As you might know, Tablo recently announced a revamped Roku channel as well as interfaces for Amazon Fire TV and Android TV would be coming in the first quarter of 2015.
UPDATE: The apps are now available! Click here for details.
When we unveiled screenshots for both interfaces earlier this month, people got pretty excited.
@TabloTV when does the upcoming Roku app update roll out? Looks super cool!
— curt lycke (@lyckec1) January 7, 2015
@TabloTV what device is that interface running on? It’s sexy! #cordcutter
— Brendan Berg (@captainnapalm) January 7, 2015
@TabloTV To: TabloTV Re: Revamped Roku Interface Dear Sirs (or Madame) To quote the bard Miss Veruca Salt “I want it NOW!” Looks awesome!
— Artemus (@Mortfatale) January 6, 2015
While we wish we could hand everything over to you today, our hard-working development team still needs a bit more time to finalize the interfaces before they get released into the wild.
To tide you all over, we wanted to give you some short video sneak peeks.
New Roku Channel:
The current Tablo interface is based on a ‘standard’ Roku development console provided by the good folks at Roku. While it’s serviceable, it doesn’t have the same Netflix-style look and feel as our other apps. It also won’t support custom screens that would enable us to do a grid-guide for live TV.
This is why we took on the huge task of creating a custom Roku channel. Our developers have built it from scratch in the coding language Roku uses itself (called Brightscript). Every screen has to be laid out visually then each element on the page custom coded to deliver the snappy, beautiful experience you’re used to with custom Tablo apps.
(Note, we navigated through much more slowly than necessary so you could actually see the screens!)
Here’s the sneak peek:
At launch, the NEW Roku interface will enable you to:
- Browse and set recordings coming in the next 24 hours via the Live TV grid guide
- Watch live TV (including pause & rewind)
- Browse and watch recordings (including pause, rewind and fast forward)
Then over the coming months post-launch we’ll add:
- Browse upcoming TV, Movies and Sports occuring in the next 14 days and set recordings
- View scheduled recordings
- Search
While we work on adding the additional functionality to the Roku channel, you’ll still be able to use the ‘old’ Roku channel if you want/need to schedule recordings occuring later than the coming day. You can also do all of your scheduling via our other apps.
Amazon Fire TV & Android TV:
We’re also very excited to unveil our apps for Amazon Fire TV and Android TV style set-top-boxes as well as the Amazon Fire TV stick. The apps for these devices will have the exact same look and feel as they’re both Android/HTML-based.
These apps will allow you to use some of the newest and fastest set-top-box hardware on the market today to watch and interact with your Tablo Over-the-Air DVR.
(Note, we navigated through much more slowly than necessary so you could actually see the screens!)
Here’s the sneak peek:
At launch, the Android TV and Amazon Fire TV interfaces will be fully functional, enabling you to:
- Browse and watch Live TV and recordings (including pause, rewind and fast forward)
- Set recordings via the Live TV grid guide or the TV, Movies or Sports screens
- View your scheduled recordings
- Edit your Tablo settings
We’re VERY excited to launch these apps to provide you with additional and improved options for watching content from your Tablo OTA DVRs on your big screen TVs.
So get comfy on your couches and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to get updates on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV App availability!
