The Tablo team is in Denver this week at the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (otherwise known as CEDIA) Expo (September 11-13, 2014). At the Expo, we’ll be showing off the Tablo Over-the-Air DVR that you know and love as well as something new we’ve been tinkering with in the lab: cable card support within Tablo.
Yes, we’re all about cutting the cable cord here at Tablo, but there are some folks who are unable to receive Over-the-Air HDTV broadcasts and instead must rely on cable feeds. In the United States (but not in Canada), some cable companies support ‘cable cards’.
Cable cards allow third-party devices like DVRs, computers and TVs to receive cable content without the cost or commitment of a cable company set-top box.
To create the proof-of-concept for Tablo cable card support, we worked with our friends at SiliconDust to connect their HDHomeRun PRIME product, which supports cable cards, to Tablo via Ethernet. In the lab we’ve proven that we can access cable content through the HDHomeRun PRIME, then organize, record and stream it to our ecosystem of connected devices through the Tablo DVR. This way, we’re able to offer the awesome Tablo experience to cable consumers, just like we already do with Over-the-Air content from HDTV antennas.
Now that we have a proof-of-concept working, our next step is identifying consumer interest, so, if this sounds super cool to you, please let us know.
And if you’re in Denver, please stop by the Denver Convention Center and find Tablo’s booth. (We’re in Rookie Row – RR#7.) We’d love to chat with you and registration (tradeshow-only) is free for CEDIA members and $75 for non-members.