I’m guessing that Sony won’t go for it, but it would be great if Playstation Vue had a hook for third parties like Tablo to provide content locally to PS Vue. I like Vue for the most part. It has its own room for improvement. My biggest issue is the lack of local broadcast stations. So we have one solution and UI for pay channels, and another for free OTA channels. This is the chief complaint that I have about cord cutter solutions in general. The lack of a unified user experience across content providers. The device platform (Fire TV, Roku, etc) should provide the UI and the content providers should deliver the content and meta data. I hate having to watch live TV on Vue or Tablo with vastly different UI, HBO has its own, Showtime, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and so on. They all do the same things in slightly different ways, and it’s just aggravating to me.
Vue and Tablo are in the same category. Neither should be focusing on offering content from the other. We have Apple TV, Roku, Etc. as the interface for these components. What would be great is if Vue supported Apple TV. Then I would be very happy indeed.
I hear Time Warner has a really good UI that includes all the channels you want…
This is just part of being a cord cutter. Sure it’s aggravating, but that’s the price you pay to not pay the price that you used to pay for TV.
I equate this to someone that decides to save some money by not eating out all the time and then asks if there is a way to avoid all the aggravating grocery shopping and cooking that they have to do.
You mean I shouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for the PS Vue UI to integrate with both the tablo and the Sling TV UI’s?
I don’t think that Vue and Tablo are in the same category at all, but I do know that there’s little chance that something like this would happen. Doesn’t make me want it any less.
I had Time Warner, and it’s not a great UI. It’s easily better than Tablo, but not as good as other pay options. I think that being a cord cutter is about saving money and taking advantage of newer technologies that traditional content providers like Time Warner struggle to keep pace with. There’s no reason that they can’t work toward a standard for content production and consumption which would make this a seamless experience - other than their lack of desire to do so.
I think you should try holding your breath. Tablo isn’t in competition with PS Vue, but Sling TV is, and I wouldn’t expect any love between them. None of them actually produce content; they just present it. What’s needed is an open standard for consumption whereby a Roku (or similar) defines the UI, and everything that you subscribe to is presented in a unified manner. Probably not a realistic expectation, but I still want it.
I want something even close to that.
The jarring difference between the Netflix, and Sling TV UIs is really horrendous.
The various apps on AppleTV do a much better job of looking similar. I think that’s because Apple makes them. It’s going to take something similar on the other platforms to get the same result.
The computer industry has been looking for the Holy Grail and golden fleece of UI synergy for over 30 years. Once it’s found probably 15%-20% of existing apps with major UI’s would go out of business. There would be no way to differentiate their product.
But maybe that would be a good idea.
Yep. Apple TV 4 is a godsend. Once Vue is on it my cord cutting quest will be complete. I use sling now but I would rather pay $5 more and switch to the basic Vue plan.
I dont understand why you don’t think so. They are.
Vue is a content reseller; a service provider. Tablo is a device. Tablo is more in competition with Roku than with Vue. Vue competes with Time Warner, Sling TV, etc.
Vue and Tablo serve the same types of content. Why on earth would Tablo be in competition with Roku? Roku is in interface for devices and services like Tablo, Vue, Netflix, Sling etc.
There’s your problem. You misunderstand the whole notion. The content developer (like Viacom, Disney), sells their product either way. They don’t care how it’s consumed, what the UI is, the device - as long as they’re assured of their expected revenue and quality of service. The delivery mechanism is differentiated. The presentation (the UI), the way the clicks work, the colors, layouts, add-on features, whether it has a DVR function - all defined by the presentation provider, which would be Roku, Android TV, etc. They are highly differentiated. But the content is available in a standardized way so that it can be delivered on those various platforms. There’s no reason at all that a Roku, or whatever, shouldn’t be able to define the experience, providing content from those who produce it.
Just my opinion, but Tablo really doesn’t compete with Roku (a frontend) or with the likes of Vue or SlingTV.
With that said, if your whole city is paired with your Tablo and using your Tablo, then maybe one could argue it competes with Vue or SlingTV (but you’re probably also going to jail).
I don’t want to surprise you Tommy_Carter but companies have been trying to do what you suggest for over 40 years. Using Roku as an example. It’s not free to code to Roku API’s and certify and support their products on various Roku devices and releases.
Sometimes you eat the Roku development cost of a new product just to penetrate a market share. Eventually product management determines that the development cost in money and manpower isn’t worth it and pulls the plug.
What the industry had wished for is a consistent, easy to develop too frame work that worked across all platforms. Of course most of the time the industry use to argue amongst ourselves more about how many clicks it took to accomplish something rather then the richness of the framework.
Of course I use to like the IBM 370 OS VS UI on their plasma console. It was really pretty in the middle of the night in a dark data center as you debug a problem.
PS Vue actually made parting ways with the traditional cable/satellite provider a real possibility for many people who simply were not willing to give up cable channels for one reason or another. For me personally, it was the sports channels & the whole home DVR system. There is a huge percentage of TV viewers who simply cannot do without a DVR these days, but for me it went a step further. I had gotten accustomed to the whole home DVR & simply couldn’t imagine doing without it in the future.
I now use PS Vue as my whole home DVR system for cable & Tablo as my whole home DVR for OTA. What ultimately sold me on these two systems is that both are accessed from my Fire TV devices. I have 4 TV’s throughout my home all with Fire TV devices. All I have to do with any of them is turn on the TV, pick up my Fire TV remote & I can access PS Vue, Tablo, Amazon Prime & Netflix all from my Fire TV platform. To me that is very nicely unified. I never have to switch inputs & I don’t have to use a computer to organize my content.
PS Vue’s cloud based DVR is far from perfect, but I can live with it. Tablo’s live TV interface is cumbersome, but 99% of the time I am watching a recorded show anyway.
I am guessing that in the next few years there will be more competition for PS Vue & Tablo and even better unified entertainment systems for me to consider. But for now this setup has freed me from the contracts and device rental & DVR fees that always accompany the traditional cable providers.
I don’t disagree. Maybe I mistook your previous posts for sarcasm.
That’s exactly what I’m doing with Fire TV, right down to the Tablo + PS Vue + Prime + Netflix combination. I like Roku as a platform better, but PS Vue works well on Fire TV, and not so much on Roku at this point. Hopefully they’ll sort that out. Overall, I like the experience, and consider it a step forward from what I had before (Time Warner Cable). I just don’t like having to jump in and out of different apps to peruse content, what I recorded or put on a watch list from different providers. And the quality, responsiveness, features and efficiency of the apps vary.
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked for integration with PS Vue since they are competitors in some sense. But what I really want is beyond Tablo’s grasp, and would require a lot more cooperation than that of two companies. Roku can play the content from any of these sources. I would just love a generic video app, very well done, that can authenticate to and access content from the various services that I pay for. Everyone still gets paid. I would be happy to pay a reasonable fee for the app and its handling of the channel guide data, etc.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback.