Roku Developer Program

[daraghward]

I'm starting off development on my first Roku project and would like to hear if you guys have any recommendations for a good monitor to use for development purposes.
We have a nice HDTV here in the office, but it's more for demos and wouldn't really fit on my desk.
I also have a 2011 27" Apple Cinema Display as a second monitor, but there doesn't seem to be any way currently to convert HDMI to thunderbolt, so that's not a runner either.
For dev, I'd like to have a monitor of comparable size to the 27" Cinema Display that works well with the Roku.
Any recommendations ?

[RokuChris]

I've found that it's better to test on a television than a PC monitor. Many TVs do not display the edges of the picture, also called overscan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan). Testing with a TV instead of a PC monitor will give you a better idea of what most users will see when using your channel. This is especially helpful when designing your overhang graphics or if you're building any custom screens.

TV safe zones are defined in the SDK Design Guidelines: http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/RokuSDK ... 2Safezones

You should also test your channel in both SD and HD modes during development.

[RokuJoel]

I highly recommend in addition, that you get an older tube type television for testing your content in SDTV mode, that way you'll know if your colors blur or smear, or if your logo is cut off on the edge of the screen, so we don't have to reject your channel for those reasons. A little 15" Toshiba or Sony Trinitron set will do the job.

- Joel

[daraghward]

Great advice - thanks !