Review: Tablo by Nuvyyo

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

For most cord-cutters, getting rid of their expensive cable TV subscription also means getting rid of some perks and useful features. This includes the ability to record TV shows through a DVR  which is usually provided by the Cable TV company. Removing a cable box subscription also means returning the DVR which also only works with a cable subscription.

Need to check on laundry but don't want to miss Michael Phelp's last historic race for gold? The Nuvyyo Tablo can turn your iPad or Android tablet into a mini-HDTV and an optional monthly subscription helps find programming as well as schedule recordings.

Tablo by Nuvyyo, which is based out of Ottawa Canada, restores the ability to record shows via Over The Air (OTA) broadcasts through HD antennas. 

You do need an external USB hard drive to serve as storage for the HD video that is recorded.

This becomes super useful during events like the 2016 Rio Olympics with many events taking place simultaneously throughout the day and in various channels.

I plugged the Nuvyyo Tablo to an indoor HD antenna and used the included software to record events and to stream recorded and live events to various devices within Wi-Fi range. Set-up took under 15 minutes and was quite straightforward. I use an indoor HD antenna which works relatively well for a few HD channels. 

An extra service from Tablo, costing CAD $5.99 a month, gets you access to the optional guide data service, cover art, episode and series synopses and metadata that make it easy for you to discover HDTV content by genre and set recordings on your Tablo OTA DVR through their various apps.

I asked myself if I really needed another black box at home since I use a Roku, PS4 and Chromecast but I can see where the Nuvyyo Tablo can fulfill tasks that that none of these other devices can fill.

Intuitive, simple to set-up and bringing the smart DVR and streaming features to cord-cutters, The Nuvyyo Tablo starts at CAD $274.99.

Rating: 4 out of 5