Roku Direct Publisher

[freetochoose]

I am using "series" to group multi-episode videos together in their own section. The videos were released on different dates/years, but I don't want them to be grouped that way. DP defaults them to be turned into seasons by "releaseDate". I would prefer that I could group them some other way than by date. Is there an easy way to force a rename of the "season" to something besides the year it was released in "releaseDate"?

PS... I would prefer it not display a season/season name at all. I would prefer them all to just be in one "nameless" season

[Baradanikto]

DP does not use a default for Series.  You decide via your feed file if the Series contains Seasons of Episodes, or, just Episodes.  It's not unusual to have a Series with only Episodes.  It all depends on how you code the feed file.

[freetochoose]

I did not add any "season" tags. Only "episodes". But when you go to the "series" and click on "See all episodes" it says "Season 2018 (2018) on the left A sample of my code is here:

"series": [{
"id": "17",
"title": "School Inc. - A Personal Journey with Andrew Coulson",
"episodes": [{
"id": "17-1",
"title": "Episode 1 – The Price of Excellence",
"releaseDate": "2018-05-01",
"content": {
"dateAdded": "2020-04-02T14:14:54.431Z",
"captions": ["http://freetochoosemedia.org/roku/ftc/srt/school_inc_ep1.srt"],
"duration": 3395,
"videos": [{
"url": "https://player.vimeo.com/external/216854055.hd.mp4?s=5daba612f72c5d787f022ec552759c4e354b82e0",
"quality": "HD",
"videoType": "MP4"
}]
},
"thumbnail": "http://freetochoosenetwork.org/roku/ftc/images/hd/si_the_price_of_excellence.jpg",
"episodeNumber": 1,
"shortDescription": "In episode one, ***The Price of Excellence***, Andrew Coulson explores the educational establishment, its history and the politics that sometimes impede the growth of good schools and effective teachers, as well as the involvement of entrepreneur educators."
},
{
"id": "17-2",
"title": "Episode 2 – Push or Pull",
"releaseDate": "2018-05-01",
"content": {
"dateAdded": "2020-04-02T14:14:54.431Z",
"captions": ["http://freetochoosemedia.org/roku/ftc/srt/school_inc_ep2.srt"],
"duration": 3392,
"videos": [{
"url": "https://player.vimeo.com/external/217163586.hd.mp4?s=a05f75cc22da88ac920dfe199562a6b7f015e002",
"quality": "HD",
"videoType": "MP4"
}]
},
"thumbnail": "http://freetochoosenetwork.org/roku/ftc/images/hd/si_push_or_pull.jpg",
"episodeNumber": 2,
"shortDescription": "In episode two, ***Push or Pull***, Coulson investigates why excellent private schools in America such as Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield, MI, have not “scaled up” to replicate their excellence on a larger scale, and ultimately, serve more students."
},
{
"id": "17-3",
"title": "Episode 3 – Forces and Choices",
"releaseDate": "2018-05-01",
"content": {
"dateAdded": "2020-04-02T14:14:54.431Z",
"captions": ["http://freetochoosemedia.org/roku/ftc/srt/school_inc_ep3.srt"],
"duration": 3394,
"videos": [{
"url": "https://player.vimeo.com/external/217177156.hd.mp4?s=d9bb37d46eaa96ebf00e877d2b580ff0075b2e85",
"quality": "HD",
"videoType": "MP4"
}]
},
"thumbnail": "http://freetochoosenetwork.org/roku/ftc/images/hd/si_forces_and_choices.jpg",
"episodeNumber": 3,
"shortDescription": "In episode three, ***Forces and Choices***, Coulson examines the success of for-profit education, traveling to private schools in Sweden, India, and London, where the resistance to education as a business has lessened."
}
],
"genres": ["documentary", "educational"],
"thumbnail": "http://freetochoosenetwork.org/roku/ftc/images/hd/school_inc.jpg",
"releaseDate": "2018-05-01",
"shortDescription": "School Inc. is a global exploration of discovery by the late Andrew Coulson, senior fellow of education policy at Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. He takes viewers on a worldwide personal quest for an answer to the question—if you build a better way to teach a subject, why doesn’t the world beat a path to your door, like they do in other industries? The three-part documentary exposes audiences to unfamiliar and often startling realities: the sad fate of Jaime Escalante after the release of the feature film Stand and Deliver; Korean teachers who earn millions of dollars every year; private schools in India that produce excellent results but charge only $5 a month; current U.S. efforts to provide choices and replicate educational excellence; and schools in Chile and Sweden—in which top K-12 teachers and schools have already begun to “scale-up,” reaching large and ever-growing numbers of students."
},

[Baradanikto]

Can you post a picture of what you're seeing?  I've got a Series with a bunch of Episodes, but, I'm not seeing what you describe.

[freetochoose]

Home screenChoose Series (without seasons)It automatically creates season on left named: Season 2018 (2018)

[Baradanikto]

Can you PM me a copy of your complete feed file?  I'd like to validate it using my software. I'll let you know what I find.

[freetochoose]

ok but it's still a WIP. Many images and a lot of the text and video files aren't the finals yet.

[Baradanikto]

Your feed file appears to be malformed.  While it may have passed a Json lint, it contains logic errors that a linter would not catch.  Here's what I've found.

1. Your Caption objects are missing required items.  Refer to the Json schema for what's missing.
2. Your 'dateAdded' field does not conform to the Roku schema.  This may be benign.

You should be cautious if you are creating/maintaining your feed file using a Windows editor like Notepad, or, using a feed file that is generate by a video host (Vimeo?).  They don't typically catch logic errors.

At a minimum, I recommend fixing the Caption objects and re-submitting your feed file.

[freetochoose]

most of my caption files are not correct yet. I was going to add those last. My issue is with the way the seasons are listed in the series. It list them by the date they were created in the format: Season 2018 (2018)

I was wondering if I could change the text in that object to say whatever I want and be ordered how I would like manually? An example would be: Free To Choose 1980  instead of Season 2018 (2018)

[Baradanikto]

The Roku developers portal does not do a good job identifying feed errors. A subtle error may cause an unexpected error. I still think you should eliminate all errors and reevaluate your status.  Failure to do so may have you chasing down a rabbit hole.