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axiomy's avatar
axiomy
Visitor
14 years ago

HLS on Roku1 works perfect HLS on Roku2 does not switch

I am having trouble getting HLS to work properly on Roku2. We are following the Roku 4.3 guide exactly to prepare our HLS. We are using Apple's mediafilesegmenter and variantplaylistcreator to make our files. This method works perfectly on Roku1, it starts at the lowest bitrate and then quickly switches up to the highest bitrate seemlessly.

Roku2 starts at the lowest bitrate but never switches up to a higher bitrate. What is going on here? I have read where other people are having the same issue. Can anyone help me get HLS to work on Roku2?

Like I said I am using the Roku 4.3 guide step by step and I am using Apple's segmenter and playlist creator. We are using FFmpeg to encode according the Roku 4.3 guide and using Apache2 for delivery.

Roku1 works perfectly seamlessly switching from low to high or high to low. Roku2 never switches. What has changed on Roku2 to cause this?
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13 Replies

  • axiomy's avatar
    axiomy
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    It should be noted that Roku2 only plays the first stream in the m3u8 file. I can reverse the stream order so that the highest rate is played first. Roku1 still switches like a champ starting at the lowest rate then switches up quickly. Roku2 only plays the first listed stream in the m3u8 file. Our streams work fine on other players like Iphone, jwplayer, flow player, etc. The only device that has issues is Roku2.

    Is there some secret to fix Roku2. I read that Netflix, Hulu, and Crackle all had roku2 issues with HLS but it was fixed. Is there something that is not published about how to get this working?

    I don't understand why it works on Roku1 and not Roku2.
  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Channel Surfer
    14 years ago
    Make sure to set the SwitchingStrategy content metadata attribute. If none is set, it should use the default, but an issue was introduced in the 4.7 firmware that requires it to be explicitly set, otherwise it behaves as you describe.
  • axiomy's avatar
    axiomy
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    I have <switchingStrategy>full-adaptation</switchingStrategy> below the stream format and it still won't switch. Any clues as to why?
  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Channel Surfer
    14 years ago
    "axiomy" wrote:
    I have <switchingStrategy>full-adaptation</switchingStrategy> below the stream format and it still won't switch. Any clues as to why?

    Is that value getting set in your code? Just adding it to the XML isn't sufficient unless your code is expecting that element to be there.
  • axiomy's avatar
    axiomy
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    Thank you... I have a channel based off the the video player and we are just using it on xml. There is nothing in my code to point out adaptive. Do you know where I need to put it? Thanks again! I will put it in my code and report back.
  • axiomy's avatar
    axiomy
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    BTW I went to your webpage and checked out your work. You have some amazing channel designs. Excellent work!
  • bandal's avatar
    bandal
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    I would like to add SwitchingStrategy: "full-adaptation" in my videoplayer code too. Where would I put it and what file? I do not use xml, my database is in mysql to get the shows.

    DA
  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Channel Surfer
    14 years ago
    You would add it to the showFeed.brs file, in the parse_show_feed function. Just after where it sets StreamFormat, add the following:

    If item.StreamFormat = "hls" Then
        item.SwitchingStrategy = "full-adaptation"
    End If

    Hope that helps, and thanks for the compliments!
  • axiomy's avatar
    axiomy
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    Thank you for your quick response! I will test it and report back my findings. Thanks again.
  • bandal's avatar
    bandal
    Visitor
    14 years ago
    Thanks, I will also have to test new files in various bitrates.

    Update, Just encoded 3 bitrates to see it on Roku2 XS. I did a 360, 768 and 2000.

    Watched it in 360kbps for about 20+ seconds and very pixelated before it switched to a higher rate and was clear, then switched to the 2000kbps. Works here. I used Sorenson Squeeze 7.0 to output hls and ftp'd to my web server.
    DA