Two devices, Tablo and HDHomeRun, are at the top, taking into account the suitable TV tuners and DVRs for your home. If you are fed up with your cable connection and paying too much money then these devices are the best option for you to cut your bill. If you compare Tablo vs HDHomeRun then you can find they have its own features and benefits.
These are two of the best choices if you find a way to sever the string. This is currently the harsh truth for cord-cutters: the perfect DVR over the air isn’t available. You must determine which of these shortcomings you can accept if you wish to record broadcast television channels from an antenna.
This product and feature comparison let you pick an OTA TV network linked unit that is correct for you, as you want to distinguish between the Tablo DUAL OTA DVR and the Silicon Dust HDHomeRun tuner in the over-the-air (OTA) TV component of your cord cutter setup.
HDHomeRun vs Tablo: Side by Side comparison
| Tablo | HDHomeRun | |
|---|---|---|
| NETWORK CONNECTION | Ethernet OR Wi-Fi | Ethernet Only |
| RECORDINGS STORAGE | Tablo DUAL includes 40 hours of onboard storage. All Tablo DVRs can support up to 8TB of expanded USB Hard Drive storage | Requires connection to always-on HTPC, NAS storage, or NVIDIA SHIELD |
| HD TRANSCODING | Yes | Yes |
| WHOLE-HOME STREAMING | Yes | Yes |
| OUT-OF-HOME STREAMING | Yes | No |
| LIVE TV GRIDE GUIDE | Yes | No |
| DVR RECORDING W/O SUBSCRIPTION | Yes | No |
| SERIES RECORD ALL-NEW ONLY | Yes | No |
| FEWD PREVIEWS IN RECORDING | Yes | No |
| AUTO EXTENDED LIVE RECORDINGS | Yes | No |
| 30 DAY FREE TRIAL | Yes | No |
| AUTO AD SKIPPING | No | Yes |
| VOICE CONTROL | No | No |
| TUNERS | 4 | 2 |
| ROKU | Yes | No |
| Mac OS | Yes | No |
| APPLE | Yes | Yes |
| SMART TV | Running Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, LG Web OS,& Samsung TIZEN | Android OS only |
| WEB BROWSER (PC/MAC) | Yes | No |
| Amazon fireTV | Box, Stick & Smart TV | Only FTV BOX model |
| ANDROID | Yes | Yes |
| WINDOWS | Yes | Yes |
| XBOX ONE | Yes | Yes |
| LIVE PHONE SUPPORT | Yes | No |
HDHomeRun
HDHomerun is an Over-the-air TV tuner that transmits the signal to your home network and allows you to watch it on a TV, tablet, telephone, or computer. The antenna and Ethernet cable is attached, and feed is shared over the network.
HDHomerun is basically a series of multiple tuners so that you can view various channels at the same time on different screens. You attach the cable to your antenna, spark the app, and watch TV — free TV, up to 1080i resolution — on almost every intelligent screen in your house.
It has a perfect video and audio quality that makes it superior in any aspect to Tablo. With this cool OTA tuner, you can cut the cord and even forget about the television cable if you are searching for a great viewing experience when you cut the cord, so you want to save your money as well.
Check out some of their amazing products:
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Scribe Quatro
Pros:
- Streams live and recorded TV at full MPEG-2 quality
- Setup is practically plug-and-play
- Easy to add more tuners and storage over time
Cons:
- The interface is an eyesore and often counterintuitive
- No ad-skipping or visual preview while fast-forwarding
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Connect Quatro
Pros:
- A low-cost way to get live TV on a home network
- Consistent app interface across devices
- Unlimited recording capacity — with enough hard drives
- Sensitive tuner
- Compatible with Plex software
- Easy setup on the network
Cons:
- No POE connection
- No front panel
- No power light
Tablo
Tablo is an Over-the-Air (OTA) digital video recorder, operated by a tablet or a web-based program. Tablo receives free HDTV over-the-air signals using an HDTV antenna, enabling the user to view live TV or archive programming to an external USB hard drive.
Tablo has long been a player with an extraordinary simple configuration in the OTA space: you link the antenna to your home network and mount a Tablo box, and you can watch your OTA feed on various devices — and on just about any device you have. Tablo can connect to either Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity to a home network.
