I’m REALLY looking forward to that Advanced UI. Did I say REALLY? In addition to the features mentioned here (choice of channel and number of episodes) I really hope to see the ability to choose quality by show. I have over 100 episodes of the Brady Bunch recorded for my 6 year-old. That takes up WAY too much space at high quality. I’ve actually got several of those. I wanted to start recording the Simpsons, but with 27 seasons that would get out of hand quickly. I’m going to start looking at some of the off-loading applications I’ve seen posted, but they don’t automatically reduce the file size either. I’m afraid I’m going to spend a dozen hours duct-taping together a solution to keep these shows that don’t need the high quality. Having the setting built into Tablo would be much better.
Yes, how do you expect to gain more customers (Apple TV users) if you stop paying attention to your existing customer base?
You’ve got customers who, one after the other, keep inquiring about basically the same things (5.1 surround, keep x episodes, etc.)
Additionally, you’ve got plenty of bugs that have yet to be addressed (in my case flashing green screen with android Tablo app os galaxy s7, but there’s plenty to choose from)
If you focus all your attention on potential new customers, your existing customers may start leaving, especially if a competitor has the features you have put off delivering.
Then would those ex-customers tell your potential new Apple TV customers to buy a Tablo, or buy what your competitor offers?
I have never cared for apple products and I never will. Apple buyers and fan boys pay a premium for what is essentially the same product as what others offer.
Ha!!
I wonder what kind of car you drive?
Because if it isn’t the cheapest Kia possible, why would you pay a premium for what is essentially the same product as what others offer?
Can you explain in detail what’s so complicated here? The AC3 stream is already a part of the broadcast, so wouldn’t you simply have to not transcode that?
I also find your general hand waves of “doesn’t help bring customers” to be disheartening. How about keeping customers? Also with mentioning that while I like my tablo well enough, I don’t feel comfortable recommending it to my friends and family until it has some obvious features implemented (like 5.1, keeping x number of episodes of a show, and more granular adjustments of recording times)
Oh, snap! The shoe fits and he wore it.
I don’t drive, I walk… barefooted.
More seriously though: the car analogy doesn’t apply because different manufacturers build their cars with different components, different technologies even. So, for example, your Kia’s engine is quite different from the engine in a Tesla. Maybe that’s too extreme an example. Still, you will not find the same engine in a Kia vs. a Chevy vs. a Toyota vs. a BMW.
Yes, they are all internal combustion, but they are quite different from one another.
Back in the day when Apple used different processors, as well as different suporting hardware yes, the analogy would have been be perfect. But for many years that hasn’t been true. The hardware inside an Apple device is the exact same as you would find elsewhere.
As an example, a couple of years ago I bought a new laptop. It was an Windows Intel i7 with 8GB of DDR3 Ram, a 1 TB hard disk, 1080 monitor, etc… It cost about 900 dlls. I looked at the exact same Apple product, same Intel i7, and I do mean the SAME intel i7 (exact same engine if you will), same 8 GB DDR3 Ram, same 1TB mechanical drive, same resoution, etc, the price for that machine was about 1500 dlls.
Is the OS worth the 600 price difference? That is one seriously expensive operating system. Maybe it was the quality of the solder (pure gold!).
And this is true for products other than computers. Open an iAnything and you’ll find the same components (the EXACT same) as in other products.
So, at least nowdays, you pay a premium for membership into the Apple owners club. Because other than that, you are getting the exact same Kia as everyone else.
I was wondering: could it be that it is not so much a question of effort / development, but perhaps licensing rights for a CODEC?
I truly don’t know, I’m just wondering out lound.
I second (or third or fourth) that.
I think that’s what got some folks saying that’s one of the reasons why people are leaving cable companies… they are always looking at how to get more customers, but don’t do much to retain existing ones.
I think I found a way to make your car analogy work.
Re-badging.
Say GMC rebadges a 7000 dollar Daewoo as a Chevy and sells it for 15000 dollars. It’s the exact same car except that the logo is different (a ribbon… or an apple with a bite taken out of it).
In this case, since it actually and truly is the same car, buy it under the Daewoo brand.
