Before we roll it out to everyone, there’s a bit of a debate internally on just what recordings should be shown in this screen.
Check out the poll below, and vote for how you think this screen should work.
Should we show just the most recent recordings, whether they’ve been watched or not… OR should we show only the most recent UNWATCHED recordings so you can easily find the newest programs you haven’t already seen.
SO…
I think the ‘Most Recent’ recordings screen in Roku should show:
The most recently recorded programs, even ones that have been watched
The most recently recorded programs that are NOT already watched
Here’s why I want ALL in the list:
If I am done with it, I’ll delete it. If I might want to watch it again, I’ll keep it. If you filter it, then it’s harder to find and watch again. If I partially watch it, now you have a dilemma. Just show all recent and keep it simple.
I am also a fan of preferences, so if you can give us a choice, that’s even better.
Me personally, if I am looking specifically for “most recent” recordings, I am trying to find what is new. If I’ve watched it, it is not new.
Of course, devil’s advocate, if one of my kids watched it, then it would still be new to me. That doesn’t happen in my house, though. And if I’ve watched it, I have also deleted it. So it wouldn’t be there to start with. Hmm. I may have to change my answer.
I prefer ALL. Since multiple family members are using the device, they should see all recent recordings - even those someone else may have watched already. I think it’d prevent a lot of “why didn’t my show record!!” complaints.
The screen shot above shows the blue circle indicating ‘unwatched’. If that’s accurate (and would be a half-circle for partially watched or no circle for watched as it is when looking at episode listings within a series), then showing ALL recordings would still be pretty easy to scan for unwatched content. The downside (I always suspect there’s a downside) is - is the number of shows listed in recent limited to a fixed number (e.g. it only shows a maximum of 10 shows from today, even if there have been 15 recorded)? If the listing is limited, that might tip me over to wanting it to only be UNWATCHED.
Hmmm… waiting a few minutes before I vote to see if @TabloTV has a clarification.
But, your screen shot causes me concern. I hope I just don’t understand the context, and perhaps this is a special screen…
But I want it to work the way the “most recent” sort works in the iPhone app (and current layout of roku recordings) with Tiles that have all episodes for each show… Not with individual BARS per episode…
I like the tiles as the main recording screen layout… I hope that is not going away…
The horizontal bar per “recordings” and not episodes is rather lame in the context of the WEB or Roku app. Of course the more they diddle around with the app the more users should compare the useability of tablo UI versus the Tivo UI.
I would wager that if you had a 3rd option in the poll that read “default to option 1, with the option to switch to option 2 in the settings menu”, you would see most go with option 3.
I voted for displaying the actual Most Recent, watched or not.
For me, I somtimes watch a show that is recorded on Hulu, or on TiVo…so my ‘watched’ status in Tablo isn’t necessarily accurate (I realize this is probably a fringe case). And there is already the option to drill down to all episodes from the Most Recent, if I want to see any prior episodes.
If you are going to call it “Recent Recordings”, make it ALL recent recordings. If you want to turn it into unwatched recordings, then call it “Unwatched Recordings”. By the way, apparently the user base has been asking for “Recent Recordings”. If so, give them what they requested, not something different that really should have been a totally different request
If you want a fine example of what how your player should ultimately filter and sort recordings, look at the players from Plex. They are miles ahead of any of the Tablo players.
@luker I agree the UI could be improved. Way to many clicks to get to a show… But the tiles look nice, and give you a chance to see more shows on one screen.
So, for me, the issue is with the UI design, not the tiles…
I DO prefers to have all shows under one title as a folder, though.
In a perfect world (for me), I would click the tile of a show I want to see. And then it would immediately go to the oldest show I haven’t watched as the next screen. And then I would click one more time to have it play…
And the seasons would be folders, not lists…
So, let’s say I had 3 seasons of recordings… I click the tile, and it would show 3 bars… One for each folder…
Or, highlight the oldest un watched episode. Like Netflix handles series…
