Tablo Gen 4 vs. AirTV 2 Broadcast TV DVR Comparison 

I'm looking for something to replaced my old Slingbox. The TABLO looked good to solve the Over the Air channels but since it doesn't let me watch those channels when I am away from home I have to hold off. My old slingbox used to let me watch and control my cable box from anywhere on the Planet and it was the best thing I have seen even today. I thought by now someone would have replaced it. Nice video, thanks

Great review and comparison! Tablo which is developed and created here in Canada by the company Nuvyyo is my favorite ota dvr. Unfortunately Air tv requires sling which is not available in Canada. I prefer the tablo over other ota dvrs not just because its a Canadian product and I'm Canadian but because it has a great user experience.

Love my Tablo 4th gen works really good and I totally agree that being able to skip through the commercials and 2 week schedule that is free is a big plus.

Thank you for the comparison. I recently cut the cable cord and am now learning about all this “new” technology (yes, I’m behind🤷🏼. Have used cable a long time).

I purchased the AirTV2 last year mainly to be able to distribute my OTA stations throughout the house (vs wiring to each TV). The DVR feature is a great bonus. I picked up the 4 tuner 4th Generation Tablo (available at Best Buy) and I decided to use both devices. I like the AirTV2 because of the remote "out of the home" access so I will have it for that. I like the channel guide better with the Tablo - in particular - it tells you the channel name AND number (AirTV doesn't display the number). I'm getting the same number of channels for both from an OTA perspective. I'm thinking that the Tablo will be the best option long term, at least in theory. Thank you for doing the side by side comparison!

I just purchased Tablo 4th gen, I’m happy with it, has better tuner than my Vizio TV using an antenna in the attic 15ft above ground and 35 miles from the transmission towers.

Excellent comparison, I use both devices and you’ve covered it all. Overall I prefer the tablo for its snappier interface though in my case the airtv2 has a tiny bit more sensitive tuner.

Looks like Tablo4 is regularly pushing out software updates too. Great video

On the Tablo Roku and Fire tv App ... There is no program description for recorded shows. In addition there is no trash can if you accidentally delete a program. Sling keeps changing the interface so it deletes shows that we're previously marked as record.

I'm surprised you haven't covered (I don't think you have anyways) the OTA Zapperbox M1 DVR yet. It's expensive, but very very promising

I bought the new quad version but still waiting for the Apple TV update. In the meantime I found a legacy new in the box for $60 and it plays nice with Apple. Once they get the Apple TV working I’ll start using the gen 4

Would have been nice to see the AirTv UI.

Having 2 (or 4) tuners is good not only if you are watching live TV and want to record another channel, but also if you want to record 2+ shows that air at the same time.

You mentioned the older Tablo could stream remotely when traveling. I wasn’t aware that was possible or did I misunderstand? I just bought it a air ago and I’m planning on upgrading cause the old subscription cost of 50 bucks a year. Thanks for the great video.

I have yet to be able to get my AirTV 2 OTA DVR to work. I've tried all the suggestions posted including your's. It will record one show after all the uninstalling, reinstalling,,,blah, blah, blah, Then it goes back to Hard Drive isn't connected. It was working fine from November last year up until June this year and I was just using a thumb drive. Then it just stopped and got stuck. I upgraded the hard drive to WD passport and nothing. No help at all from Sling TV and it looks like many other's have had problems as well. The firmware does not update either so I don't know if that's the problem

Thanks for the comparison. Just to clarify- when you say the Tablo can record streaming channels, that only applies to the free streaming channels that you get through the Tablo, not channels through other services like Pluto, is that correct?

Question re: the AirTV2 and its compatibility with external hard drives. Would a SSD with enclosure suffice as the external hard drive? Obviously, read/write speeds will be limited to the USB controller on the AirTV2, but curious if this would be a viable option. Thanks!

