Roku Developer Program

[RokuJoel]

I've filed a bug on the Zombies.

- Joel

[EnTerr]

Is there a way for me to get rid of the zombie though?

Every time ever since, on "system update" / "check now" on various players of mine, it says " Adding 'Monster Box' "... and nothing happens. I'd gladly delete it if i could get to the channel info popup - but since icon does not show, i can't.

[RokuJoel]

Hi, not currently unless the "zombie" is published to legacy devices and you have a legacy Roku, they should show up there. Might be a 24 hour cycle after you remove the channel from legacy and it is auto-removed from your non-legacy Roku.

- Joel

[EnTerr]

"RokuJoel" wrote:
Hi, not currently unless the "zombie" is published to legacy devices and you have a legacy Roku, they should show up there. Might be a 24 hour cycle after you remove the channel from legacy and it is auto-removed from your non-legacy Roku.

Great idea, saved the bacon!
I have tried to see if the zombie will show in the lineup on a legacy player but it always gives me "insufficient storage" these days, regardless of me deleting channels. But today i tracked the Monster in "My Channels" category inside the Channel Store app and was able to delete it there. Woo-hoo!

Amusing there are things for which a legacy player is irreplaceable.

Speaking of legacy, on that player there is a red banner at the bottom, which promises 20% discount on upgrades till end of September. Clicking on it however shows a black screen that says "Retrieving..." and stays like that forever. In other words, it does Jack Squat. Here is a photo of the banner, it's not working (take my word or try it):

Can someone flag the person responsible for the ad? I am sure it was intended to facilitate upgrade-selling legacy viewers but it doesnt work.

[RokuJoel]

Thanks for catching that, I've flagged it for the marketing-artwork people.

- Joel

[roquoonewbie]

Is it also the case that a channel marked as "hidden" (in the manifest file) has no way of being uninstalled?

[EnTerr]

"roquoonewbie" wrote:
Is it also the case that a channel marked as "hidden" (in the manifest file) has no way of being uninstalled?

I don't think "hidden" was really considered for use by the unwashed masses (me, you etc) - rather it is used by invisible channels like "Play on Roku".
Regardless of intent, it can lead to the same issue like the "undead channel" - creating "immovable object" burden on the player/account.

How can that be fixed... well, one idea comes to mind, if they change the "channel info" secret screen to a roListScreen where one can select an entry to see additional info on the side and/or delete it. Another approach is to re-add in Channel Store the category "my channels" like it was in fw3 and deal with them from there.

[roquoonewbie]

But they created a way for any developer to publish a hidden channel, so I don't think it was just for channels published by Roku themselves. So if a developer can make a hidden channel and distribute it, and someone tries to install it...that person then has no way to ever uninstall it? That just doesn't seem to make sense.

[EnTerr]

"roquoonewbie" wrote:
So if a developer can make a hidden channel and distribute it, and someone tries to install it...that person then has no way to ever uninstall it? That just doesn't seem to make sense.

The same is true for the "zombie" channel syndrome discussed in this thread. It's not hidden, it just does not show up and cannot be removed.

Observable reality cannot be compelled to make sense - or if i get mystical, "Roku works in mysterious ways" :mrgreen:

[roquoonewbie]

Isn't the "Zombie" channel phenomenon due to a bug/error in how the manifest file is created and read? That's different than the case where Roku has intentionally created a way for developers to intentionally make a channel hidden. ie: they are hidden for a reason. But being hidden shouldn't mean there is no way to remove it. It just shouldn't appear on the home screen. How can this be the intended design of an intentional feature?