Today’s question comes from Darlene, who asks, “Are there shortcuts to get to things quicker in the Tablo app? I’d like channels or recordings to start playing right away instead of having to click on the show and then click ‘watch’.”
Would you like an even faster way to start enjoying your favorite show from the Tablo app? Thankfully, there’s a handy playback shortcut available for most Tablo-compatible apps and devices.
When you’ve found a live TV show or recording that you’d like to watch in the Tablo app, hitting the OK or ENTER button on your remote will bring up a secondary screen.
Along with the option to watch the show, that screen will also offer other choices like scheduling it to record, adding the channel to your favorites or deleting the recording, depending on the type of program.
If you’d prefer to skip right to enjoying your show, you can bypass that screen altogether by hitting the PLAY button on your remote instead.
For example, when you’ve highlighted a channel or current airing on the Live TV grid, pressing PLAY will immediately start playback of that program.
In the Library screen, pressing PLAY vs. OK/ENTER can also launch playback of individual recordings from the Latest view and within each series container.
You can even use the PLAY vs. OK/ENTER shortcut on any airing marked LIVE in the Home, TV Shows, Movies, Sports or News screens.
The Exceptions
Remote controls from Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV all offer a PLAY button. However, some Android TV devices like the Google TV Streamer, Chromecast with Google TV and ONN Android TV streamer only have an OK/ENTER button.
If your Android streaming device’s remote doesn’t offer a PLAY button, you could consider purchasing and pairing a third-party Bluetooth remote that offers additional controls.
The PLAY vs. OK/ENTER shortcut is also not yet available on the Tablo app for Samsung or LG smart TVs.
Regardless of which device you use with your Tablo, selecting the channel ID/logo on the far left of the Live TV Grid, rather than an episode, will also start playback immediately.
Bonus Navigation Shortcut
All Tablo apps offer the ability to hop to future dates within the Live TV grid by using the Jump to Day feature within Guide Options.
However, if your compatible device’s remote offers FAST FORWARD and REWIND buttons you can use those to quickly skip ahead to see what’s airing later tonight or beyond.
Have a question about watching TV that you’d like answered? Send us a note and you may see your question on the Tablo blog and in an upcoming issue of our newsletter, Stay Tuned!
