Hey guys, been a PlexPass user since the beginning and followed the developments of the Plex DVR Beta. I’ve seen many users asking for the Tablo support as a DVR. The channel in Plex is not optimal and often broken. I’ve seen that you’ve lunched officially the Plex TV/DVR today, with a wider range of DVR supported, but still no Tablo. Any reason why Tablo is still not considered for Plex? As a owner of Tablo, I don’t really see the added value to pay again 300$ or more for a DVR while I already have one. Tablo already have a closed source API (which require NDA), which means there’s an opportunity to do a full integration of Tablo within Plex TV/DVR.
Worst case, if Plex TV/DVR would have a way to import recordings from Tablo that could be a tradeoff I guess. Tablo is such a great device, fully featured DVR/Live TV system. Plex is such a great multimedia ecosystem. It just make sense to make both of them work together as one. If it’s already in the pipeline, could you share a bit more about when we could potentially expect to have it supported?
Thanks for your consideration.
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I, too, would be extremely happy to see Tablo support integrated into Plex.
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I would love to be able to use my Tablo with PLEX.
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Tablo doesn’t have an open API where others can build things off it, and since Plex is a direct competitor, there’s little incentive for them to work with us.
The API they have is strictly to build a client utilizing their infrastructure and not to the depth Plex would require for integration.
An HDHomeRun is much less than $300 and allows you far more flexibility than a device which is locked into only a single ecosystem.
The goal we’re trying to promote here is, while we want to use Plex, we aren’t locking you into it. All of the tuners will work with other products, as will the recordings, as will the hardware associated with it. You chose which is right for you.
How is Tablo a direct competitor? Plex is a localized media hub. Tablo is an OTA/Cable network broadcaster, which is no different than HD HomeRun. Understanding that Tablo does have a closed API, which is duly noted on their web site, it is not impossible to work with them as long as you comply with their NDA.
They have a large list of support from other vendors, even my Xbox One S has a native Tablo app
Thanks for the clarification. I understand that you don’t control everything in this scenario. Sad to see the position of Tablo vs Plex, although they are not in the same category. Tablo is just a DVR while Plex is MUCH more than this.
I understand we are not locked into Plex, but the ease of use factor is important. Using Plex as the one stop solution for everything media related is kind of important for the family. They are not as tech savy as myself. Using different app for different need is too complicated for many people. Having TV shows partly in Plex and partly in another system is kind of silly. If Tablo doesn’t want to collaborate for a full integration, let’s hope they will for an official channel then. Otherwise we will have to rely on third party such as Tablo Ripper to bring Tablo content in Plex library.
I get your point with HDHomerun. Before using my Tablo, I used a HDHomerun HDHR-US (the original one) and I still have it. The main problem with it is that the UI to use it was pretty bad, hence the reason why I went with Tablo in the first place. Until Plex came up with the DVR functionality, little UI were available to properly, and conveniently use the PVR. However, only the latest models were supported in the early Beta. I’ve just seen though that your supported device page now mention that ALL HDHomerun devices are now supported. Hopefully that’s true for the HDHR-US model.
thx
@NVader2000 As far as I saw, those are just clients they built to 100% use the tablo interface/dvr, etc.
We would need direct access to tuners, which they have not granted to anyone to my knowledge.
With that said, if someone got access to that information, it’d be trivial for them to write a Tablo to HDHR proxy to emulate a HDHR and work fine with Plex. @andyblac1974 did it for Engima2 boxes, and someone could do it here. But it would cut out the entire Tablo ecosystem.
@grizzlymv makes my point further, while you have to rely on 3rd party tools such as ‘tablo ripper’. They want to keep you in their ecosystem, which is why I can’t ever see them publishing an API giving us tuner access.
With Plex, what’s the incentive for anyone to use Tablo? Once they’re used to Plex, they don’t have to pay their monthly fee, which is likely a primary way they generate income.
Think about it from their side, and I don’t see the incentive for them to work with us.
We like them, and we’re totally willing to work with them, but I don’t know what value we bring to them in order for them to want to work with us.
‘Hey, allow your customers a way to use your tuners without paying you guys a monthly fee and not using your own clients’.
Look at it from their point of view.
Just to add a bit of info there though, the Tablo Ripper have nothing to do with Tablo itself. It’s a user from the community who provided it since everyone requested Tablo to provide us an easy way to export the content, which to date, never came.
That however doesn’t provide DVR functionnality to plex. It just allows to export the Tablo content into a Plex library, which is a good step forward to have all your medias in the same place.
As for the full tuner access, I’m wondering if someone from Plex already queried Tablo or just assumed they wouldn’t collaborate? Tablo would obviously prefer to have Tablo user than Plex users, but at the same time, Tablo makes money only by selling their boxes, not subscriptions. I’m not paying Tablo any fees outside of my original payment to get my tuner. So since they don’t get any money from me now that I have the hardware, I’m not sure what difference it makes for them that I use their box through their UI or another one.
Anyway, in my case I may be lucky if my old HDHomerun HDRS-US model is supported in plex, but other who invested in Tablo while Plex wasn’t having a DVR feature might not want to start over again. I understand nobody is forced to use one system or the other but it’s still sad to see that lack of collaboration between 2 nice companies, especially with the rather low/small status of OTA TV. It’s not like that market is so huge that anybody can afford going solo at this point. Union is the force, for the benefits of your (Tablo/Plex and others) consumers. 
I understand that. My point is 3rd party apps have to exist to do it because Tablo doesn’t make it easy to export recordings into systems like Plex, which speaks volumes.
I don’t really see the benefit to Tablo, honestly. They want people in their ecosystem, sure they make a little money on hardware, but recurring revenue is really where it’s at. You might not pay, but many others do monthly, and many of them would likely switch to Plex. This is why I said they likely view us as a competitor. It’s not in their best interests to partner with us, and we have many tuner companies we’re trying to work with who is a better fit.
Your old HDHR works fine, every HDHR that exists works today. Our goal is to build a platform that encompasses as many people who want to use it as possible, lowering barriers to entry and allowing anyone the ability to do whatever they want with the media they have, which is why we utilize standards when available, don’t rely on weird database strings to figure out where media is, and don’t modify the actual stored media and we want to work with partners who share those same belief and goals.
But again, nobody is stopping anyone from building a 3rd party app to make this work. They’ve done it with TVHeadend and it works fine. It’s the recommended route to work with other DVR solutions ATM.
