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jnicholas's avatar
jnicholas
Visitor
16 years ago

Best practices for indicating a live stream

I've been developing a Roku app that has some on demand video but also has some live content. The live shows are only on two times a day. In our web site the we use push technology from flash media server to make the live stream start or to tell people that the live show is on. Is there a recommended approach for this inside Roku channels?

A related issue is how should the roku respond when the stream ends? I was testing live streaming and when I stopped the stream the roku just sat on a black screen until I hit the up arrow. Is there an event I can catch to go back to the channel home page or a thank you page or something?

I'm assuming that MLB and the other sports channels have to deal with both these issues and there is a consensus approach.
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3 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Visitor
    16 years ago
    That's a great suggestion. Right now, we don't have any live-specific indicator. In your feed or through your API, you could specify that it's live and change your channel artwork appropriately.

    I'll have to defer to Kevin on the proper way to hand the end of the stream and return to useful UI.
  • RokuMarkn's avatar
    RokuMarkn
    Visitor
    16 years ago
    By "live stream" I assume you mean a stream formatted as HLS (HTTP Live Streaming). When a live stream stops, the server is supposed to add an ENDLIST directive to the end of the m3u8 file. Did you stop the stream in such a way that the server did that? Without an ENDLIST, the stream is assumed to still be live and more data is expected to be appended to the stream.

    --Mark
  • RokuKevin's avatar
    RokuKevin
    Visitor
    16 years ago
    As Mark pointed out, the ENDLIST tag in your .m3u8 file will cause the video screen to stop and exit back out to your springboard. Without the tag you will be staring at the blank screen.

    You'll also want to be sure to set the content meta-data Live parameter to 'true' so that you get the "Live" indication on the progress bar...

    MLB uses start times and count down times on the springboard as the live event approaches. I think this is a good model to follow for your live events.

    --Kevin