Help Shape the Tablo Roadmap

The Live that is displayed on the right of the status bars should just be a button to catch-up to live. I’ve tried this a lot before I gave up that it was doing anything.

I have a suggestion for the Roku interface. I like the Beta interface, but I’d love to be able to access the guide without changing the channel or stopping watching what I’m watching. It would be great if, while in live tv, the up arrow brought up a menu of activities. This could include a record button to record the current show, which is currently not possible in the Roku, a schedule button to schedule a series/future recording of the show, and a guide button to bring up an overlay of the guide, while the stream continues to play. I’m sure there’s space in there for other stuff as well, maybe a button for recordings as well.

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All great ideas. I just don’t know if the Roku is up to the task, it’s not that powerful of a device when its come to CPU and RAM. This is referring to the new Roku 3, the older Roku models suffer with the current new Tablo UI.

I am currently troubleshooting a couple of grainy channels and Just thought: I would find it awesome if Tablo included a signal strength meter/tester inside of its app. I understand that it gives a snapshot of signal quality (red, orange, green), but I would like to see a real-time strength % meter, which I can use to monitor while I’m adjusting the antenna. I would like the app to show all channels in a scrollable format so that I can see in a single view, when some signals are improving and others are degrading, then I can find the optimal position for my antenna in real time, while adjusting it. I’m thinking something similar to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zaren&hl=en, but instead of viewing one channel at a time, view all channels (or as many as can fit on a screen) at one time. Basically, i’d like to see the current channel list when adding/removing channels in the ‘settings’ screen of the android app, but with % figures instead of colors, and I’d like it to be in real time. If you can do that, it would greatly optimize my setup experience.

Would also like to be able to download recordings from my HDD to my tablo connect device. Similar to that of Vudu using Vudu-to-go or Amazon Music, which both allow me to download my purchased content onto any device. Similarly, would like Tablo Connect to download from my HDD and store on my mobile device for offline viewing.

Check this thread
Tablo Exporter

Would love to have a new tab for “Series Manager” where I can see the series I’ve scheduled for recording, whether or not there are currently scheduled recordings. Most cable TV companies offer this in their set top boxes now. It would let me see the series I want to record, and edit recording details for those series (start recordings 5/10/15 minutes early, stop recordings 5/10/15 minutes late, only new, only HD, etc) or cancel recording that series, even when there’s no upcoming shows scheduled.

Snowcat indicated that series will only show up in the “Scheduled” tab if there’s a listing for that series in the current 14 day window.

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There’s an option to extend live recordings. It’d be nice if there was an option to extend recordings where one of the previous four or so shows was live. Because the start time often gets pushed back.

Like if there’s a football game on, then 60 Minutes, then The Good Wife, if you recorded the Good Wife, it’d be nice if it automatically extended the recording.

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@EricLarson - That’s an interesting wrinkle… I’ll bring this up with the team.

Last night I recorded the Lions game, and it recorded 5hrs and 15 mins. Big Brother got moved to 1:35 AM and the Tablo caught it and recorded that for me as well. So it does pretty good with the game here.

That’s a great idea. It’s one of the important missing features, and ideally would allow you, from one place, to check series that have been scheduled, delete series from the schedule that have been cancelled or you’re no longer interested in, and perhaps even prioritize which shows get recorded in the event more shows are being selected for recording in any given time slot than you have available tuners.

The last item could unknowingly be an issue when shows are deliberately extended for an additional minute and run into the next hourly slot. So if you have a 2 tuner Tablo, and a show on CBS runs from 8:00 - 9:01 PM, and you’ve also selected shows on ABC and TheCW to record from 9:00 - 10:00 PM, there may be a conflict. I don’t know how Tablo handles this conflict, whether one show in the later time slot starts a minute late or gets cancelled entirely. It would be nice if we could start and end shows a little early or a little late, as opposed to setting up to do a manual recording to fix the problem.

I like that last bit. We should be able to put all of our series recordings into a priority order, and if we don’t catch the conflicts and manually change the resolution, the Tablo should use the priority order to auto-correct the recording. I think any time the Tablo auto-fixes a conflict, then the higher priority show should record completely, and the lower priority show should start recording after the high priority one finishes (instead of completely canceling it).

Never seen this as a feature on a DVR, but makes sense.

My recording of Big Brother on Sunday started on time, but BB started 30 minutes late and the recording ended as if it started on time.

Sometimes Tablo extends recordings randomly, but this one ended on time.

This is exactly how Sage TV works…and it is a great feature.

I’ve only used Tablo for about a week (first time cutting the cord), so apologies if I’m repeating ideas here, or if any of the features are available and I’m just behind in figuring it out. Overall I am extremely satisfied with my Tablo and am finding it to be a pretty neat product. Some of these are Roku-centric (using a Roku 3), but I think Roku is a big part of the user base.

  • Provide a ‘bookmark’ feature, where you can save progress in viewing a recording to pick up on another device at the same place.
  • Ability to browse the guide+recordings without leaving a viewing in progress
  • Customize the 12 second buffer (allow user to select 6 seconds, 3 seconds, if on a fast network/device set)
  • Support transferring data (recordings) on/off the external hard drive (Have not tried, but read this isn’t possible today).
  • Display the classic TV Guide layout that you can find in the Tablo web browser interface in same form on Roku app (currently can only view live shows)
  • Have a ‘go live’ hot key, especially on the roku remote (can effectively do it by fast forwarding, but no quick key I’ve found…though uncertain how much input, if any, Tablo has on Roku remote commands)
  • Provide a resolve conflict menu to view all upcoming recording collisions
  • Priority settings for programs set to auto-record on recurring basis (to automatically resolve recording conflicts)

A couple of quick comments. I’m a relatively new Tablo user as well, but I think I can help you with a couple of your issues. First, a couple of the guys here have come up with a way to pull shows off the Tablo. Tablo Ripper is the one I’ve played with. It runs under Windows and works really well. There is also a TAblo Exporter written by someone else, but I haven’t played with it. Video LAN also has a plugin that lets you pull content off Tablo. Second, several months ago, a new Roku Preview app was made available, as a private channel, which gives you a program grid similar to what you’re asking for. It works really well and I use it exclusively now.

Tablo RIpper can be downloaded from here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8rsdwfn2bl2iwqt/AADoI60sglMh_U0gCFA9fKsFa?dl=0

The Roku preview app can be found near the bottom of this page:
https://www.tablotv.com/tablo-products/

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Thanks for those suggestions and education - very cool on the Tablo Preview app and you’re exactly right, that’s what I was looking for. I’m looking forward to experimenting with the ripper as well.

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The Tablo already remembers where you left off watching a recording and gives you the option to play from the beginning or play from that spot. That should exist on all platforms.

The preview app will get more features added over time, so I tend to use the browser for some features that aren’t available on the Roku channel yet, such as looking for new and premiering shows within the 2 week scheduling window and scheduling them for recording. Also, bulk delete is available on the browser, as are the basic configuration options.

re: browser: For theTablo roadmap a suggested step backward: Currently the tile background color for manually recorded shows (in both Scheduled and Recording sections) are nearly white in the Windows 8.1 Chrome browser, which obscures the name of the program, which is in white type. Very difficult to read. Recent change? In the past the backgrounds were neutral to dark gray on my computer.