TabloTV vs SageTV

[SHS]

A screenshot of the motherboard

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by SHS

A screenshot of the motherboard

Ha! I'm not ripping that thing open. Nice try though.

[SHS]

Originally Posted by PiX64

Ha! I'm not ripping that thing open. Nice try though.

Chicken

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by SHS

Chicken

Ha! Maybe a little.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Tiki

Interesting product and nice write-up.
There are some things that I think should be added to your comparison though...

1. Number of tuners supported (looks like Tablo comes with 2 or 4 tuners, Sage supports unlimited tuners). Not sure if you can have more than one Tablo if you want more than 4 tuners.
2. Number of clients / extenders supported (looks like Tablo supports max of 6, Sage has no set limit but there may be practical limits based on memory, network capacity, and hard drive bandwidth).
3. Sources supported (Tablo only supports over the air / antenna, Sage can work with almost any source).
4. Ability to manage / play back other media (Video, pictures, music stored on the network). Doesn't look like the Tablo handles any of this, but since you can use almost anything as an extender (Roku, iDevice, etc.), those devices may support this. May require a separate app and may require transcoding if the extender can't handle the media file natively.
5. Ability to play back streaming content (YouTube, RSS feeds, etc.). Sage handles non-DRM sources reasonably well, but not premium services like NetFlix, Hulu+, Amazon Prime, etc. Doesn't look like Tablo handles any of this natively. But again, the extender that you use for Tablo probably can do this using separate apps.
6. Ability to keep track of shows you watched or recorded. This is possibly Sage's best feature - it means you can set a show as a favorite and it will record every upcoming episode, but it is smart enough not to record the same episode 50 times or keep recording episodes that you already watched. I don't see any mention of this on the Tablo product info page.
7. Other features: Intelligent Recordings, Weather, Search, Fan Art integration...

Disclaimer: My 4 tuner Tablo is on its way and will replace my OTA only Sage setup

I wanted to really drive home why 4 and 5 are non-issues.

Of course Tablo doesn't support online streaming or playback of local files. Tablo isn't a playback device! Let me repeat this: Tablo is NOT a playback device. Tablo is simply a way to get recordings of OTA video.. Guess what though? All the devices that work WITH Tablo ARE playback devices.

Here are the ways you can play back video recorded by Tablo:
1. Roku: Has Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. Can play back locally hosted videos via Plex, DLNA, etc.
2. AppleTV: Has Netflix, Hulu, etc. Can play back locally hosted videos via iTunes/Home Sharing
3. iPads/Android Tablets/Etc: All have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Apps. All have various apps to play back locally hosted content.
4. Computers (Macs/PCs): Again, all can access the web and network stored content.

Tablo is NOT a playback device. It serves up their recordings TO playback devices that all have the services you mention that Tablo does not. Tablo does not need to supply those features.

And your last point, again Tablo does NOT need a search function or weather reporting. You are watching the Tablo App on your iPad, to the home screen and click on the weather app. Want to search all your videos or otherwise, go to your video playback app (in my case it will be Plex for Roku) and search there. The only loss is that your television recordings and your network stored videos won't come up in the same search (different apps).

Here are the big cons:
1. As stated, only OTA. I dropped cable. Not because I can't afford it, but because I realized there was much more to life than watching TV. Only thing I really miss is College Football. Just not worth $1000 a year for.

2. Only 2TB storage limit as of now. Yes they are trying to add the ability to have 2 hard drives and do load balancing, but until they add that 2TB is somewhat limiting (I currently have 4TB of storage and about 70% full).

3. Only 4 "tuners". For OTA 4 tuners is probably fine, BUT they also use a "tuner" if someone wants to access their videos from outside your network. The Tablo will need to use a "tuner" to serve those videos (I assume it is re-encoding the video to a lower bit rate to send them off). That means if you have 3 shows to record, 1 person trying to watch live TV, and someone else wants video from outside the Local network, something doesn't get video.

Advantages of Tablo over Sage:
1. It's a recording "appliance". It just works out of the box with very little setup and if it something goes awry, I can always just buy a new one. No worries about software incompatibilities, hardware failures (a motherboard and process can easily cost you $300 if not more), etc. etc.

2. It has apps! Real apps! I can watch it in my house or on the go from tablets, computers, and streaming devices

3. Streaming Devices. It isn't tied to a proprietary extender. I have two HD300's that have seen better days. Luckily I bought several HD200's from a guy right after Sage sold out, but at some point I won't be able to buy an extender. I can use my AppleTV's (via Airplay) or Roku's. Both are readily available and no matter what happens to Tablo, I can always buy those.

[nyplayer]

All your points are good but with a mini PC and Dual tuners Hd homerun you can do a a lot more with it than the TabloTV. I can stream to my tablet watch over the Internet. I can have unlimited Storage. I watch on my ROKU's. I watch on my Echo. I can watch on my 1 extender. I do not see it being worth it when it only does OTA. Just my opinion. Plus I can watch TV on any PC. with the Hd Homeruns. My WMC Server is only 5" by 8" by "1 1/2" Inches.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

All your points are good but with a mini PC and Dual tuners Hd homerun you can do a a lot more with it than the TabloTV. I can stream to my tablet watch over the Internet. I can have unlimited Storage. I watch on my ROKU's. I watch on my Echo. I can watch on my 1 extender. I do not see it being worth it when it only does OTA. Just my opinion. Plus I can watch TV on any PC. with the Hd Homeruns. My WMC Server is only 5" by 8" by "1 1/2" Inches.

a mini pc(s) that you have to maintain, patch, update software, so on and so forth. def negative for the minimalist setup

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by PiX64

a mini pc(s) that you have to maintain, patch, update software, so on and so forth. def negative for the minimalist setup

You are right in that point guess I am looking from the point of view that I like to tinker. I was reading some of your blog postings I see your Input is being listened to so it does have promise.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

You are right in that point guess I am looking from the point of view that I like to tinker. I was reading some of your blog postings I see your Input is being listened to so it does have promise.

See that's the point. When I was 20 something I wanted to tinker. Now that I have two young children I don't have time to tinker. It has to work. An appliance is infinitely more useful to me anymore.

[cncb]

It appears that skipping ahead during playback on the Roku is not very usable at the moment since there is no visual feedback and no way to skip just a few seconds. It seems like trying to skip past commercials would be an exercise in frustration. Have they made any progress in improving this (such as the "thumbnail previews" in the timeline)?

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

See that's the point. When I was 20 something I wanted to tinker. Now that I have two young children I don't have time to tinker. It has to work. An appliance is infinitely more useful to me anymore.

Same here. Love to tinker but 5 mo/old and 3 yr old dramatically decrease and consume all available tinker time...sleep time for that matter too

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by PiX64

Same here. Love to tinker but 5 mo/old and 3 yr old dramatically decrease and consume all available tinker time...sleep time for that matter too

Ha. Same boat. 5 month old (believe it or not) and an almost 3 year old. I'm lucky if I can find time to work out anymore.... oy.