Roku Developer Program

[belltown]

"agmark" wrote:
I'm apparently not doing something correctly with my zipped folder that I'm uploading to Roku. I just realized that the changes I make to the appmain file aren't showing up in the file when I Telnet in. I've been opening the appmain, making changes and saving. Then I drop it into my zipped folder which contains the source/images/etc. It seems like that might be working for me.

Are you actually re-zipping the folder after you make your changes? From your description it sounds like you are just putting the appmain.brs into the folder without actually compressing it. That won't work. If you're using Windows, then in Windows Explorer go to the folder just above the 'source' directory where you've place appmain.brs (this directory should contain 'source', 'images', 'manifest' and 'Makefile'), select all files (ctrl-a), then right-click over the selection and select Send To...>Compressed file or folder. You'll end up with a .zip file in that directory that you can upload to the Roku. Make sure when you upload that you select the right zip file from the right directory.

The other thing to check is that your TV is configured as HD. If you're using a TV set up as SD then you'll need to change the line: qualities = ["HD"]
to qualities = ["SD"], or it won't play.

[agmark]

Seem bizarre that I'm the only one having trouble with the simplevideoplayer from the SDK. I start from scratch with a working channel. Then I comment out the single
srt = "file://pkg:/source/craigventer.srt" line. Reload the channel and it won't work. The file says to swap out the comments to play other videos. Won't work for me.

[belltown]

"agmark" wrote:
Seem bizarre that I'm the only one having trouble with the simplevideoplayer from the SDK. I start from scratch with a working channel. Then I comment out the single
srt = "file://pkg:/source/craigventer.srt" line. Reload the channel and it won't work. The file says to swap out the comments to play other videos. Won't work for me.

Comment out lines 220 through 223.

[agmark]

Ok, here's what I found. The simplevideoplayer app from the sdk is missing a line in the appMain file. It says you can uncomment any of the video links in the displayVideo () section. Only the first video is uncommented and it also includes a srt = line. In order to make any other video work, you need to add the line: srt = "". At least that made it work for me and my test mp4 would play just fine. Before figuring this out, I think I tried deleting a few lines of code but didn't seem to help.

I appreciate everyones comments while trying to figure this simple problem out. It's a bummer when you get stuck on your first attempt at playing developer.

I do notice this when I telnet in. Is this anything to be concerned with?

Type args = roAssociativeArray
Type args.url = Invalid
showSpringboardScreen

[destruk]

"agmark" wrote:
How do you discover the fps and other file attributes on a video file on the web? When I play it, I dont' see any way to view the file properties.

I'm not sure about your previous question - but to get information about a video file you can use the open source mediainfo program here:
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

Given a choice I'd rather encode files that I know will 100% work, rather than take a chance that because nobody uses some format or encoding setting roku will remove it on a whim and break my content.

[flyfishtom]

"agmark" wrote:
Ok, here's what I found. The simplevideoplayer app from the sdk is missing a line in the appMain file. It says you can uncomment any of the video links in the displayVideo () section. Only the first video is uncommented and it also includes a srt = line. In order to make any other video work, you need to add the line: srt = "". At least that made it work for me and my test mp4 would play just fine. Before figuring this out, I think I tried deleting a few lines of code but didn't seem to help.

I appreciate everyones comments while trying to figure this simple problem out. It's a bummer when you get stuck on your first attempt at playing developer.

I do notice this when I telnet in. Is this anything to be concerned with?

Type args = roAssociativeArray
Type args.url = Invalid
showSpringboardScreen

I'm getting the same error in my telnet session when trying to play the simplevideoplayer app. I didnt make any changes to the code and simply loaded it to the Roku2. When I play the app I get a screen like this:

Craig venter, Can we create new...
-play
-go back

I click on play and it looks like it tries to load a video then immediately jumps back to this screen.


Another question I have; is the Craig Venter screen supposed to be the first screen loaded when the app runs?

[belltown]

"flyfishtom" wrote:

I'm getting the same error in my telnet session when trying to play the simplevideoplayer app. I didnt make any changes to the code and simply loaded it to the Roku2. When I play the app I get a screen like this:

Craig venter, Can we create new...
-play
-go back

I click on play and it looks like it tries to load a video then immediately jumps back to this screen.


Another question I have; is the Craig Venter screen supposed to be the first screen loaded when the app runs?

The first screen should be the one that has the 'Play' and 'Go Back' buttons that you described.

One thing that would account for the behavior you describe would be if your Roku were configured for an SD TV. The simplevideoplayer example app only has an HD stream defined for the Craig Venter podcast, which will not play on an SD-configured device. To fix this, change the lines that say: qualities = ["HD"] to qualities = ["SD"]. You may also be able to go into the Roku Settings screen and set your TV configuration to HD to test whether it plays.

[flyfishtom]

"belltown" wrote:

"flyfishtom" wrote:

I'm getting the same error in my telnet session when trying to play the simplevideoplayer app. I didnt make any changes to the code and simply loaded it to the Roku2. When I play the app I get a screen like this:

Craig venter, Can we create new...
-play
-go back

I click on play and it looks like it tries to load a video then immediately jumps back to this screen.


Another question I have; is the Craig Venter screen supposed to be the first screen loaded when the app runs?

The first screen should be the one that has the 'Play' and 'Go Back' buttons that you described.

One thing that would account for the behavior you describe would be if your Roku were configured for an SD TV. The simplevideoplayer example app only has an HD stream defined for the Craig Venter podcast, which will not play on an SD-configured device. To fix this, change the lines that say: qualities = ["HD"] to qualities = ["SD"]. You may also be able to go into the Roku Settings screen and set your TV configuration to HD to test whether it plays.

Thanks for this quick reply. I'll certainly do this. Appreciate the help.

Tom

.

[flyfishtom]

"flyfishtom" wrote:

"belltown" wrote:

"flyfishtom" wrote:

I'm getting the same error in my telnet session when trying to play the simplevideoplayer app. I didnt make any changes to the code and simply loaded it to the Roku2. When I play the app I get a screen like this:

Craig venter, Can we create new...
-play
-go back

I click on play and it looks like it tries to load a video then immediately jumps back to this screen.


Another question I have; is the Craig Venter screen supposed to be the first screen loaded when the app runs?

The first screen should be the one that has the 'Play' and 'Go Back' buttons that you described.

One thing that would account for the behavior you describe would be if your Roku were configured for an SD TV. The simplevideoplayer example app only has an HD stream defined for the Craig Venter podcast, which will not play on an SD-configured device. To fix this, change the lines that say: qualities = ["HD"] to qualities = ["SD"]. You may also be able to go into the Roku Settings screen and set your TV configuration to HD to test whether it plays.

Thanks for this quick reply. I'll certainly do this. Appreciate the help.

Tom

.

This worked! Thanks.


Curiously, I'm still seeing this error in the telnet debugger:

Type args = roAssociativeArray
Type args.url = Invalid
showSpringboardScreen

[RokuChris]

"flyfishtom" wrote:
Curiously, I'm still seeing this error in the telnet debugger:

Type args = roAssociativeArray
Type args.url = Invalid
showSpringboardScreen

I don't think those are errors. Just debugging info.