We’ve got some news we’re quite excited to share with you all today!
Over the past year, our Android team has worked really hard on creating a new native app for folks watching Tablo content via Amazon Fire TV and Android TV-based devices.
The app isn’t 100% feature complete yet, which is why we’re still calling this a ‘Preview’, but it will give you access to all of the screens and features you need for day-to-day use.
(For those of you who’ve been around since the early days of Tablo, you may recall we did something similar with our Roku channel.)
Why You Should Give It a Try
There are three reasons why we think you’ll love this new app experience:
No Sync - This app relies on our REST API which is also what runs our Roku and Apple TV apps
Faster Performance - As a native app, this interface offers fast, buttery smooth navigation
Interface Enhancements - We have included several interface enhancements based on user requests like swapping recording flags for underlines in the Live TV grid so you can more easily see what shows are set to record.
We hope you really enjoy this update. And you can run both apps at the same time and easily switch back and forth if there's a feature you're missing or someone in the family is having trouble adjusting to change.
If you have any questions about the Preview app, let us know below.
i’m sure an obvious question but this only applies to your network tuner devices, right? If we’re using Engine w/ Shield this wouldn’t apply correct? exciting updating though either way
That’s correct. As per the post this is for people using Amazon Fire TV and Android TV devices to access our Tablo DUAL, 2-Tuner, and 4-Tuner OTA DVRs.
It will look similar to ENGINE as it does share some of the same codebase.
I really like that the “live TV” screen shows expanded information and more channels. Much better use of screen space.
I don’t like that the “recordings” screen only shows 2 rows instead of 2.5 rows. If anything, it’d be great to shrink down the page title a bit and show 3 rows. Ditto for the “scheduled” and “guide” screens.
Part of the reason why we went with this approach readability. A number of users who had trouble seeing the text on some of the poster art from the couch.
I have multiple seasons of an old show recorded. The existing app lists all the shows by season, not in the order I’d like, but at least you can find each episode by season.
The preview is a mess. Under “other seasons” I seem to get a few random shows listed by “date aired”, and the only other grouping is “season 1”, which has all episodes for that season separated out.
It seems impossible to pick “season 3, episode 5” for example.
What would be nice, is if there was an entry for each season, then selecting that season took you to a list of episodes.
Yes, and just a few episodes that I have no way of knowing where they belong. Would an old/new screenshot comparison help? Or can you recreate it and take a look for yourself?
Here’s the preview app, the first shot is the “other” group, then I scrolled right until I hit “season 1”. No other seasons are visible if you keep scrolling right.
@CycleJ So to confirm… If we’re using season 3, ep 7 ‘Sacrifice’ as an example… There isn’t a season 3 in Preview? And/Or there isn’t access to the episode ‘Sacrifice’ at all?
@TabloSupport may want to check things out on the back end.
No access to that episode. There are exactly 6 episodes (from whatever season) in the “other seasons” list. To the right of those episodes, all “season 1” episodes are listed (again, extending out to the right). Nothing beyond that.
I have installed the new app on a New Fire TV, Fire TV 1 and 2 and cannot get the guide to load on the screen. It loads a few hours and after that it’s blank. I uninstalled and re installed with the same results. Any suggestions? Using a 4 tuner Tablo
I like the new client (Android TV). The new look is nice and I like the “watch next” button.
Some things I noticed.
The number of unwatched shows does not update when you watch a show unless you exit the app and go back in.
I like the new thumbnails when FF, but they accelerate too fast. You can either do a bunch of single clicks to get through a commercial, or you can hold down to move faster. Problem is when you hold down it goes from a good speed to “whoa, you just FFed through half the show”. It would be nice if the FF speed did not accelerate so quickly when you hold down the right arrow.
I know the “Recent” sorting of the recordings is coming. Just mentioning I miss not having that.