I have to share my 1 year experience with the Tablo Quad Dvr. Unfortunately, I found their customer service a waste of time. Not only was I told on two separate ocassions that 10minutes was too long to spend trying to resolve one of several recording problems I was experiencing, they were rude and hung up on me. Just to be clear, I followed all the requirements necessary to receive and record local programing prior to installing the Tablo DVR. When it worked it was okay unfortunately, the glitches were constant. I had a quality outdoor antenna professionally installed and directed for best reception. After I installed the Tablo DVR, the crystal clear 50+ channels I received with the antenna dropped to 20. I kept having to lower the reception quality in order to stop the buffering and dropped connections that continuously occurred with Tablo. Customer service blamed my antenna, location, TV, Wi-Fi connection, … Everything but the fact that all the problems were only present after the Tablo introduction to my set up. I was hoping that the Sling Air 2 would be a good alternative but, It appears that I would be repeating or worsening my experience.

Good comparison, I've not used an AirTV 2, but I would bet my $$$ that the HD HomeRun 4K FLEX beats both of these. It's slightly more expensive at $199, but you get what you pay for.

AirTV can be integrated with Sling so that your OTA channels and streaming channels are in sync (like cable). Can Tablo integrate with any streaming platform?

I love your reviews. I did purchase this unit only to find out I couldn't use it on my Samsung 65" TV. I did talk to customer support and as of yet they do not support Samsung, LG or Apple. That's funny because Best Buy sells mostly these brands where I bought this unit and returned it. I'm looking now at TiVo for antenna, which will do what I want but the $450 price tag is so high. Am I crazy to get this? Anything better out there? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

A friend got me a Tablo for xmas...

What are the free streaming services? I have the old Tablo and was wondering if I should get the new Tablo or the air dvr

I just installed the Tablo app directly on my Samsung TV. Look again. (Otherwise use a Roku or similar.)

I found with airtv quite substantial degradation in video and audio quality vs. I sent it back and plugged the antenna back directly to the TV. I am looking at Plex, and will look at Tablo when they come out with an Apple TV OR Samsung app.

I got hdhomerun is that good compared?

I just purchased a Tablo 4th Gen 4 tuner DVR today and this is what I found. 1. I cannot watch streaming channels, buffering and Tablo re-boots. Sometimes I watch a few seconds of video before it freezes. I know I do not have internet bandwidth issues. This appears to be a major defect in the Tablo 4 4tuner unit. 2. I have not hooked up any additional Hard Drives that could be blamed. 3. I have 1GB internet connection and all my other devices work fine. 4. In the setting there is no way to set the resolution. Why? 5. It doesn’t seem possible to add other streaming services which don’t work to the Tablo 4 Guide. 6. Like the Legacy Tablo, this version also loads the guide very slowly, unlike what I see with Amazon Firecast. 7. My question is how you could Tablo offer a product with so many defects. The settings menu offers nothing helpful. 8. I had high hopes this DVR would replace my Firecast which is no longer sold by Amazon with the end-of-life nearing. 9. Today I am thinking of doing a RU-vid Video discouraging people from purchasing this product.

Seven months later and they still don’t have an app for a browser or Apple TV.

Tablo does not work with Apple TV

the new ATSC 3.0 lost my cw pix 11 nyc to 3.0 only lost wliw 21 pbs long island for ATSC 3.0 this techknowledgy wont work anymore

RU-vidtv is better and you can share with 5 people and unlimited DVR

Tablo is pure garbage, I had the older version and it worked great so I upgraded to the 4th gen. Forget watching it on a PC, doesn't work on a Vizio TV, and this last firmware update broke anyone wanting to watch a video on a Samsung device. I'm returning it.

not worth the stress wasted over $ 100 to watch record nolonger bothering long island sound pbs 21 turned off 1.0 for 3.0 create still 1.0

I dont like either of the two! I find it disturbing that you need a phone or tablet to change channels in order to view them. With all the phone tracking thats going on these days, now they can literally SEE what your viewing too! Now imagine if your a Donald Trump supporter or a Biden supporter. Can you see how someone might manipulate the masses! I think Ill pass!