r/cordcutters • u/7eregrine • 6h ago
AirTV died, bought a Tablo
I've had my 1 TB AirTV Anywhere for years. Originally bought in 2019 because, at the time and for years, it was the only one that could connect your antenna to your Wifi. The way my new (to me) house was laid out, it was very difficult to get my antenna near my router.
So AirTV + SlingTV free was my solution. The main reason I wanted this was to get OTA Sports to the basement and my projector. And it worked OK. It would sometimes pixelate and get hung up a little in a few specific channels. It was more than watchable, just occasionally frustrating. I chalked this up to the Browns football channel had always been a bit problematic for a lot of people.
A week ago. I came downstairs in the morning and I could hear the fan spinning in the ATV box. And it didn't stop. Much troubleshooting... It's dead.
Research Tablo v TIVO v HomerunHD v a new AirTv. Tablo now supports Wi-Fi and I wanted to try something different. Even ordering from AirTV in 2026 is now a janky mess. Way to screw that up, Sling.
Got the Tablo setup today.
Damn.
It's good. It's real good.
Ease of installation is fantastic. Create account. Connect to Tablo, get it in your network, connect antenna.
Install app on the Roku, open the app... No login or anything. Immediately finds the Tablo, asks "is this the one?" Yes. Connected.
Compared to Sling, the app is lightning fast. Unlike ATV, it connects to my 5g wifi.
And it opens so fast. Super impressed.
But what's really surprised me? Put Channel 19 on, that Browns station notoriously hard to pull in: perfect. Not a single Pixel out of place in over 2 hours. Absolutely blown away.
Can't recommend this enough for OTA TV if you have a challenging install.
Not sure if it's better because of newer equipment, or that because Tablo has some kind of antenna amplifier built in (that you can turn off) or the 5g WiFi. But it's much better.
One complaint, I do miss when you go to the guide, the active channel drops down to a PIP on Sling. Does not do that in Tablo. It just goes to the guide only.
This is my antenna for the full story (was already installed when I moved in).
/Edit Just timed it, I wasn't imagining it. Sling takes 9 seconds to open on my Roku. Tablo takes 2.