Roku Developer Program

[Fran_3]

- Must the channel be operational by the deadline?
- Can we still create our own Roku channel after the deadline (even if to late for contest) ?

Thanks for any help.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it must be functional for the contest. Of course, you are welcome and encouraged to develop and release a channel any time, even after or before the contest.

[kbenson]

The rules make it sound like no updates will be allowed to the channel after the contest starts, is that correct? It would suck to have a simple but app crashing bug sneak through development and not be able to push a quick update.

P.S. What is the delay between pushing a new public version of an (existing, published) app and it being updated on the installed customer systems? Does it check on the same time frame as for firmware updates, or more/less often?

[hoffmcs]

"kbenson" wrote:
The rules make it sound like no updates will be allowed to the channel after the contest starts, is that correct? It would suck to have a simple but app crashing bug sneak through development and not be able to push a quick update.?

I got an e-mail from Roku saying you can update your channel during the contest, here is the snippet.

Go ahead and upload and submit the current version of your channel so that you have something submitted just in case. You can always edit the channel to upload a newer, better version multiple times before the end of the contest.

"kbenson" wrote:
P.S. What is the delay between pushing a new public version of an (existing, published) app and it being updated on the installed customer systems? Does it check on the same time frame as for firmware updates, or more/less often

The box should check every 24 hours for a new version. The user can always visit the channel store to sync with the latest versions.

Here is the full text of the e-mail received:

Hello Roku Developer,

Just a quick reminder that we are now down to the last week for developing a Roku Channel to enter into the Roku Developer Contest. If you’re planning on submitting a channel, you have until 11:59:59 PM PDT Monday September 6th to hit ‘submit’ for your channel(s).

Here’s what’s going to happen with the contest:

• You upload the final, signed versions of each Channel you’re submitting for the contest and then hit ‘Submit’ by the end of Labor Day weekend. Upload to http://owner.roku.com/Developer/Channels


• Hint: use the Access Code link for your channel to add it to you account and test it to make sure it’s exactly what you want.


• Second Hint: Go ahead and upload and submit the current version of your channel so that you have something submitted just in case. You can always edit the channel to upload a newer, better version multiple times before the end of the contest.


• For each channel, fill out the survey/registration at http://developercontest.surveyanalytics.com by the end of the weekend as well.


• By September 10th, we will publish each qualifying channel to the Roku Channel Store. At that point, voting begins. This is your chance to get all of your Roku-owning friends to install your channel and rate it 5 stars. Reach out to your social network to help make your channel a finalist.


• On October 8th, the top three rated channels in each category will be turned over to our panel of judges to pick the winners.


• Winners will be announced on October 15th.


• After the contest, you will have the opportunity to further develop your channel and publish updates.
  If you have any questions, please contact us at developer@roku.com.

Happy coding and good luck to all the participants,

Patrick and the rest of the Roku team

Developer Contest: http://roku.com/contest
Web: http://roku.com/developer
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rokudev
SDK Forums: viewforum.php?f=34

[Anonymous]

You can update all you want before the deadline. After the deadline, no updates will be published (for contest entries) until voting is over and winners are announced. Once the contest is really and truly over and done with. Updates for everyone is back on.

[YungBlood]

What about content? Can content be updated?
-Kevin

[dynamitemedia]

can we have beta testers to channels Patrick?

or do we have to wait till the contest deadline passes?

Thanks

Chad Socolovitch

[Anonymous]

"dynamitemedia" wrote:
can we have beta testers to channels Patrick?

or do we have to wait till the contest deadline passes?

Thanks

Chad Socolovitch

What do you mean? You are more than welcome to get people to test your channels prior to publishing and we have the channel code for just that. Once published, you're not really beta testing since it's turned loose on all Roku users.

[Anonymous]

"YungBlood" wrote:
What about content? Can content be updated?
-Kevin

Yep. basically, we won't publish updated packages for the competing channels until after the winners are announced.

Patrick

[kbenson]

"RokuPatrick" wrote:

"dynamitemedia" wrote:
can we have beta testers to channels Patrick?

or do we have to wait till the contest deadline passes?

What do you mean? You are more than welcome to get people to test your channels prior to publishing and we have the channel code for just that. Once published, you're not really beta testing since it's turned loose on all Roku users.

Would there be a problem with posting the channel code in the forum here and asking for feedback?