What is the possibility of a Record button being added somewhere around the Timeline bar that comes up when you select Pause or the OK button? I’ve had many occasions when I’m watching a program, that I’d like to record what I just watched, but with the current setup, it’s impossible to do (I have a Dual Lite model). I thought I managed to do it once, where I rewound all the way back to the beginning of the program, then hit the back button just to have the option to select Record (which takes you out of the program altogether). That seemed to have worked once, however, after other attempts, it just starts recording from the current ‘Live’ moment in the program, regardless of where I rewound to.
Having a Record button actually added to the Timeline would allow me to rewind back to where I wanted the recording the start, then I could press Record, without having to actually back out of the program altogether.
It’s an often asked, and believed to be “easy enough”. Here’s an explanation TabloTv gave about live TV vs recorded programing:
From my understanding, kinda says, with what we have now, when you watch live TV it creates a “playlist” from the point you begin. There’s no relation to a point to when a program may have begun or ends - it’s just a point in time, with no correlation to programming.
So, that’s why, with what we have… it’s sadly not just as simple as adding a record button. Not to say some day it may not be a thing.
Then again, I may have mis-interpreted the explanation or completely misunderstand how it all operates.
I was able to do this with both Dish and DirecTV for all the time I used their DVRs with no problem, so it is possible. Besides, if it was not possible to record ‘live’ programming, which is already portioned by the networks into time slots, then no DVR would be able to set up any recordings for a so-called endless stream of programming.
I know with Dish, when I was watching a program and decided I wanted to record it while I was watching it, I just had to press the Record button on the remote. The program would start where I was currently watching (or even if I rewound back to the beginning), then it would stop recording at the end of that program’s timeslot. Their DVR was able to “understand” how to do this. Tablo should be able to do the same thing.
While I don’t disagree that it would be a nice feature, were Dish and DirectTV doing real-time transcoding of the signal from MPEG2 to HLS? What I’m getting at is while they are all DVRs, the methods they are using are a bit apples and oranges.
People have asked for this for years. Tablo has explained why it’s not possible with the network connected DVRs that re-encode the native MPEG2 video to h264 video in real time.
Then it’s a shame that if it’s a highly requested feature that Tablo doesn’t figure out a way to make it work rather than just telling us that it’s “deeply technical and nerdy” and leave it at that.
After all, what is the difference between watching a live program, then pressing the back button in order to get to the screen to select Record, versus just having a record button on the Timeline? Isn’t the DVR recognizing the fact that you want to start recording this program, and doesn’t the DVR know to start the recording when you select record and end the recording when the program is over?
Sorry, I don’t understand all of the encoding methods, but isn’t a signal a signal, regardless of how it’s encoded? When the OTA networks broadcast their signal, don’t they include the programming times in that signal, the times when a program begins and ends? Can’t a DVR recognize that, regardless of how it’s encoded? Sorry, but it just seems like a lazy and indifferent way to explain that it’s not something Tablo is interested in doing.
Something doesn’t quite add up, at least for me… Tablo is already saving the live TV that your watching, because it allows you to pause and rewind live TV… since it’s already on the hard drive, it doesn’t seem to be that great a stretch to tell Tablo not to delete it. I don’t know how much live TV is saved on the hard drive for rewinding purposes, but it shouldn’t be hard to store it from back to when you initiated the stream. It’s no more storage than if you had recorded it from the start, which you can already do.
It could probably save it, current design has no reference to any program when it starts… just an arbitrary point in time.
My guess, when they designed this, they focused on an awesome whole house OTA DVR, and now… there’s a whole lot of could’a would’a should’a in hind sight.
It doesn’t even need to be attached to a program. Manual recordings (I had no subscription for a few months before finally biting the bullet and getting a lifetime one) aren’t attached to a program. You just set it to whatever time.
I don’t think the technical reason given for why a recording would stop live TV would relate to why the tablo can’t just dump what it’s already recorded live into a permanent file.
I specifically came here to request these feature and luckily i saw it already requested in this thread lol
This is technically different - you set a time in advanced.
A recording isn’t a single file.
I"m not saying it isn’t a valid request, or reasonable. I just passed on a post from TabloTV trying to explain why, as in in current state, it’s just not as easy as “just adding a record button”… just sharing.
There are request going back to the beginning - 2014 being repeatedly asked… and asked… and asked again. Ask all you want – if it’s marketable, they’re likely already pursuing it by now.
Still, no harm in being a squeaky wheel. Maybe if enough people keep requesting it…
Before I posted this request, I did a search to see if it had already been addressed. I typed in variations of “Adding a Record button to Timeline,” and “Rewinding and Recording From Live TV”, etc., and very little came up in the search results, despite being informed here that it’s been asked for and asked for.
Maybe it’s an uncomfortable topic for Tablo and they handle it by ignoring the requests. If it’s an unsolvable problem, then fine. I’d rather they just come out and say it can’t be done, period. But, if there’s a chance someone can figure out how to do it, regardless of all of the obstacles, and that they’re working on it, then that would also be nice to know.
And BTW, I did figure out a workaround for the problem I mentioned in the original post of this thread about being not being able to rewind and then record what I had just watched, therefore requesting a Record button on the Timeline. The workaround is that I’m now simply recording every damn thing I watch on Tablo. Problem solved!
This also works as a solution for another problem I read where someone was complaining about pausing a program, then going back to resume watching it, but it disappeared because live programming for that program had ended and moved on to the next program. When you record every damn thing that you watch, you can pause and walk away for as long as you want and still be able to watch the end of that specific program…under your recordings.