Roku Developer Program

[greubel]

Chaneru Beta updated August 28

Channel:
1. Screen saver displays clock if no album artwork.
2. Fixed .url fails if space in Title name.
3. Fixed .url generated list not being cleared at end of play.
4. Added initial support for wildcard with .url playlists.
5. Added keyword "loop" to .url playlists.
6. Sped up the loading of large .url playlists when using wildcards.

Server:
1. Increased value for slideshow display time in options window.
2. Added initial support for wildcard lists with .url.
3. Fixed "[]" selection for wildcards with .url playlist.
4. Fixed problem with always selecting lowest device if both LAN and WiFi are on same network.

Go to http://www.chaneru.com for the Roku access code and also download the server.

If you have any problems, let me know !
Always open to feature suggestion.

[westinsdad]

I have feature suggestions that would make this channel super valuable to parents wishing to share media of their child securely, and cut out millions of hours of organization, conversion, ftp, blogging, and coding to embed videos in said blog:
1) having Chaneru set up to securely remote access my media on my server (this is for sharing photos and videos people have taken of their own kids, so the copyright is not held by another party, and we don't care about sharing the music remotely for this)

2) complete noob idea maybe (don't even know if the Roku works outside the US), but having this work outside the US. So instead of photo albums, I bring my in-laws a Roku box and then all I have to do is take the photos and videos and upload them to my server, and that is it on my end, no having to then upload to a server I pay to host them and all the effort to make the blog point to the media there - instead the remote family can just sit down and watch all of them seamlessly as they are updated without any further action on either end.

3) playing all media in a folder on my server that contains both photos and videos, in the order those files are named (they are named chronologically), so a "slideshow" (without the person on the server end having to create one) of photos and videos, the way a lot of cameras and iphones take them, in sequence, in the same stream. So desegregating photo and video on the server, and having everything play one after the other like they do in the camera, is my suggestion.

1 & 2, the secure sharing, come from a very real need parents have. This would be every parent's dream who didn't trust facebook and google with their kids' photos and videos, and hates all the steps one needs to take to share media securely while avoiding any corporation with a completely naive view of the need for privacy: "Google CEO On Privacy: 'If You Have Something You Don't Want Anyone To Know, Maybe You Shouldn't Be Doing It' " is ridiculous. I need certain trusted people in specific functions/roles to have data on my family's whereabouts, financial information, medical records, photos, and videos, and really need everyone else to not have access to these data.

3 is practicality - there are so many applications that come close to streaming the video and photos but NONE do this, only my camera when I hit "play" just does this as I want, and as far as potential clients only Picasa desktop plays photos and videos in sequence like this, but Picasa desktop gives read-write-delete access, it is therefore not a viable streaming client.

[greubel]

I agree !

I use mine with a shared folder in "Dropbox" that other members of my family can access. Chaneru has a link to my dropbox folder and all I have to do is paste in a new folder with all the new photos and videos. And like magic everyone in the family can sit down where ever they are and see what's up on their Roku/TV. And they can do the same.

I have purchased seven of these boxes, two for me and the rest for my kids and a brother in-law that lives in Spain. It's up to him to invite the rest of the family in Spain over for video night.

The Roku box will work outside of the states, if you have a TV that does NTSC. It's just Netflix that wont because of the stupid DRM rules. But most of the channels still work.

[westinsdad]

Dropbox is one of the best apps ever, hands down. I am going to add the Chaneru and see how it all works.

[westinsdad]

FYI, I just added the Flickr Roku channel and it SKIPS right over videos in a photostream. Complete lameness, but a real opportunity for someone like Chaneru to provide this streaming capability. Does Chaneru allow playing photo - photo - video - photo all in the same stream already?

[greubel]

Why don't you send me the playlist that is skipping and let me take a look.

[greubel]

New Beta August 31:

Channel:
1. Down key during slideshow will toggle photo info overlay.
2. Removed file types from directory browsing icon names.
3. Changed when the access to private folders is validated.

Now when you select a private channel, the access code is checked and you either pass or fail.
The status is remembered and you wont be asked again.
Also if you failed access, the content icons of the folder is NOT displayed. You will see an empty folder.
To reset the status back to checking, you must go back to the connect screen or hit the home button.

Server:
1. Fixed private folders, had a bad path comparison.
2. Add the M option to command line options, minimize on startup.

The command line options are:
S Automatic start.
M Minimize window to task bar.
I Initialize iTunes tables structures.
T Build a trace file in "My Roku"\trace.txt
L More detailed trace information.


Go to http://www.chaneru.com for the Roku access code and also download the server.

If you have any problems, let me know !
Always open to feature suggestion.

[greubel]

Updated Chaneru to 1.2

http://www.chaneru.com

[greubel]

Beta updates.
September 14
Channel
1. Added support for Trick Mode(.bif) and Subtitles(.srt) files.
2. Recoded my ping() function and increased the timeout value.

September 13
Server
1. Fixed decode conflict between hex amd utf8 encoded file names.
2. Fixed "My Roku" path problem when using administrator as profile.

September 9
Channel
1. Added artist to the iTunes album selection screen.
2. Added remote pause/play button usage for the screen saver display.
3. Fixed selecting of an item more than once in the search screen.

[westinsdad]

This should maybe be moved but I wrote to Roku and they said no I can't use the Roku in Europe at all. I don't understand why I couldn't use it with an NTSC to PAL/SECAM converter in Europe for Chaneru (not Netflix, I understand that Netflix is screening for US IP addresses, I'm talking about Chaneru). He's just wrong, right?


Thank you for contacting ROKU Customer Service. My Name is Santhosh and I will be helping you with your query.
We apologize for the inconvenience and delay in responding to your valuable query.
From your email I understand that you would like to use the Roku player in Europe.
I regret to inform you that as of now the Roku player can be used only in USA and Canada.
In future we are looking forward to extending our services to other countries.
Any updates will be posted on our official website.
Please feel free to email us for further queries.
Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to assist you and thank you for choosing ROKU.
Regards,
Santhosh
Roku Customer Service