In order to get to a particular target action requires extra clicks and views of menu items that are irrelevant of the current intentions. I assume this is due to having a common infrastructure to go across various apps. It makes the UI seem very archaic and is more cumbersome to use than others ive experienced. It would be better user experience to move some of these menu items to a hot key and take away some of the extra clicks to get to an intended action.
How would this work? Each remote has their own unique buttons – wouldn’t that interfere with its layout?
Where can I find similar in-app hotkeys like what you’re referring to?
I use the amazon firestick which is equipped with a menu button (has 3 horizontal lines). The Amazon Firecast uses it very well.
As you inferred the reason for the current interface is for efficiencies in porting the app to multiple platforms. Keeps a common set of code satisfying all platforms.
Okay, I get what you mean. But… this would have to be device specific. I don’t think this would work with other versions. There’s no button for androidtv/googletv, and the * key is captions, etc on Roku.
Out of curiosity, what would you like to see in a popup by hitting the settings/menu key on the remote while in the TabloTV app?
Of course it would change based on the action.
TV Guide
Clicking on channel and show that is available would immediated show the channel/video. While on that channel hitting the hotkey would bring up menu items to:
Manage Channels (add to favorites etc)
Record
Watch Earliest
Captions / Audio
Record Options
The point is I click on the channel I want to watch and it immediately appears, that is my main goal. If I want to do other things then I would use the menu key to get options. Of course the options changes depending on where I am in the menu infrastructure.
How do I get this to work on my Roku?
This sounds like what’s already available. I’m wondering if you’re just not used to how easy many of these things can be accomplished already.
Clicking on a channel instantly plays the channel. Clicking on a show gives you Add to Favorites, Record, Record Options already. Captions are a simple toggle with the down key.
I’m not seeing a benefit to coding in extra menus that would only work on FireOS devices. I might be missing what makes this better than how things currently work, but from your explanation, it sounds like what you want is already easy to do.
I agree the menu works and I just need to get accustomed to it , the highest priority is ensure stability and long term support. My experience goes across Dish, Fire Cast and now Tablo. Now to explain my reasoning:
99% of the time im clicking to watch either a recorded show or a TV station that is playing. For either case in Tablo its an extra click, when I click on the image I expect to see the video but instead Im presented with a menu of items that are important but only used a small percentage of the time. I then I have to click again to see the video. When I want to fast forward or rewind I expect the action to happen when I hit a particular button, instead the video is paused and Im presented another menu that has nothing to do with my goal and then I have to click again to get the video going again. Not the end of the world but is unexpected. In the case of ff and rw I use these to catch things that Ive missed but is very difficult to do with this interface.
I do wish that clicking on a recording would play it immediately, but then there would be no way to delete it unless they implemented something like the hot key you’re suggesting. Again, hot keys would only work in the FireOS system, since it’s the only remote that has this extra button. A long-press would be a workaround, but with how easy clicking two times is (you don’t even have to pause), I don’t see this changing.
I’m not sure what bothers you about FF/RW. The video pauses as you scroll to find where you want to go to, then clicking OK or play/pause resumes playback. I love the overlay that is on the screen only in android/fireos – I don’t use it much, but at least I’m able to find out more information about what’s on and what the show is about.
I might be silly, but I prefer to control FF/RW over hitting FF and it continuing on its own. I find I usually have to rewind a couple taps because the app’s gone too far. I’m not sure why this is unexpected, since VCR/DVD/DVR/YouTube you start forwarding and then have to tell it when to stop.
Again, as to the channels or shows you want to watch live, it’s as easy as clicking on the station name/ID. If you click on that it plays instantly.
Maybe I’ve become too accustomed to the functions. Maybe because I use more than one device I see how everything is so similar and key presses being cross-platform makes for an overall better experience.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my “hamburger menu” options (a YouTuber uses that phrase, sorry) in fireOS and long-presses in YouTube. I’ve even made a feature request on adding long-press functions to certain sections (like being able to select certain items for quick lock/delete).
The more I use the various platforms, the more I’d like them to work even more similarly.
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I realize the issues with trying to maintain multiple platforms and didn’t want to make a huge deal out of this feature request.
The huge issue I have with the ff/rw is its not age/vision friendly. The menu that shows does not timeout and clear the screen, it stays there and hides the subtitles. Because of my poor vision I pause the video to read the subtitles that tend to go by really fast. I CANNOT do this with Tablo and to me that is a big inconvenience.
Even a timeout is often too much. I use captions myself and understand how frustrating it can be when that overlay is covering them. Luckily, I don’t have to pause/rewind to read them, and I can only imagine how annoying that would be when the app is covering them.
Overall, app-wise, I’m constantly hitting the back button after FF/RW, so this has just become a habit. I know… it’s an extra button to press! ;-).
I understand where you’re coming from with the features and changes you’d like to see. I’ve only been curious as to what your impressions/uses would be and how they would be implemented. I’m not a Tablo employee, just another 4th gen user.
I’m wondering if instead of the overlay timing out and auto-hiding, another option would be to move the captions above the scroll bar. I know other apps do it, but Tablo might be restricted in the fact that they’re only playing back content…
Thanks for the continued discussion about this. Again, I was only trying to understand how this would work.
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Back when I decided to unplug from Dish I looked at both Tablo and FireCast. At the time chose Amazon because of the free guide. I’m generally happy with Tablo. The most important to me right now is stability and long term support, the rest I can deal with.