Roku Developer Program

[EnTerr]

I was reading threads about RokuTV and notice people are complaining (e.g. http://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.p ... tcount=135 ) when watching OTA content not being able to directly dial the channel number they want. So, a thought occurred - how about using a remote app (i.e. over ECP) to dial the number? I tried and it does not work. So here is a suggestion:

Extend the "Antenna TV" (tvinput.dtv) app for RokuTV to handle channel number entry over ECP. And if someone wants to shortcut to a favorite channel, they can do so with a smartphone app. Bam.

It's awfully specific but also very simple in scope idea. No need to change the beloved simple Roku remote. No need to change ECP either. Just listen for /input digits (and backspace, maybe) and act as a typical cable box/TV would, almost no change to UI. It's a one man-day of work really.

PS. /me posting as one of the "consumers" of ECP, hence the dev.forum

[renojim]

Seems like a good idea. I thought not being able to directly tune a channel was a major oversight, but you can press the left arrow button on the remote which brings up a list of all added channels and then you can choose one to go to directly. It's almost as good as directly entering a channel and infinitely quicker than pressing up/down to get there. Still, the idea of ECP support (or telnet "press" command; e.g., press t4.1) is a good idea.

-JT