A new Tablo?

Tablo announced a new generation device recently. I saw an article about it recently, but didn't follow up because of family activities going on. Plus selling my mother's house and the antenna, which is more of an impact.

Right now, Tablo isn't doing anything for me, as I don't have an antenna. I need to put up an antenna. I have one, and will put it up soon.

This weekend, I took a few minutes and looked at the announcement of the new Tablo device:

The latest version of Tablo hardware has been totally redesigned inside and out, with a sleek new form factor that is flexible enough to mount on your wall or sit on a table.

Inside Tablo are two powerful ATSC 1.0 tuners which deliver full quality MPEG2 video and an optional in-line amplifier to help lock in over-the-air channels from your TV antenna. There’s also 50+ hours of onboard DVR recording storage which can be expanded by connecting a USB hard drive (up to 8TB).

Like all Tablo models, the new 4th generation device can connect to your home network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet to deliver live and recorded antenna TV to smart TVs as well as streaming and mobile devices throughout your home.

And for the first time ever, Tablo will also use its internet connection to pull in a selection of 40+ free streaming channels (also known as FAST channels), which can be streamed and recorded in the new Tablo app interface.

I was a little surprised that Tablo released a device without ATSC 3 support, but I understand why they didn't release an ATSC 3 device. I suppose I'm just surprised that they released a device at all. But they did, and now I wonder if this is something I care about.

The new Tablo apps don't support "legacy hardware," they say. Also, they're looking to upgrade the legacy devices with a firmware update so the new apps will. That would mean my current device will remain in play for some time. So I don't see a reason to upgrade at this time.

My Streaming Life has included Tablo for a while now. I'm currently without until I get a new antenna up. But I'm looking to return to Tablo use soon. I really do miss it.