Roku Direct Publisher

[stubbstarbuck]

This might be helpful for people who are having filetype issues uploading to cloud services. We found it easier to just serve from Github Pages. 

1) Get a Github account.
2) Create a private Repository. You can serve a public repository, but your video links will be searchable.
3) Create a gh-pages branch in the repo.
4) Create a file named robots.txt in that branch and copy the following into it:

User-agent: * 
Disallow: / 


This prevents search engines from finding it.

5) Server your json file from this repository. The feed location will be https://username.github.io/repositoryname/feed.json.

Along with Vimeo Pro you can get a Roku channel up for less than $200/yr.

[el1jrmc]

thanks for this info, the only thing i haven't figured out is where do i put the Vimeo feed?

[stubbstarbuck]

If you have Vimeo Pro, each of your videos will have an http live stream (HLS) link. Use that one. I'll post an example object in a moment.

[stubbstarbuck]

Here's an example Short Form Video object:

    {
              "id": "SHORT_ID_TO_IDENTIFY_VIDEO",
              "title": "TITLE_OF_VIDEO",
              "content": {
                "dateAdded": "2017-04-01T00:00:00+00:05",
                "videos": [
                  {
                    "url": "https://player.vimeo.com/external/LONG_STRING_OF_CHARACTERS",
                    "quality": "HD",
                    "videoType": "HLS"
                  }
                ],
                "duration": 2929
              },
              "thumbnail": "URL_OF_THUMBNAIL.png",
              "shortDescription": "SHORT_PHRASE_TO_DESCRIBE_VIDEO",
              "releaseDate": "2017-04-01T00:00:00+00:05"
            }

[stubbstarbuck]

You can find the HLS link in the Distribution menu at the bottom (left navigation after you select a video). Each video has its own unique id. 

https://player.vimeo.com/external/LONG_STRING_OF_CHARACTERS

[el1jrmc]

Can you use the showcase feed? or do you have to do it per video?

[stubbstarbuck]

I believe you have to do this per video.

[ForumGuest537]

@stubbstarbuck can you serve multiple feeds for different channels in the same repo using the same branch, or do you need to create different branches in the same repo or use completely different repos altogether?