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.
A channel summary screen both in the web interface gui and on Roku that shows the current signal strength for all channels. Some kind of visual signal bar, with the dB value. I know this fluctuates, but a value updated maybe every five seconds or so would give you a good idea of whether the channel is viewable or not.
Extended recordings aren’t chosen at random, it’s actually for ALL recordings marked live as well as season finales. All other recordings will be recorded for the scheduled time frame.
I’m also running this and they show up as blue for me. I’m wondering if the color balance on your monitor is off?
I’ve been thinking and I was wondering why we don’t have the option to record in multiple HLS profiles (quality levels)? The whole reason HLS exists was to allow dynamic quality shifts in streaming content. I would very much like the option to select one or more quality levels to record in one or more resolutions. I know processing power is a factor, so maybe make the “or more” a maximum of two or three.
That way, when I go to play back on any device, I can start out on a lower quality and jump up to the higher quality if my current network conditions support it. This would be particularly useful for those of us that stream content from our Tablo when we’re out and away from our home network and our high-speed uplink bandwidth is a limiting factor.
I think you’d need more horsepower to do many transcodes of the same OTA broadcast (so I think the answer has to be “no” for the current device).
Maybe it’s possible somehow with the 4 tuner one… maybe “a tuner” is something that transcodes… so as long as you don’t need the tuners, maybe the extras could be put to work (?), but it wouldn’t be terribly predictable.
The Tablo does use Tablo Connect to transcode a second time to whatever size stream you want.
@snowcat, you mean it DOES make multiple rate transcodes of the same OTA recording? I didn’t know that.
Yes the “remote streaming quality” when set to less than Full Quality will transcode the video on the fly so you can stream it at say 3 Mbps.
For local playback, full quality is fine on all devices because the network is fast enough.
Correct. It just has to use a second tuner to do so.
Yes, I knew that, thought the question was whether or not local multiple copies were kept on the device. Perhaps I was just confused.
No, there is just one copy stored on the Tablo.
I would like to have the ability to be able to download recordings from my tablo to my Android phone with the app to be able to watch my Tablo recordings offline for when I have a poor or no Internet connection on my phone. It would also help keep those with limited data plans from having huge overages.
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