Nuvyyo’s new Tablo app is the first real live TV app on the Apple TV 4. The app is free but it requires you purchase additional hardware (Tablo DVR), antenna and TV guide service, because, obviously, Apple TV doesn’t have a coaxial connection in the back that you can hook up an antenna.

Tablo is not an IPTV app. It’s a hardware and service that gives you major networks over the air, like NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS, PBS, and as many channels as the antenna in or on your house can pick up.

You get a grid-style Program Guide and the ability to record single and multiple recordings. You also can manage recordings right from the app.

This is the best way to stop paying a monthly subscription to your cable provider and cut the cord for good.

Last year Apple stated: “The future of television is apps”. And they are correct.

Watch the video and tell me if you agree.

Learn more about Tablo.

Search for “Tablo” on your Apple TV’s App Store to download the free app.

Also check out:

• Infuse 4 for Apple TV 4: first look (video)
• Plex on Apple TV 4 explained (video)
• How to save media files to your Apple TV 4 ‘hard drive’ for offline viewing (video)

You can find more videos on my YouTube channel AskUncleDave.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Tablo has finally released a native Apple TV app that was unveiled and previewed at this year’s CES. The free app lets Tablo customers record and stream both live and recorded broadcast TV programs on their big screen TVs via the 4th gen. Apple TV.

The app works in conjunction with the networked Tablo DVR, a small $200 box that plugs into a digital TV antenna to capture free, local HDTV broadcast programs including news and sports within the US and Canada.

Unlike traditional DVRs that are connected to one TV, Tablo does not feature an HDMI connection – it connects to your home network using WiFi or Ethernet to stream content to any connected device inside your home or anywhere you have internet.

With version 1.0 of the Tablo App for Apple TV, customers can get access to their favorite network shows via both a Live TV guide and Recordings screens. One-time and series recordings can also be scheduled for programs airing within the next 24 hours.

Thanks to integration with Apple TV Siri Remote, Tablo users can easily skip commercials simply by asking Siri to jump ahead in the stream.

The app is said to provide “exceptionally fast performance during in-app navigation, as well as launching both live TV and recorded playback streams” thanks to the “superior processing power” of Apple TV 4.

Tablo also announced that the additional screens and features will be rolled out “over the coming months”.

Tablo app for Apple TV 4 is available for download now through the Apple TV App Store.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Ahead of the launch of the much-anticipated Apple’s online TV service, Comcast announced a beta test of its new streaming cable service called Stream. The new service requires no extra device or additional equipment… or even a TV.

With Stream, Xfinity internet customers can watch live TV or on demand content from about a dozen networks – including all the major broadcast nets and HBO – on laptops, tablets and phones in their home.

It includes thousands of on demand movies and shows to watch home or away and even comes with access to TV Everywhere and a cloud DVR so you can record all your favorites and watch them later.

Stream will be available to Xfinity Internet customers for $15 per month. Comcast is launching the service in Boston at the end of the summer and they will take it to Chicago and Seattle next, with plans to make it available everywhere in their footprint by early 2016.

The Wall Street Journal reported back in March that Apple was planning to launch its own online television service that would include about 25 channels from broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox and would be available on Apple TV as well as on iPhone and iPad.

Apple Web TV service is expected to be priced at $30/$40 per month and it’s reportedly scheduled to be launched in September.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Good news for those of you who use Slingbox, as the iPhone and iPad apps were just updated to allow users to stream the live TV and DVR recordings straight to the Apple TV.

Slingbox has been updated to utilise Apple’s AirPlay wireless video streaming, enabling the content you used to be only able to view on your iPhone and iPad, to be streamed to the Apple TV. This allows customers to view live TV or DVR recordings on any TV connected to an Apple TV without having to pay for additional licenses, or additional set-top boxes.

In addition, Sling – the company behind Slingbox – added the Blockbuster On Demand video service to the Slingbox 500, to let users search and view trailers and rent premium movies for viewing on their TV.

Sling began rolling out updates to Slingbox customers automatically on Wednesday. The AirPlay feature is available for Slingbox 500, Slingbox 350, Slingbox Pro-HD and Slingbox Solo devices.

 Follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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A few weeks ago, in collaboration with Squirrels (maker of AirParrot and Reflector) and Beamer, we started a contest inviting you to share with us (and the rest of the world) your vision of a perfect Apple TV – the Apple TV of your dreams. The participation was amazing (thanks!), we got tons of submissions and a lot of great ideas. Here is a short résumé:

Almost all of you think of a new Apple TV as a standalone TV set that features:

• a big, 3D, ultra HD display (Retina?)
• a built-in Kinect-like camera (FaceTime/Skype calls, gaming, face recognition)
• Siri
• App Store (yes, you want apps!!!)
• social network integration
• DVR functionality

All the above features seem to be a MUST for the future Apple HDTV.

