Auto tune channel upon launch

General Discussion
#1

In my quest for the ultimate home automation, I’m struggling with connecting Tablo to my daily routine. I’m currently running Home Assistant and have Tablo installed on several Nvidia Shield’s around the house. My goal is to turn on the TV each morning at a specific time and launch the Tablo App to tune into a specific channel and play.

I can turn on the TV and launch the app through Home Assistant, but I’m struggling with send any additional intent actions to the Tablo App to get it to tune into a specific station. Any thoughts or am I just crazy for trying to attempt this?

#2

The only way to do what you want (that I know of) is to send the specific sequence of button presses that would accomplish what you want. This is more of a Home Assistant issue than a Tablo issue.

#3

@FlyingDiver I was hopeful that Tablo might have baked in some intent actions into their app to send commands down the pipe with Android ADB…I can control Netflix and Youtube without any issues. Why does Tablo need to be difficult?!

#4

You might be able to control some functionality for the HDMI port of the HDMI model using a Harmony remote.

Of course you would need the remote model specifications to extract the proper IR code sequences.

For most all other smart home integration Tablo would need to develop a skill to integrate into the various products like Amazon and Google. And I suspect Netflix and YouTube have enough R&D money to do some integration.

Since Tablo is primarily a DVR product that feature wise has to keep up with the Jone’s, is the question are you crazy for trying to attempt this or just crazy.

#5

The Tablo is too simple for this. You can get the TV, any NVR if used, and Shield to turn on and have the TV input set as a well as launch the Tablo app but that is where it stops. It is not an intelligent device like a Roku or Shield. Personally, I use Hubitat and can control my Roku, TV, NVR, Shield fine but the Tablo is too dumb to do much of anything.

#6

Poor design, you can not even add an external HD without wiping out all your setting, programs and recordings. It would be so easy to make a transferring app to move data to a new HD but they are either not smart enough or do not care.

I may try using a PC HD cloning software that is a lot smarter than anything Tablo has ever made and see it is works.

#7

If anything can it would be the Harmony. I have one but have not tried doing IR programming yet. It is all LAN commands so far. All modern machine use both Bluetooth and IR unlike the ancient Tablo but it may help in this case.

#8

This isn’t “too simple”. Those devices simply support CEC.

#9

https://clonezilla.org/

There are several post, if you search, as how to clone your tablo drive with clonezilla live.

#10

Since it does not have CEC, it IS simple. Even the most basic machines support it.

#11

The HDMI models DO support CEC…

CEC Options and Settings for TV-Connected Tablo DVRs – Tablo (tablotv.com)

I wouldn’t expect the network connected Tablo models to support CEC, they aren’t directly connected to the TV.

#12

Tablo is basically a DVR product that also allows for live tv playback.

When I launch the tablo app it always starts in the recording menu. So how does auto-tune help me? And since my channel lineup is somewhere around 25 to 30 channels it would be rather unusual that I want the device to start on the channel I last watched. My TV starts on the last channel viewed and I always end up switching channels.