Here are some of their best products:
Tablo Dual-Lite
Pros:
- Easy to set up
- Streams TV to lots of devices
- Plenty of options for browsing and recording TV shows
- Automatic commercial skipping feature
Cons:
- Video and audio streams are inferior to broadcast quality
Tablo Quad
Pros:
- Simple, stylish hardware
- Takes an internal SATA hard drive
- Excellent user interface
- Four OTA TV tuners
- Excellent Tablo software with a channel guide and ad-skip
- Cloud storage available
- Lots of compatible devices (Roku, Android TV, Android, iOS, Fire TV, smart TVs, PCs
Cons:
- Not inexpensive
- Doesn’t come with a SATA hard drive
Details Comparison: Tablo Vs HDHomeRun
Ad-skipping feature
Publicity is still a hallmark of broadcast media, but some DVRs provide resources to help you skip it. As of today, Automatic Commercial Skipping can now be activated using HDHomeRun. The Automatic Commercial Skip function of Tablo helps you to replicate the majority of recordings without advertisements on your Tablo OTA DVR in our most popular TV-based applications.
Antenna placement options
Over-the-air DVR is unnecessary if your antenna does not transmit channels, so you need to set up your DVR in a position with a reliable indoor antenna receptor, or you have a coaxial cable wired on the roof. Tablo can work in your house anywhere, and your HDHomeRun router must be wired.
Live TV time-shifting and catch-up
You may be watching partway through a show so that you can miss the ads only when you want to stop for snack breaks. Most DVR solutions support such a time-shift such as Tablo, but HDHomeRun does not.
Number of tuners
More tuners mean more parallel recordings or live views. Tablo has two and four-tuner options, and HDHomeRun allows several dual-tuner units to be daisy-chained together.
Out-of-home streaming
Tablo Connect is a subscription-only feature that is conveniently activated on the settings screen of your Tablo, enabling you to access your live or recorded home TV anywhere in the world through Tablo over Wi-Fi or cellular data connections. As for other networked DVR options, HDHomeRun does not support out-of-home viewing, and applications are not available on Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast.
Whole-home support
HDHomeRun DVR service helps you to view and monitor your entire cable and over-the-air TV line-up from your home network. Similarly, Tablo helps you to broadcast OTA HDTV content live and record it on six devices simultaneously on your local system.
App and Device Support
A network-based OTA TV solution has the most significant advantage of being capable of providing support to many devices, rather than a single TV like the traditional OTA DVR.
Tablo OTA DVR supports Live-TV and tracks viewing and the ability to set and handle videos on smartphones, iPad, and the bulk of streaming video set-top boxes, smart TV’s and gaming consoles using free and easy-to-use Tablo apps.
Silicon Dust HDHomeRun tuners primarily provide live television playback through a combination of free branding applications and third-party software, with an additional payment required. Timing and replaying records include a fee and are available for a small range of iOS, Android, and Windows applications.
Live TV and DVR Features
Tablo OTA DVRs are equipped for streaming TVs and digital antenna capture. Tablo Applications feature a live TV grid that highlights programs that are broadcast now and over the next 24 hours.
Subscribers have access to a Netflix-style guide for shows airing over the next two weeks, easy-to-use recording tools like serial recording, and auto-extending for live programming such as sports. Tablo’s manual capture feature (date/time/channel) and short display thumbnails that make advertisements easy for missing are included free of charge.
Silicon Dust HDHomeRun tuners only need a DVR service subscription to record them. The app does not discriminate between NEW episodes and reruns, but series logging is available. There are no specialized features, such as fast-forward thumbnails.
Guides and Subscription
HDHomerun offers a free 24-hour guide. The box can be bought; the app activated and functions. A two-week guide may or may not be rolled up to $35 a year for HDHomerun’s DVR service. The excellent Channels app, which is available on Apple TV and iOS, Android, and Android and Amazon’s Fire TV, is another option for HDHomerun. For Android, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, it’s $25; for iOS, $15.
Naturally, Tablo has an on-screen guide as well. It is also free for the first month, after which there will be an optional subscription. It’s a one-time, lifetime fee of $5 a month, $50 monthly, or $150. And you can have numerous Tablo boxes connected to a single, good subscription. You still get a 1-day guide if you plan to go the free route and still can document it all. But you would miss knowledge about films, art, innovative recording functionality, and out-of-home streaming (such as recording by series). There is a surcharge on non-consuming hardware now, which is really good too.
I would say that Tablo wins in order to be an excellent guide, and then HDHomerun’s guide.
HDHomeRun
Who is this for?
Silicon Dust HDHomeRun is suitable for people who are technologically advanced. If you are greedy for high-quality images, videos, and audio, that is the best option without any doubts. It has excellent resolution content and literally provides you with the ideal live TV broadcast experience you are looking for.
Features
- 1080P HD Resolution
- Streams to DLNA compatible devices
- Multi-user extension is available
- Pause and record
- Watch TV on 2 devices simultaneously
- Free OTA TV
- HDTV Over Ethernet
Pros
- It is very easy to setup
- The picture quality is also impeccable.
