960s.... oh boy... we got three channels!!!! In 2015 we moved to the Twin Cities and it was a complete joy putting an antenna up on the roof and we are only five miles from the Shoreview broadcast towers...life is good..... Now we have gone further to enhance the OTA system. We have high speed internet so I bought a Fire TV, and added a ROKU to each TV in the house. We then bought a Tablo system for recording OTA channels and some Fire TV channels too.. We added the Tablo app to all the ROKU devices and can broadcast from the recorded library to any room as well as using the Tablo to broadcast OTA channels as well... We also have several other APPS that we use (FreeVee, Pluto etc.) that we can access with the FIRE TV and/or ROKU systems. We miss some sports that are essentially pay per view now but honesty don't miss them and instead, wait for the following morning and watch the You Tube highlights of those events... The bottom line? I am pretty much done watching TV commericals now... FF works so well with the preview screens... I also don't want huddles in football or have to listen to meaningless babble from the announcers... But the biggest asset of all this is the time I save....

If you have OTA capability, you really do need to get a Tablo.... arguably the best electronic device I have every bought....

PS... the worst? many times I have access to hundreds of programs and cannot find anything worth watching.... it happens....

PPS.. The only other improvement I would consider is adding an antenna rotor.... but honestly, I don't need any more channels....

Dennis

 

[harshness]

Since when has the Tablo offered recording of streaming content from Amazon?

 

[comfortably_numb]

 

[professor229]

Boy, you have to be careful with this one.... First, FreeVee is actually controlled and part of Amazon..... if FreeVee shows up in the program guide in your Tablo online guide, you can record the program.... but, you have to be careful. We found out the hard way about Amazon with our Fire TV when we were first learning all about it. Looking back we should have known better but so many people have made this mistake..... We accessed a program/movie/whatever and there was no clear cut indicator that you needed an Amazon Prime account to watch this and there was no single charge for that program either. Instead, Amazon signed you up automatically at $14 per month. My wife thought I did this... I did not. So we got into the third billing month when she finally showed me the charge on our Discover Card and asked about it. I got on the phone.... and later found out that the MN Attorney General's Office was also looking into the legality and clandestine nature of the charges. Since then, the information below the program description lays out exactly what it will cost or IF it will cost.... When we called to cancel Amazon Prime, the lady gave us a "deal" on the third month and said since the month just started and we had not used it that month, she would refund the $14 and end the subscription.... we demanded this in writing as well and got a confirmation email immediately ending our supposed contract with Amazon.... so this little experiment cost us $28 for two months and we got an education..... never again..... So now, even with FreeVee you have to be careful. Example.... If I go to a British program called "The Repair Shop" which I know is on FreeVee, I can use two methods to get there..... I can go to my ROKU which is hooked up to my Fire TV and use the FreeVee app and when I get there, search for "The Repair Shop" and it is "unavailable at this time." If I go to my Fire TV, also affiliated with Amazon (Alexa) and ask "Alexa, The Repair Shop" it opens up with a couple of choices and the first one always works and of all things, opens with FreeVee..... no cost.... I did an experiment the other day and checked on the online Tablo TV guide..... to see if it was "just" the OTA channels which is about channel 2 to 62 and if it then ended at 62..... it did not.... There were more channels without a real number designation but as long as the program/channel shows up on the Tablo guide, you can record it.... but there does NOT seem to be a rhyme or reason for what channels above 62 appear (apps)..... and it has not been important enough for me to dwell on.... I am more/less a creature of habit when it comes to TV programs. I sure like the Tablo for recording programs that happen later in the evening that I have ZERO chance of seeing.... We have never had it so good as we do now, at zero cost....... except for our Internet connection which we can get for $40 per month..... and that's another story too as we have to threaten our Internet provider once a year, every June and remind them that there are several providers that will give us a $40-$50 deal per month..... it gets old.... Have a good one.