Other ideas we liked:

• NFC
• push notifications
• multiuser personalized profiles
• gesture interaction with social media
• a full TV experience available everywhere (on the go!)
• wireless charging (in the fuuuuuture)

Interestingly, a lot of you want your TV to become… a phone.

Though these are all great ideas, we think we are still missing something here, a truly revolutionary, game-changing, killer future that could reinvent a TV and it seems that we will have to leave it to Apple to figure out what it is.

Here are some of your ideas:

Sean O’Neill

• My vision for the perfect Apple TV would require one simple interface addition: voice.  A few simple words should be all it takes to communicate with your TV, across all devices and services.
  Examples:
  “Hi TV. Change channel, CNN.”
  “Hi TV. Netflix, House of Cards. Episode 2.”
  “Hi TV. Search TV, Next Daily Show, New Episodes.”A minor hardware challenge would be including a small microphone in the remote, which would transmit voice commands to the box.An alternate approach to voice control would be to simply hold the current center button for a few seconds, which would trigger a high-gain microphone on the Apple TV itself. An animated speech waveform could be displayed on the TV to entertain the user & confirm actuation.Another interesting twist on this would be to provide multi-service search results, as Roku has done with the latest version of their Roku 3 player. e.g. “Hi TV. Iron Man 2. Anywhere.” might return a list of results on screen that list comparative pricing spanning multiple services, so users can select the best offering.

• Another “killer” feature would be Push Notifications. Users can register their favorite programs (via an Apple TV app, for instance, that could resemble a supercharged Remote app) using their Apple ID. They could then be notified about various events: when a favorite show is about to be broadcast, when a podcast they’ve subscribed to has a new episode, or when a movie they’re watching becomes available on Netflix, Amazon VOD, Vudu, etc. On acknowledging the notification, users could either select the content for immediate viewing, “Add to Queue”, or Record, depending upon the source.

G J P R Verasdonck

My Apple TV should be:

• any “computer” from which I can access the content from anywhere in the world (if I am on holidays in “Timbuktu” I do not want my screen to say that I am not authorized to view my content due to geographic restrictions)
• suitable for views on the go (e.g. iPad/iPhone) or at home (e.g. large screen)
• be “low-key interactive”: if I like the holiday program on Fiji Islands, I want to be able to look at booking options or in reverse: if i consider a holiday to the Inca ruins I want to be able to look for a travel program on the region I am interested in and see booking possibilities
• my TV should also be my phone; I like to see the people I’m talking with.

Mark Villapando

• Deals with all the premium channels for their on demand content
• Access to the NFL Network, or better yet, RedZone
• Deals with more sports networks to make pay subscription apps (to combat Internet piracy through illegal streaming sites)
• Easy ability to share viewed programs through social networks
• A VNC-like app to access the screens of computers on the network (from TV)
• Make iOS hackable again to allow programs like Plex, XBMC, or Media Player to stream local media (wishful thinking)

Alejandro Timpanaro

• A laser pointer (Wii-style)
• Google Chrome browser
• Google maps
• Access to Google Drive and other cloud services
• A download manager like Jdownloader.
• Backup config of the Apple TV in iCloud

Nicholas Chan

• Every single broadcast gets relayed to the billion-dollar data center for recording. This includes news broadcasts, morning/late night talk shows, etc. Everything gets recorded. A user with an Apple TV can then jump back in time to a specific hour to watch his/her favorite program from any channel, streaming directly from the data center. User does not have to worry about local storage. Program list can be sorted and presented in many ways. Programs can stream to iPhone/iPad/Macs. Premium channels are available to those that are paying for it currently.
• The Archive: for stuff that predates the Apple TV (stuff that didn’t get recorded at the data center), becomes available for on-demand streaming. Basically – Netflix. Score some deals Mr. Cook!
• Three ways to control the TV: 1) everyone has their phones with them, make that the remote (people would buy iPod touches dedicated for this). Very similar to the current Apple TV’s iOS remote. 2) if the phone isn’t in the room, use Siri, an obvious choice. 3) if all else fails, a multitouch display directly on a TV. Tap on screen to bring up a menu. Swipe to switch channels. Third party apps can utilize this. Apps can be educational and ask children to select things on screen, etc…(classrooms desperately need this feature available).
• Killer GPU for competition against consoles
• iSight -> direct all phone/FaceTime calls to the TV rather than your phone if your identity is detected in the room

Mike Bowen

• I’d like to see the TV have full touchscreen compatibility (you can’t play Angry Birds without a touchscreen)
• PIP of course that would support watching TV while checking apps
• Built in 4g & LTE support so you can actually make and receive phone calls from the TV set itself

