Roku Developer Program

[tacticalcity]

So I've made some progress with my first attempt at making a Roku channel using the SDK and the Videoplayer template.

The only issue I am having trouble figuring out, and it is a big one, is that I cannot get my videos to play.

1. File type is MP4 and the Audio Codec is h264 AAC which I read will work even with the streaming stick which I am testing this on.
2. The XML file is pointing the correct location which I tested by copying and pasting that url into my browser and it finds the video. Example: http://fanboitv.dynu.com/fanboitv/brandon_1911.mp4
3. When I click "play" from the Roku launcher page, it starts to load the video for a split second then returns me back to the video launcher page.

Another think I would like to know how to do is hide/remove the 5 star ratings for the videos from the launcher page.

Thank you.

[tacticalcity]

OK, so I think there is something wrong with the settings on my server. Because I posted the same videos to Photbucket and linked to them in my xml files and they play fine.

I am running my own server at home, with HFS. Any tips on how to get the videos hosted on it to play correctly on Roku? Videos serve up fine. Portforwarding is setup on the router for port 80. What else do I need to?

[renojim]

Are you using the debug console (telnet to port 8085 of your Roku's IP address)? It will show that the server is returning a status of 503. I don't know why that is; maybe it will mean more to someone else.

As for getting rid of the star ratting, you need to call screen.SetStaticRatingEnabled(false) in appPosterScreen.brs.

-JT

[tacticalcity]

Sadly the port thing is over my head as well. New at this.

I wasn't able to find anything in that particular file using keyword "Rating" and "find" to make that particular edit. I am assuming it would be set to "true" and I would mark it "false".

But I did find something in the showFeed.brs file. A line that reads

item.StarRating = "90"

I tried to comment it out...

''item.StarRating = "90"

but all that did was just make the rating zero. I want to remove those stars from that page all together.

[belltown]

When I try playing it on my Roku I get an HTTP status code of 503 from your server each time I try. The server says: "There is a limit on the number of simultaneous downloads on this server. This limit has been reached. Retry later". However, each time I try to play it through my web browser, it succeeds.

[belltown]

To get rid of the stars, you might want to look at this version of the videoplayer instead. No stars -- unless you explicitly set them in your feed: http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=91672&p=516080

[tacticalcity]

It may come to that. I've just got so much invested into this one and have am still completely lost as to how I am going to get my server setup to allow the video files to work that I am just not ready to walk away from this template and start over. Maybe after somebody helps me get the videos playing. Pretty please with a cherry on top!

[belltown]

I don't know anything about the HFS server. I do know that the video plays just fine on my Apache server. You could try setting up Apache instead and see if that works any better.

[tacticalcity]

SOLVED - Got the videos to play. There is a setting in HFS under the advanced tab called "Stop Leaching". Gotta turn that off.

[renojim]

"tacticalcity" wrote:
Sadly the port thing is over my head as well. New at this.

I wasn't able to find anything in that particular file using keyword "Rating" and "find" to make that particular edit. I am assuming it would be set to "true" and I would mark it "false".

But I did find something in the showFeed.brs file. A line that reads

item.StarRating = "90"

I tried to comment it out...

''item.StarRating = "90"

but all that did was just make the rating zero. I want to remove those stars from that page all together.

I haven't downloaded or looked at the examples in years, but in the version I have in the file appPosterScreen.brs in the function showPosterScreen there's the lines:

screen.SetContentList(getShowsForCategoryItem(category, m.curCategory))
screen.Show()

just add screen.SetStaticRatingEnabled(false) before the show:

screen.SetContentList(getShowsForCategoryItem(category, m.curCategory))
screen.SetStaticRatingEnabled(false)
screen.Show()

If you're going to do much development, learning how to use the debug console would be time very well spent. 😄

-JT