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renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

"wizzy1291" wrote:
I like the new navigation/play options - they take a little getting used to as there is more interaction (keyclicks) to navigate but they work well.


At the risk of sounding like an ungrateful jerk, I rather wish there was a way to deactivate the shuffle/browse/play popup. It makes navigating the directories cumbersome.

Of course, just one dude's opinion.


I think I can safely speak for el.wubo when I say we welcome all suggestions, so don't be afraid of sounding like an ungrateful jerk.

The next release will probably do away with the popups completely. el.wubo had a good idea to move the Play/Shuffle options to be "posters" alongside of the music folders/songs. I've implemented it and I think I like it much better than the popups.

For now, if you want to get rid of them, go to "settings" and set "Autoplay subfolders" to "No". You will no longer be able to choose an artist's folder and play all albums under that artist, but you won't be badgered with the popups.

-JT
Roku Community Streaming Expert

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dellsweig
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

"scrager" wrote:
I think that this channel is reaching the tipping point of features vs usability. All the features are great, but I really think you need a database to take it to its full potential.

You could use tagging for organization
You could use tagging to make playlists
Allow searching
better shuffle/randomization
better speed on large "directories" (i put directories in quotes because when you have a database and tagging, you are no longer limited to a directory structure.)
Files can be organized in more than one way (artist, album, genre, directory, year, ....sky is the limit and every user can have their own organization
artwork can still be random, but also give the user the ability to select art for specific selections
much more complex features can be implemented once you have a database.


The beauty of MyMedia is it's simplicity. DO not loose that. (KISS).

The last thing I want on my server is yet another database. I dislike tools like iTunes simply because they need to re-create my library in their image (or database). The navigation method used with this app is fine. It is flexable enough - no need to re-sync things when something new appears in my collection like a new playlist or video.

Keep it simple

To me - the weakest part of this app is the requirement for a server of any sort on the users server. One thing I love about my Roku soundbridge is that it simply uses what is out there (media sharing). Roku choose not to include this type functionality in the Roku DVP but instead give developers the option to build tools to offer this kind of functionality.

Keep up the great work

Dan
Going where the wind don't blow so strange
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mkolby
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

"dellsweig" wrote:
To me - the weakest part of this app is the requirement for a server of any sort on the users server. One thing I love about my Roku soundbridge is that it simply uses what is out there (media sharing). Roku choose not to include this type functionality in the Roku DVP but instead give developers the option to build tools to offer this kind of functionality.


I'm really hoping at some point Roku will put in DLNA or SMB Shares support. I Have all my files on a Standalone NAS (with dlna/smb services) and would love not to have to have my pc running as well just to serve the files. This has the been the most used channel in my home since it's release. I love the work you're doing, just hope Roku steps up a bit more as well.
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Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

"renojim" wrote:
"Robert121571" wrote:
One thing what is the best file format and settings for video that every one has found to work best?


I'm not the best person to answer this since video quality isn't all that important to me (I'll probably never own an HDTV), but I use HandBrake with mostly default settings. I usually set the output file size to be the same as the input file size figuring that will give me about the same quality as the original, but I haven't tried to rip any DVDs yet and I'd definitely use different settings for that. The one thing I can tell you for sure is to set the frame rate to 29.97 FPS to avoid some kind of flaw in the Roku DVP that causes serious buffering issues after about an hour. The other option for HandBrake that is important is the -O option (Optimize mp4 files for HTTP streaming).

-JT


For those such as myself that are new to this or even looking for different ways to encode media i.e. video either manually or automatically to the roku standards I might have some useful information.

The folks over at Lifehacker.com have a plethora of information about DVD ripping software so if you are looking for something like that you can try searching for it there. I myself have been looking for a way to auto convert my media (mainly DVD rips & other video files) to be playable on the Roku. As of this moment I have been using the following FREE software to do this. Since I'm only using this software for Roku I can't say how well other aspect's of said software works.

MCEBUDDY 1.1 found here at mcebuddy.com
What MCEBUDDY does is run as a process on your PC & it watches the folder that you set for video files and automatically converts the file to a preset that you select. It's been working great so far for me in the aspect that it automatically converts my .mpg files from my WINTV 7 recordings to .mp4 files. However since I believe it uses mencoder to do the conversion it's a little "wonky".

