Forum Discussion

mj1856's avatar
mj1856
Reel Rookie
5 years ago

Roku Private Listening stream mp3

Are there any technical details available about the stream format, uri, port, etc. that are used with the "private listening" feature? Is it a regular MP3 style radio stream, or RTSP/RTP or similar? Or is it something proprietary?  How would one implement the private listening feature in their own application?

I see that the ECP rest api gives a "supports-private-listening" boolean

https://developer.roku.com/docs/developer-program/debugging/external-control-api.md#querydevice-info-example

On my own device I see:

<supports-private-listening>true</supports-private-listening>
<supports-private-listening-dtv>true</supports-private-listening-dtv>
 

But then what? Where is the stream url or other technical details?

Thanks.

Roku Developer Program

8 Replies

  • necrotek's avatar
    necrotek
    Roku Guru
    5 years ago

    "Private listening" is a feature available by plugging headphones into your Roku remote or with your mobile phone connected to your Roku with the Roku mobile app. Any audio that is played on a Roku will be redirected to your headphones if connected by either method (not both at the same time). I don't think there is a way to access it any other way. It is not something that developers have access to. depending on the Roku model it may be a blutooth or wifi direct connection to the remote. I have not encountered any documentation that indicates what transfer method the stream is sent as.

    https://support.roku.com/en-gb/article/217478308 

    https://support.roku.com/en-gb/article/217479488

     

    What would you like to accomplish that you think using "Private listening" would be the means to accomplish your intended use case?

    • f29's avatar
      f29
      Channel Surfer
      5 years ago

      I also, would like to have this information.  I intend to use it to play the sound through assistive hearing devices as I suffer from a hearing disability.  I sure hope roku is cooperative in accommodating Americans with disabilities by sharing how the app connects for 'private listening'.

      • mj1856's avatar
        mj1856
        Reel Rookie
        5 years ago

        I did some investigation and found it uses WebSockets to set audio to stream to an RTP port.  That could be useful.  However, the WebSocket session starts with an auth challenge and required response that appears designed to prevent anyone using this mechanism without having a some sort of secret password or certificate.  Thus, without dev support from Roku, unfortunately I believe it is not possible to access this feature.