This would be huge if you could click through the channels without going back to the channel guide.
Plus 1 for this! Awkward going back to the guide all the time.
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I have my OTA antenna split so one cable goes to the Tablo and one cable goes directly to the HDTV. This way you can channel surf quickly.
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Some TVâs can be set up like that but not all. And based on how old your house is and what state it was built in, running new coax in the walls is not that easy. Some fire codes have various blockages in between the studs.
But if tablo thinks that a direct connect OTA to HDTV is the way to go, then they need to remove Live TV functionality from the product. Iâm sure that would reduce R&D costs and product complexity.
And do any of tabloâs competition prove dual channel surfing?
Yes but all those competition devices capture the native MPEG2 stream, they do not transcode to h.264 video like the Tablo does. This takes time to buffer enough of the show before playback.
The h.264 video is for smartphone, tablet and Roku support. Roku does not play MPEG2 video.
This gets a huge upvote from me. Please make this happen. (This and a last channel function)
I keep trying and hoping to get something like this implemented. âtheuser86â keeps trying to get me to buy a competing product.
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Point is they could implement a channel up and channel down function, but you see how long it takes to tune a channel now once you hit play for Live TV? This is how long it will take each time you hit channel up or channel down. Thereâs nothing you can do about that time delay due to transcoding the video.
I rather see whatâs playing on the channel via the guide before I select the channel for viewing. Letâs say you have 20 OTA channels, it would take you like 5 minutes to just go from channel 1 to channel 20. Thatâs not really âchannel surfingâ lol
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If âtheuser86â represents tabloâs product management and strategy, maybe itâs finally time for tablo to disclose the full prioritized list and schedule of upcoming features. Then existing customers can decide when to bolt.
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Nice pun 
haha
I no way represent Tablo or their management or their strategy. Iâm just trying to explain why this feature would not be implemented well on the Tablo.
There is a product strategy reason tablo this feature is not important. Then features are prioritized. It could be that that itâs prioritized so far down the list itâs not worth estimating itâs implementation. Or the cost of implementation is way to high.
But if the implementing a feature was based on how hard it was to do, we would still be walking around a room the size of movie theater checking to make sure all the vacuum tubes in the ENAIC computer were working.
Itâs not about difficult, most Roku and Fire TV remotes have up and down arrow keys. Itâs just itâll still take 10-20 seconds to tune each channel after hitting the up key for example.
I actually emailed Tablo support regarding this exact feature. As a new user, I found it very odd that I couldnât just change channels by clicking up, or down on the remote, and when changing channels, I had to leave live programming, return to the active channel page and then select which channel I wanted to change to. Adding this feature would make the transition from the traditional cable/satellite viewing lifestyle to the OTA lifestyle much more familiar and user-friendly.
And you donât mind waiting say 20 seconds when you hit the channel up button to see the next channel? Iâm just curious.
When you hit the channel up button on your remote for the HDTV it tunes the next channel is less than 1 second.
Compromise: push a button, and a window appears in a corner of your screen, and as you use the up down buttons, it lists only the shows currently playing. You select the show/channel you want to see, THEN the Tablo does the 10 second buffering for transcoding and the channel changes. That way you can quickly see if you want to change channels, and if you donât, then no time lag due to transcoding.
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Would be a cool feature, but not very useful. If you donât like what is currently playing to the point you want to change the channel to watch something else, then going back to the guide to change the channel isnât really bothersome. Youâre not missing anything as you didnât want to watch that channel in the first place no? lol
Not necessarily. The scenario is âI wonder if there is something better on another channel?â, not âI hate what I am watching and will definitely switch to another channel to get away from this crap!â. One button push to bring up a list of what is currently showing on other channels (without the graphics), and one button push to cancel is a notable reduction of interaction compared to dropping all the way back to the guide, and if you decide to stay on your original channel, having to select it and pushing Watch just to get back to it.
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I think I see an âAhaâ moment here. You say: âI wonder if there is something better on another channel?â This statement speaks to one of the core fundamentals of how we use our TVâs for entertainment. For years we have been slaves to the networkâs control of our television viewing. The networks decide what goes on TV, and when. Us viewers would sit in front of our screens and watch whatever is on. Often, this meant choosing whatever is âbestâ and then dealing with it.
Cord cutting has allowed us to break free from the networkâs control over our entertainment, to some degree. Now, we watch the programming we want to watch, when we want to watch it. It no longer matters when something is broadcastâwe choose whether to âsaveâ it and when to watch it later. There are many choices available to the consumer today that were not present just a few years ago.
If you preference is to sit in front of the screen and channel surfâthen you are probably better off with a cable subscription. None of the OTT or OTA-DVR solutions will offer you what you want.
Just my $.02.
I donât see Tablo as a device for watching live TV at home, only remotely or on a computer screen in the house. Itâs just to cumbersome to use in anyway I have tired for live viewing otherwise. I think TiVo has this part of the market pretty well wrapped up, even though those monthly/yearly fees are a bit over the top.
I have watched live/recorded TV at my office a few times (when the connections worked anyways) and that was usable, but not convenient by any means. I have a hotspot in my truck for my entertainment/communications system while on the road, and have watched live/recorded TV on my mounted tablet that I use as part of the trucks monitoring system, which is appreciated when setting for long periods on a jobsite.
Other then that, all my tablo does is record programs of interest and now, thanks to CycleJâs Tablo Ripper, they are being converted/de-commercialed/moved to my PLEX server. PLEX is the centerpiece of my home entertainment system throughout the house, over the internet, and in the home theater. In this venue, with the software now available thanks to CycleJ, MCEBuddy, and Comskip, Tablo shines.
-Rodger
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