Roku Direct Publisher

[ralphmob36]

For some reason all of a sudden I'm only seeing the continue watching tab..none of my other videos are showing..any help?

[mitchstein]

I bet the problem is in CATEGORIES

It seems sometimes after uploading a new json file and once for no understandable reason at all, all my categories disappeared and I had to put them back in... Until I did only popular and continue viewing showed because they are check mark options that were still checked..

[Baradanikto]

@ralphmob36 

If you're not using the "category" object in your feed file, you should.  Defining categories in your feed file provide more control over what your channel displays.

[ralphmob36]

I didn't change anything they jus came back up..I'm using vimeo as my host .all of the videos are in a showcase is that what u mean by categories..I'm pretty new at this

[mitchstein]

---

@Baradanikto wrote:

@ralphmob36 

If you're not using the "category" object in your feed file, you should.  Defining categories in your feed file provide more control over what your channel displays.

---

what other control does the json file provide over the categories then using the gui?

I'm finding roku has trouble transcoding large json files, so I'm thinking as little in the json file as possible..

If I ever can it to injest multiple series, movies as well as live channels in one json file I have over 2600 videos and channels to put into one app.. As it stands now I have 4 apps all maxed out in "movie" category...
and many times it can not display more then 70% of the content, and other times it displays it all perfectly fine..

My current problem is everytime I add the livefeed to the movies it says "the beta version can only do 1 type of video.

Both work on thier own..

[Baradanikto]

I recently updated my software to test the new "liveFeeds" object.  At the time I tested it, I had several movies, short form videos, and one live feed object in the feed file.  I did not have any problems ingesting it and getting it to display correctly in the channel.

The only limitation I am aware of that may potentially have something to do with your problem is (from Partner success):

Issue

Limit on number of content and content categories.  

Environment

Direct Publisher 

Answer

There is a limit of:

• 25 categories (rows)
• 40 items per category (row)

There's a common misconception that the limit means 25 rows with 40 items per row.  That's incorrect since an "item" can be a Series with multiple episodes.

I've only had anecdotal evidence, but, while building my channel early on, I had nothing but problems trying to use the developer portal to define my channel and its attributes.  The portal is "klunky" at best.  Once I switched to defining everything in the feed file, those problems seemed to vanish.

I don't know what you use to construct your feed file, but, is it possible you have a subtle problem in the construction of the file?  

With all of the reported issues, you may be running into another Roku 'gotcha' that needs to be fixed.  You should contact partner success if you haven't already.

[mitchstein]

Yeah i figured it out.. All is good now.
My assumption was wrong, as well as my syntax..

Here is a sample json file mixing types..

{"providerName":"TVByDemand Productions",
"lastUpdated":"2015-11-03T11:44:28+00:00",
"language":"en",

"liveFeeds": [

{
"id": "1",
"title": "24/7 LIVE TVByDemand Channel 1",
"content":

{
"dateAdded": "2020-1-11T22:21:37+00:00",
"videos": [{
"url": "http://www.tvbydemand.com/............/media1.m3u8",
"quality": "SD",
"videoType": "HLS"
}],
"duration": 13600,
"adBreaks": ["00:15:00", "00:30:00", "00:45:00", "01:00:00", "01:15:00", "01:30:00", "01:45:00", "02:00:00", "02:15:00", "02:30:00", "02:45:00", "03:00:00", "03:15:00", "03:30:00", "03:45:00", "04:00:00", "04:15:00", "04:30:00", "04:45:00"],
"language": "en",
"thumbnail": "http://www.tvbydemand.com/images/streaming-tv-logo1%20copy.jpg",
"brandedThumbnail": "http://www.tvbydemand.com/images/streaming-tv-logo1%20copy.jpg",
"shortDescription": "Channel 1 Streaming TV MISC.",
"longDescription": "A little bit of everything from Documentaries, how tos/DIY, Pro Wrestling, Hockey Live Music and much much more always fresh and new",
"tags": [
"news",
"celebrity",
"24/7 streaming",
"misc",
"comedy",
"pro wrestling",
"music",
"documentaries",
"DIY",
"live tv"

]
}
}

],

"movies":[
{"id":"1292",
"title":"The Clampets Strike Oil S1E1 ",
"content":{
"dateAdded": "2015-11-03T11:44:28+00:00",
"videos":[
{
"url":"http://www.tvbydemand.com/media2/iis/t...........ished.ism/manifest",
"quality":"SD",
"videoType":"SMOOTH"}],
"duration":1800},
"genres":[
"comedy"
],
"tags":[
"comedy",
"vintage tv",
"S1",
"Beverly HillBillys"
],
"thumbnail":"http://www.tvbydemand.com/images/beverlyhillbilys.jpg",
"releaseDate": "1972-03-06",
"shortDescription":"The Clampets Strike Oil S1E1 ",
"longDescription":"The series opener. The Clampets Strike Oil. This episode gives all the background information on the storyline and the main characters...LD.."
},
{"id":"1293",
"title":"Getting Settled. S1E2",
"content":{
"dateAdded":"2015-11-03T11:44:28+00:00",
"videos":[
{
"url":"http://www.tvbydemand.com/media2/ii..............shed.ism/manifest",
"quality":"SD",
"videoType":"SMOOTH"}],
"duration":1800},
"genres":[
"comedy"
],


.......................Continue adding movies ....................

]}

Now the only issue is the tags for the live feed do not show up to become categorized but if you search in the channel it shows up..

[biztale]

Based on the example feed from SGDEx 2.0 I found the tag needs to be named "Series" now assuming you made life easy and downloaded the Json Feed Manager you can create any category of your choosing. Just remember only use one Tag. Now upload the json to host and ingest on Roku, BUT make sure in the drop box you choose FEED not VIDEOS. This way you can customize and choose CONTINUE. You will notice the tag will have in the Dropbox Series. all your categories will autolist. 

[mitchstein]

---

@biztale wrote:

Based on the example feed from SGDEx 2.0 I found the tag needs to be named "Series" now assuming you made life easy and downloaded the Json Feed Manager you can create any category of your choosing. Just remember only use one Tag. Now upload the json to host and ingest on Roku, BUT make sure in the drop box you choose FEED not VIDEOS. This way you can customize and choose CONTINUE. You will notice the tag will have in the Dropbox Series. all your categories will autolist. 

---

I have to add the tag "series" to all the videos in a series? or you are saying the tag "series" should be added to live feed category?

I can't use the feed manager, I have to be able to create the json file by reading from a database and it has to be able to handle over 2500 videos.. My channel is huge now that I had to consolidate all the channels into one channel per ROKU agreement.

[Baradanikto]

@ mitchstein The feed manager can import from various sources including SQL. If that does not meet your needs, pm me and I'll see if I can accommodate you.  I can't promise, but, I'm willing to have a look.