Roku Developer Program

[learnerDev]

Hello guys

i was wondering if roku will play live streams in flash format? i know it doesnt play mms :(..

[dynamitemedia]

no it will not and Roku doesnt have any plans to do flv from what they have said here in other posts

[bollywood]

roku,

we need flash. most websites out there are using flash. by using flash, it will be easier for more users to add more channels.

[kc8pql]

^^^ I doubt Roku wants to deal with all the DMCA take downs they'd have if they added flv.

[bollywood]

there's lots of legitimate content providers out there on flash who won't invest in other technologies just to get the channel on roku since everything is working fine for them currently.

plus the channels have to be approved by roku anyways, so if someone adds wrong content, they can just disapprove that channel.

[kc8pql]

"bollywood" wrote:

plus the channels have to be approved by roku anyways, so if someone adds wrong content, they can just disapprove that channel.

The private channels that don't have to go through the approval process is where the problem is.

[dynamitemedia]

"bollywood" wrote:
there's lots of legitimate content providers out there on flash who won't invest in other technologies just to get the channel on roku since everything is working fine for them currently.

well then they should maybe migrate to h.264 or mp4 as most flash players will play this format as well, i am not 100% on if they can still do everything a .flv can do as far as the control they have but really there is plenty of open source ways to get the correct format correct.

and keep in mind flv really only works with pc's and hardly any if any mobile devices use it. i have seen some mp4 players on ebay use it, but 90% use mp4

[bollywood]

there are a lot of indian news channels that will be willing to join but i doubt they will spend more money on streaming in another format. so if roku would support their current formats, they will happily join as legitimate public channels.

[gonzotek]

"bollywood" wrote:
there are a lot of indian news channels that will be willing to join but i doubt they will spend more money on streaming in another format. so if roku would support their current formats, they will happily join as legitimate public channels.

The format Roku supports for live streaming (HLS) is also the only one that can be used on iOS devices, according to Apple policy. They may be more interested knowing that they can also target iOS by using it, and by not using it they will be locking themselves out of iPad, iPhones, iPod Touches, and quite likely AppleTV whenever it becomes possible to develop for it.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/StreamingMediaGu...

[Anonymous]

To be honest, we get VERY few requests from content owners/publishers/distributors for Flash (I can't remember the last time lack of Flash support was a showstopper). Anyone that is trying to push their content to the TV or mobile devices is moving towards (or has moved) more compatible encodes and transports, typically either h264 in an MP4 or h264 via HLS. I would not hold out waiting for flash support on Roku. And with OVPs (Brightcove, Ooyala, etc) and services like encoding.com getting existing content into a compatible format is not a major hurdle.