Or better yet, walk, it’s healthier.
Well I’m not a lawyer, but I would think that since AC3 is how the audio is carried over the waves, they’re already decoding the audio to give us stereo. And there’s a Dolby logo in the marketing materials, so they are paying for something. In fact, I imagine transmitting the stream untouched and simply letting the end device (AVR or TV) do the decoding would require no license.
There was a comment by one of the Tablo people a while back about this needing a firmware change by their tuner chip provider. I think the chip is producing the stereo signal now, and they need updated firmware for the chip and the Tablo itself to do this.
Watch out for plantar warts.
I have to add that the retain previously scanned channels feature would be much appreciated. Just tonight I had the issue of the scans refusing to pick up a channel that is still playing fine from an older scan. I did not save the rescanned channels because i did not want to lose this channel. I could not get this channel to scan in tonight after several new scan attempts yet it still plays fine in the Tablo as I type this. I have several other channels like this in my area and it’s frustrating always losing them during rescans,. One of my Digital TV boxes has this feature and I loved it in that. I live in an area where many of my channels are just in range and I am constantly using rotators to adjust my antennas. The Channel here then gone stuff gets very frustrating.
Please reconsider this feature.
This rescanning problem pops up in another thread:
Wonder what’s going on with the rescan?
I would like to see the following:
1. Recording the extra 5 min. should be optional… Many of the programs I record end the subject matter close to 5 min. before the end; not after the scheduled End.
I’d, at least, like to see it where I could specify NO ADDITIONAL 5 MINUTE or stick to THE SCHEDULED End… Better yet, be able to Specify recording time.
(using the simple/fast Normal way of Scheduling)
2. In the Recordings group, it would be nice to be able to see Programs Recorded Today default or Specific Day. I find it hard to review ALL programs to see if anything was recorded or not. This change would make it SO MUCH easier.
3. After the Audio Volume has been fixed, also have a Volume Adjustment possible (slide type control).
4. Use the 2nd USB port to Backup the Main HDD.… Have a Backup system.
To have more precise control over how long your recordings are, you could create manual recordings. Manual recordings can be recurring, but you’ll have to watch for weeks when there is not a new episode.
As for backing up your HDD, you can use some of the 3rd party tools, including Tablo Ripper, to copy your recordings to your PC.
I’ve been down the Manual recording road… It’s OK for maybe a Football game, or Baseball game… BUT to attempt to do it for all of the programs I would like, it would be a GIANT Pain in the A$$…
Why not Record according to the Schedule (which is accurate 90% of the time) and save that extra 5 minutes of wasted space? … And you could add the OPTION to record 5 min. more, if desired. Do they run Over in Canada, making the 5 min. extension more valid? 90%++, here in USA the Schedule is adhered to down to the Second.
Backing up the disk… What are the steps? How do you SHUT DOWN Tablo in a Controlled manner before unplugging it in order to Back it up? … and letting Tablo know it Back afterward (besides just by plugging it in)?? Obviously, no NEW recording can be done during this B/U process… Where if it were integrated into the Tablo system, it would be smoother and more reliable, etc.
Thank you for your comments.
Just to add a contradictory data point, my local NBC affiliate here in the United States for several weeks was running its primetime about three minutes early. That meant that I was missing the first few minutes of Superstore. If that happens, I see no reason why the opposite wouldn’t sometimes be true. (With that in mind, I would also like the option to start five minutes early).
Well, we have it coming and going now! 
… … …
Why not Default to the Listing Start/Stop times with the OPTION to modify each?! … … That way, we will fix it Coming and Going for ANY circumstance and be done with it… once & for all!
Great point… I have not noticed such action here in SoCal…
Thank you!
I haven’t seen anything that long, but for a while, Who Wants to be a Millionaire was starting about 15 seconds early. I guess ideally, it would be nice to be able to adjust +/- an arbitrary number of minutes on both the start and end time of scheduled shows.
One particularly irksome thing the networks often do is end a show 1 minute after the hour, which could mess things up if you’re using all of Tablo’s tuners following that show. Being able to end 1 minute early (and likely lopping off 60 seconds of commercials) would allow the following shows to all start on schedule.