This is the one feature that keeps me using Tivo for watching any live recording such as sports games.
I like to delay watching until about 30-60 minutes after the start, and FF through slow plays or commercials. With Tablo it’s a guessing game to know how far to FF, while with Tivo I can jump to the exact spot needed just be watching the thumbnails.
This sure would be nice for Tablo to get that feature, since my ancient 10 year old Tivo won’t be around too much longer.
Do you have a lifetime sub on that TiVo? I assume so since a single feature wouldn’t keep me on TiVo for what they charge for their service.
Exactly. It’s an older Premiere model that I’ve definitely received the value out of the lifetime charge.
That being said, trying to watch live on Tablo is torture. I do it each morning with the news, that typically has 6-10 minutes of commercials in a row.
Is it primarily sports that you watch while it’s still recording? I know it’s a stretch but if it’s a very specific scenario maybe something like TCL’s Roku TV Live TV pause would work for those situations? It allows you to buffer up to 90 minutes while paused and I think it generates thumbnails real time.
Interesting, I was not aware of that feature. I have a fairly recent TV in the main watching area that won’t be replaced for some time, but I’ll make sure the next one has a feature like that.
That would be a neat feature for Tablo too, where it would need to buffer for 15 minutes or more before thumbnails would be available. And it doesn’t seem to be a big lift, as the pieces are there today.
You need to remember that Tablo requires an available tuner to generate thumbnails. For those users with a 4 tuner Tablo, it might not be a huge problem, but for 2 tuner users, it could still be a major problem.
I do have a 4 tuner so should not be an issue, but I see the concern. This feature could help push more 4-tuner tablo sales.
It would be nice to be an option for even 2-tuner users though.