There is an option to convert to H.264 but for whatever reason this will not play on my roku DVP, The setting that I have to use for my recorded shows is iPhone/iTouch. Another issue I've run into with this is that my recorded shows are converted and play fine on the Roku DVP, However if it is a DVD rip it will not play. The video file almost loads completely & hangs at the last bit of loading on the Roku.

So if your recording shows from a TV Tuner this is a fairly good option with a few con's MCEBUDDY will automatically convert your recorded TV shows (or other video files) for you, although I have yet to find a dependable way to automatically remove commercials from the converted TV video files.

Handbrake This would be my ideal conversion utility if I could get it to do what MCEBUDDY does, automatically watch a folder for video files and convert them. I've tried using Dirmon2 http://www.dragonglobal.biz/dirmon.html to set this up but with my lack of know how I couldn't/can't get it to work. If your manually converting your video files the optimal (or at least working for me) settings is a Roku preset like this:

### CLI Query: -i "EXAMPLE.mpg" -t 1 -c 1 -o "EXAMPLE.m4v" -f mp4 -O -w 640 --loose-anamorphic --detelecine --decomb -e x264 -b 1500 -2 -T -r 29.97 -a 1,1 -E faac,ac3 -6 dpl2,auto -R 48,Auto -B 160,auto -D 0.0,0.0 -x b-adapt=2:rc-lookahead=50 -v 1

However since I have started using MCEBUDDY because it will do the auto conversion for me I have not been using Handbrake at all. My scheduled recorded/downloaded shows are automatically converted upon finish and available to watch on my Roku at a later time at my convenience. If I could solve the removing commercials accurately from my recorded shows & figure out why my DVD rips won't play on the Roku DVP (even though I believe that I rip them in the right format) I would be a happy camper.
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myplanet
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

Feature Request:
El Wubo, It would be nice to have a "refresh" function. I may have several videos processing and going into my video folder. When I view a video, and then stop it, I can't see any new stop, unless I exit the video folder, and go back in. It then says "retrieving", and then can see new content.

I don't know if a timed refresh, or a button push (like the down button), then refresh is better, but either one might help.
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Gilgamesh
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

I've just had an unusual happening.

First, before the incident everything was working fine with NO re-buffering on any of my files.

Last night I had a failure that I thought was my network at first but turned out to be my ISP was down locally.

During the trouble shooting process I rebooted everything on my network but I changed nothing.

After all this I discovered that all my local files would frequently re-buffer while playing. I tried everything I could think of but I am still getting the re-buffers.

Everything else is fine and I have tried everything I can think of. Does anyone have any ideas? I would welcome any help.
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renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

Have you tried rebooting the Roku DVP? Unplug it for a few seconds and plug it back in.

-JT
Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
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Robert121571
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

Something I just discovered. If you use firefox and have download helper installed plug in addon installed into firefox. If you watch a youtube video and wiat till the video has fully played or at least till the buffer has gone all the way to the end and you use download helper to grab the video. It is in the correct format for Roku. I just did this with a few to test and every one played on my Roku with no conversion needed. Just a heads up for any one wanting to mess with youtube videos on the box.
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hammerpocket
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

"Robert121571" wrote:
Something I just discovered. If you use firefox and have download helper installed plug in addon installed into firefox. If you watch a youtube video and wiat till the video has fully played or at least till the buffer has gone all the way to the end and you use download helper to grab the video. It is in the correct format for Roku. I just did this with a few to test and every one played on my Roku with no conversion needed. Just a heads up for any one wanting to mess with youtube videos on the box.


I mentioned that plugin earlier in the topic (or at least in the My Media tips topic). Anyway, yeah, it's really handy. I use it mostly for stuff my 3-year-old daughter wants to see over and over again on YouTube. BTW, it works on lots of other sites, too, although I don't know how many of those have .h264 in addition to flash. Even if a site only has flash, I believe there is a setting to automatically convert those downloads.

Someone posted a link to a page where you can enter a YouTube URL and the h264 video will be automatically downloaded. Not as convenient, but works from any browser.
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myplanet
Visitor

Re: My Media - Your Music and Video on the Roku DVP

"hammerpocket" wrote:

Someone posted a link to a page where you can enter a YouTube URL and the h264 video will be automatically downloaded. Not as convenient, but works from any browser.


You can use Miro, see the tips and tricks thread for more details http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=26321
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