Will the Roku APP UI ever improved or enhanced

Filters have been needed since they implemented the last major Roku UI rewrite in Nov. of 2014. Of course manual recording and channel scan are also needed.

There is no reason to have to manage and play recordings on tablo using multiple devices and apps. Of course after 34 months who knows.

I wonder if @tabloTV will answer?

There’s an update in the works right now…

Can you identify where exactly your wife seems to be having issues with the app?

Is she trying to schedule things from the GUIDE screen, or from the LIVE TV screen?

If she’s trying to schedule from the live screen, I can see why that might be frustrating for her since she can only see 1 day in advance.

Hasn’t everyone accepted the fact that on every UI the Live TV grid is only 24 hours.

But on Roku the Guide has a “TV Shows” filter that is nothing but a monolithic list. I only have 15 channels and my TV Shows list contains 1450 shows (not episodes). And at least 3 of the sub-channels are mostly movies. God knows how much worse it could be if you 17-20 channels that were all TV Shows.

Quick hint - on the far right side there’s an alphabetical quick link…

So if you’re looking for The Orville for example… Scroll down to O and you’ll get brought to that area in the guide.

We are of course always looking to add more filter & sort options to all of our apps, so hopefully we’ll be able to add a few more to Roku in the coming months.

I often spend my spare time memorizing the various names of television shows. Especially as they might appear in a guide.

On Roku even WatchESPN can sort the now playing and upcoming shows by channel. And then display the channel on a grid by date.

Well, from the Live menu it’s a disaster - firstly, as you observe, there is only 24 hours available, regardless of the fact that you have up tp 14 days’ worth of guide data. Secondly, if one press choose to record from the live data, it will not perform a series recording. One then has to go to the scheduled recordings tab and look for the program to alter the recording options. And with the speed of the Tablo’s processor, it actually may not be in the guide immediately.

From the Guide screen, we firstly detest the thumbnails, since they’re small and not easily readable, and they can’t be filtered more than alphabetically. So if she’s interested in what new shows might air in the fall season on NBC, she’s SOL.

After much experimentation, last night I got her to sit down in front of her laptop and that UI is much better - with filters for channels and Prime time. I would, of course still like to see textual descriptions, but at least the thumbnails are readable, whereas from 15+ feet away, on a television screen, those thumbnails are just a colossal failure.

Don’t actually see or understand why I should accept 24 hours as the cut-off for a view of the schedule.

Isn’t the www.tablotv.com site littered with references that the Live TV grid is only 24 hours.

If you didn’t like the 24 hour live grid why did you buy the product. I’m more interested in the Roku having the equivalent functionality as the WEB app (or other apps).

And even I, with my cataracts, can see and understand the thumbnails as they appear on my television.

Because I and others don’t like the 24 hour guide, is there a rule that we can’t ask for an extended time display? I may not like one component of this service, but the overall functionality id great. It’s my hope that with my and others’ feedback, the product will be improved.

I don’t really care how or under what conditions you can see the guide thumbnails. I’m saying I can’t see/read them at the distance that my TV is from where I sit. And I can’t quite afford buying a TV larger than the 65-inch I have. Nor will my wife permit me to place my chair in the middle of the room. So I often find I have to stand near the TV to schedule things.

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I would be very happy if they found a way to sort the guide based on genre like the android app does. Its hard to schedule shows and movies in advance If you don’t know whats coming on a week from today. And who has the time to read through all the movies alphabetically.

Just as an FYI for some of the newer folks, every couple of months, Tablo will send out a customer survey and ask that you list and rank your top requests for new features / functions.

I can tell you they DO listen to those as I have been around for a while and seen MANY of my requested improvements come to fruition. Frustratingly a few are still not there but I can only assume that I was outranked by other requests that more people wanted.

Personally, I have no interest in them adding the additional sorting to the Roku as I prefer to do it on my Tablet anyway so sorry to say, I wont be voting for this myself. Additionally, for my television, I would actually prefer the thumbnails to be smaller, not larger. BUT, that is what is great about the survey, I may vote against your requests but there may be 50 others who agree with you. I am just ONE opinion and I completely understand that others may disagree with me.

Tablo reps have said a few times recently that they have hired quite a few new developers and while it will still take some time to get them all up to speed, they hope to be able to knock out new features at a quicker pace.

SO with all that said, when the next survey goes out, DON’T IGNORE IT, VOTE for what you want!

It’s quite easy to do a series recording from the live tv grid, mate. Click OK on the show that you want to record, that brings up the details. At the top of the screen you can see a hint starting with the star (*) and the show name. Click the * and then you can choose a record all, or record new. Easy as pie!

I’ve managed to locate some of the shows that crash my Roku.

If I look at them in another UI, they show channel() and no dates. So I think the data on my Tablo is scrambled.

Tomorrow I’m going to reformat the hard drive and totally factory reset the Tablo. Then I’ll see.

As for the UI stuff, yes, we can but express our desires. I was a developer myself, once upon a time and I think I have an understanding of some of the factors that may influence forthcoming improvements and features. There are all sorts of pressures on a development budget and I sympathize.

Here is how to factory reset your OG Tablo - if you have the new Tablo DUAL, the process is different.

Before you take the nuclear approach, why not touch base with support? We can take a look at things on our end and give you some suggestions that may not require the loss of all of your recordings and settings.

www.tablotv.com/ask-tablo

Sorry! Wrong thread.

Back to topic… Has the roku ui improved? Seems that is a pretty important part of the ecosystem, especially seeing all the roku tweets. For those who don’t like the roku ui What interface do you you like?

You would need to define what Roku UI and “improved” means. It’s more stable.

I have no desire to watch TV on a phone, tablet, or PC. So that just leaves two main OS’s: Roku and Fire TV. And Fire TV is too Amazon centric for me.

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I have been using 3 Roku 3s with my Tablo and 4 airport extreme router and extensions with a Centurylink PK5001Z modem (6.144/0.896 Mbps) for 3.6 years with great results. As far as I am concerned, I don’t care if Tablo software gets any better than it is - works fine for me! Cheers :grinning:

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Cool. I was only referring to the concerns addressed in the original post. My Roku just arrived and I haven’t tried Tablo yet so I don’t know what improvements are needed. Still researching what is the best streaming platform and Roku still seems to win. Agreed on Amazon. Same for Apple. Roku seems to be a dominant emerging platform and 1 of the central flagship experiences for Tablo. My guess is that tablo
will keep that platform current at least I hope so.