@TabloTV I had my 4-tuner up and running for 3 weeks. I have experienced a few of the bugs mentioned in different posts but overall the experience has been good. Once these inconsistencies are fixed, this will be a great device. I plan to cut the cable cord in another week or two after i get the blessing from the ever important wife.
We primarily use the Roku interface for watching shows but have done some viewing on the web app and Android interface. Here are the items I’ve noticed and things to be improved for each viewing experience.
Overall
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I was without a hard drive for the first day and was able to view Live TV only on one device. When I would request a channel on another device it would turn off the current feed. Not sure if this a known bug or if it really even is a bug as most people will hook up a hard drive.
- When playing a Live TV feed it would be nice to have the current channel be placed into a PIP or an opaque interface overlaid on top of the channel when viewing the guide.
- One complaint I’ve seen posted has been the required buffering when starting a new channel or recording. I understand the need for the buffer to ensure that video playback is smooth. Would there be anyway to reduce this time to say something like 2 seconds and then fill up the remainder of the buffer once playback starts? I’m thinking like what is done for all other other video sites such as Youtube, Hulu, etc… On each of these sites the video starts fairly quickly and you can see the buffer build.
- When I start to watch Live TV with one device and then use another device to view the same channel the Live TV always starts at the point of the first device. Shouldn’t it start at the current Live TV point or is it trying to use the same tuner as the other device and pull from the same buffered recording on the hard drive?
- I’ve seen some artifacts or jitter when watching on the web app or Android app. I believe it is the same item as mentioned in: http://community.tablotv.com/discussion/354/tablo-deinterlacing-artifact-with-video-content-1080p#latest I don’t notice it on the Roku and only with Live TV.
- For the scheduled screen it would be nice to see the shows by date so that I will know when the episode should record. You can find it now but it is buried under each show.
- Fastfoward and rewind interface for all devices needs to be improved as mentioned in a number of other posts.
- Show what has already been watched in the recordings.
- Resume for playing back recordings if you have to leave that recording.
Android App
- Sometime after syncing the app freezes and i have to force a manual stop.
- If I’ve paused a recording and the tablet sleeps you have to reconnect to the app and restart the recorded show.
Roku
- Improve the guide for Live TV.
- Auto-update the guide for Live TV so you don’t have to back out and return to see what is on at that current time.
- I’ve paused a live event for over an hour and it didn’t function properly when I returned to continue. When pausing for a shorter time ~ 10-15 minutes it works wonderfully.
- Increase the resolution to minutes and seconds when fastfowarding. It’s hard to tell how far I’ve really gone with only minutes showing.
- Could a current time be added into the upper right hand corner of the guide? It’s always nice to see what time it is vs. what is on the guide.
- A quick button for the last/previous live channel? I hate commercials and will surf between channels.
Overall guys and gals, you have a start to a wonderful piece of technology. I can’t wait to see what you will be able to improve on in the future.