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.