- The audio and video are crisp, making it our favorite
- Lots of ways to browse for shows to record
- A low-cost way to get live TV on a home network
- Consistent app interface across devices
Cons
- The instruction manual is a little complicated and it may take some time to comprehend it.
- Limited settings for recording and managing programs
- No out-of-home streaming
- No Roku, Chromecast, or Apple TV support
- The program can be overly obtuse.
Tablo
Who is this for?
For individuals that are not so much of an electronics enthusiast, the Tablo DVR is fine. In terms of consistency, the kind of downfall we encounter in Tablo is a little too much to manage for any tech-savvy individual. Owing to any setbacks it has to deliver, they will not participate in it because they are pretty much a ton for a nerd.
Features
- Streams free broadcast HDTV
- Manage records
- Skip commercials
- No HDMI
Pros
- Streams live and recorded TV to practically any device
- Ad skipping is outstanding when it works
- Internal storage is indeed a pleasant touch.
- Easy to use and control
- Easy to setup
- Streams TV to various devices
- A lot of different options for recording and browsing
- Plenty of options for browsing and recording TV shows
Cons
- 1080i and 480i channels seem bumpier than 720p news and sports channels.
- Not all devices support out-of-home viewing
- Audio and visual sources are inferior to the quality of transmission.
- You are unable to surf the networks while watching live TV.
- The audio level still sounds a little robust and inconsistent.
Product Differentiators: Tablo vs HDHomeRun
If all you want is to watch over-the-air TV sometimes, the way is for HDHomerun. It is smaller, simpler to install, and much easier to run. The graphic, the audio, and the video quality of this OTA impress us thoroughly. The tuner is able to supply us. It is also the easiest way to cut the cord and enjoy Wi-Fi on various appliances.
On the other hand, Tablo might be a decent option for you from Tablo vs. HDHomeRun if you aren’t really tech-know. We firmly encourage you to invest in HDHomeRun because it is your best bet. You would not regret purchasing this one because Tablo has vital consistency problems. You won’t love the atmosphere of Tablo Live TV Broadcasting. However, the setup is ridiculously simple. The guide on the screen is beautiful, and it’s easy to capture and playback shows.
However, Tablo cannot provide you with the highest content provided by a broadcast TV. Video streaming is captured to 10MBPS, so it can never stretch the limits any further.
Another thing that didn’t make this the ultimate option for HDHomeRun vs. Tablo is that this sound help only provides 5.1 channels. This is not very impressive for people who are still striving for the best quality and the ideal transmission.
Conclusion: Tablo vs HDHomeRun
We have reached the final decision that HDHomeRun is a more appropriate alternative to make if you are looking for the best OTA tuners for our fight between Tablo and HDHomeRun. We have carefully tested it and are entirely pleased.
Author’s Pick: HDHomerun
But still if you prioritise some of the Tablo features, that’s alright. You should definitely get Tablo. I am just here to offer my opinions about Tablo vs HDHomeRun. Cheers!
FAQs: Tablo vs HDHomeRun
I have gathered some questions and answers what you may want to know about Tablo vs HDHomeRun
Will I be able to use Tablo without the Internet?
Yes. To use Over-the-Air DVRs from Tablo, you need internet access. Tablo is a network-connected computer, like many digital devices, intended to provide reliable high-speed internet connectivity and cannot run optimally without it.
Will Tablo disturb live TV?
Yes, with Tablo, you can pause live and captured TV. From live TV, you can even rewind and fast forward. You can also use a YouTube streaming device with the Tablo.
Does Tablo cooperate with Roku?
On the latest Roku 1-4 and HDMI stick generations, the Tablo app is supported. Using Tablo Connect (our out-of-home streaming feature) via the Roku app is not currently feasible. Select the Tablo channel, then select the Tablo that you would like to connect.
How is HDHomeRun Link functioning?
HDHomeRun is a wireless TV tuner that is network-attached. It links (depending on the model) to your antenna or cable line, takes the optical TV signals to present there, and makes them available over your current home network to your PC, tablet, mobile, game consoles, and other computers. You can easily set up and use a game-streaming device like NVIDIA Shield and Steam Link.
What instruments does HDHomeRun work with?
The HDHomeRun Display app enabled on Windows/Mac or Android devices such as phones, tablets, Kindle Fire, FireTV Box, NVidia Shield, and other supported Android TV devices can be used to view Live TV.
How do I upgrade HDHomeRun firmware?
Updates are done by Google Play or by side-loading the Android app APK (link for direct APK) using an Android device for the HDHomeRun DVR service. This should take place automatically when a DVR upgrade is available.
Related Topics:
Which one is more convenient for home use Nvidia Shield or Roku
Comparison between AirTV and Roku TV
Freelance tech journalist & author of soundboxlab.com …Read More