Adrian Büsselmann

• I dream of gesturing from my couch to control the Apple TV. No more searching for the small controller. Apple TV could get a “Kinect” plugin to realize this
• Even a virtual keyboard can be shown on the TV and the Apple TV would see my gesture and get the right input

Eric Dykstra

• A monthly iTunes subscription (be able to watch everything on iTunes for a monthly cost; the cost would be high, $150+ per month)
• Control interface for cable and satellite (run the Cable signal through Apple TV, and change channels with ATV)

Eric Olson

• The Apple TV should be able to mirror to another apple TVs and support a “party-mode” where all apple TVs on the local network display and control the same media
• Open the “remote” IP port for 3rd party display of meta-data & control. This will make it easy to integrate an Apple TV into high & mid-range entertainment systems

Rik Moedt

• The Genius function that Apple uses to show you things you might like is going to be integrated. It will offer you playlist with things you might like to watch. In the playlist live television, on demand video and internet content can all be combined.

And the winners are:

1. Maria Panagi – for the brilliant idea of using simple gestures to interact with social media:

The Apple TV of my dreams would have highly developed gesture recognition, that would be used not only for playing games (bringing all the Wii feauteres) but the whole controlling of the TV would be based on gestures.

When it comes to social media, the gesture recognition would be highly integrated with the biggest social media platforms. On the above picture there is an example of Facbook ´Like`- the gesture of thumb-up would be recognized and would make it possible to give a like only using a gesture. Other gestures would be recognized as “share” and reading the news feed would be possible with a hand swing.

On the below picture there is an example of how the gesture control system could work with Apple TV menu. I believe that the main menu should have only 6 icons, so that it can be easily navigated with gestures (it would recognize moves: left top, right top, center top, left down, right down, center down). One hand swing would  bring another screen with the next set of 6 icons.

Prize: iPad mini

2. Cristhian Flores – for an idea of a fingerprint (on the remote)/face detection to recognize users and update the TV with their personalized profiles (channels, apps, movies, music, etc.)

Other ideas of Cristhian:

• Led notification for personal mail, Skype calls, or iMessage
• A built in mic on the touch remote to allow the user to communicate with TV without making too much noise around
• NFC chip, to allow smartphones and tablets to transfer information with a tap on the TV’s stand. When tapped to a laptop will also transfer information.
• All Corning Gorilla Glass with plasma like refresh rate 600HZ
• Has built in set-top box, way to activate is to call Apple and with their deal with Direct TV/Dish will transmit signal to the television to allow channel viewing
• Special coating on the television that activates when people (in a meeting) are trying to show their products can write on the screen with a stylus. This information is saved on the flash and can be transmitted to devices via NFC.
• Quad-core processor to allow heavy intensive applications to run, the visual would match the graphics of the Playstation 3
• 4GB RAM: allows applications to run at ease, also streaming any content while also doing iWork (multitasking.) It would allow either side-by-side or Top-bottom screen to be able to run two applications.

Prize: iPad mini

Runner-up: Leo Hellberg – for a futuristic idea of The Plug (wireless power) and professionally designed Apple-style graphic (below.)

Prize: free copies of AirParrot, Reflector and Beamer.

Big thanks to all for participation! Stay tuned for more contest and giveaways!

The contest was sponsored by Squirrels (maker of AirParrot and Reflector) and Beamer.

The post “Apple TV of your dreams” contest: winners announced! appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Our friends at the What’s on iPhone network have just reviewed a game we think would work wonders with AirPlay Mirroring. Check their review of Bastion for iPad!

All eyes are swiftly turning towards Apple’s fall media event, as they have at this point for years now. Most Apple fans are hoping against hope for unexpected updates to the iPad, iPhone and iPod, even as rumors have been swirling about changes coming for the increasingly popular Apple TV platform.

According to our friends at 9to5mac.com, the rumors may have some grounding in reality. A  was recently granted to everyone’s favorite computing and entertainment giant that suggests the Apple TV will soon be able to connect into live television broadcasts, as well as record new shows with a DVR-esque application.

According to the details of the patent, new versions of the Apple TV device will give users the ability to check out current cable listings while simultaneously viewing content. And Apple’s Granted Patent gives them exclusive rights to this technology.

While many current cable customers may be enthusiastic about tossing out their traditional DVR machines for an all-inclusive Apple TV package, chances are Apple is focusing more on integration with the television itself than with a cable box. That means the patent may only come into effect on TVs that come stock with Apple TV built in, as a set-top-box.

Hopefully September’s media event will shed some further light on what’s coming down the pipe, as fans of the low, $99 price tag on the current Apple TV may demand satisfaction that doesn’t require the purchase of a completely new television.

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