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Baradanikto
Roku Guru

MRSS Feed Update Utility

Hi everyone....If you use the MRSS feed file, I'd like to let you know that I have written a program that makes it easier to create and maintain the feed file.  I wrote it to reduce the number of syntactical errors I was getting when I first started.  Additionally, it makes adding a new item much faster.  If you're interested, you can watch a screen cast at www.rokurowingchannel.com/Feed Updater.
FREE Windows desktop software for converting Direct Publisher channels to SceneGraph (SDK), for creating BIF (Trick Play) files, Roku (MRSS, JSON) feed files, and FireTV feed files @ GitHub/rrirower.
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13 REPLIES 13
37mediagroup
Roku Guru

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

Cool, nice job. I was thinking something like that would come in handy when I was creating mine. A data entry field submission.

Outside of language & syntax type stuff, is there much difference from json & MRSS?  They both seem roughly the same concept, sample feed & data entry replacement?
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Baradanikto
Roku Guru

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

Thanks.  You are correct in that the major differences between JSON (Java Script Object Notation) and the MRSS XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is the syntax.  JSON is the newer of the two frameworks.  Both are data interchange formats.  I chose MRSS because of the type of content I stream.  The content is not 'show' oriented with 'episodes'.
FREE Windows desktop software for converting Direct Publisher channels to SceneGraph (SDK), for creating BIF (Trick Play) files, Roku (MRSS, JSON) feed files, and FireTV feed files @ GitHub/rrirower.
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RokuTomC
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

JSON feeds include richer metadata. The two main benefits in a JSON feed over MRSS are:

  • Support for additional mediaTypes other than shortForm, such as series, seasons, and movies. These additional mediaTypes also exhibit different channel behavior, namely they launch into a springboard screen with additional information about the content before clicking into video playback.

  • Support for the "Continue Watching," "Most Popular," and "Recently Added" auto-generated categories
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Baradanikto
Roku Guru

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

RokuTomC, thanks for the further clarification.  But, can you also verify that JSON can be used for short videos (less than 20 minutes)?  If that's the case, I'll definitely try to update my code to support JSON sooner than later.
FREE Windows desktop software for converting Direct Publisher channels to SceneGraph (SDK), for creating BIF (Trick Play) files, Roku (MRSS, JSON) feed files, and FireTV feed files @ GitHub/rrirower.
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37mediagroup
Roku Guru

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

"Baradanikto" wrote:
RokuTomC, thanks for the further clarification.  But, can you also verify that JSON can be used for short videos (less than 20 minutes)?  If that's the case, I'll definitely try to update my code to support JSON sooner than later.

My site is predominantly shortform videos. Works fine with JSON.  The ads seem to only be preroll with RAF. I'm ok with it, but to answer your question JSON works with videos less than 20 minutes.
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RokuTomC
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

"Pasnow" wrote:
"Baradanikto" wrote:
RokuTomC, thanks for the further clarification.  But, can you also verify that JSON can be used for short videos (less than 20 minutes)?  If that's the case, I'll definitely try to update my code to support JSON sooner than later.

My site is predominantly shortform videos. Works fine with JSON.  The ads seem to only be preroll with RAF. I'm ok with it, but to answer your question JSON works with videos less than 20 minutes.

Pasnow (and Baradanikto), only pre-roll ads will be served by default in a Direct Publisher channel. However, when using a JSON feed, you can include the optional adBreaks field to designate breakpoints for mid-roll ads. Note that this is another benefit of the JSON feed format over MRSS.
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nabeards
Visitor

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

"RokuTomC" wrote:

Pasnow (and Baradanikto), only pre-roll ads will be served by default in a Direct Publisher channel. However, when using a JSON feed, you can include the optional adBreaks field to designate breakpoints for mid-roll ads. Note that this is another benefit of the JSON feed format over MRSS.

We have the adBreaks key, but mid-rolls still never run for us.
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RokuTomC
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

nabeards, what is the name of your channel? We are actively investigating a similar issue on other channels and can include you in a list of channels known to be affected.
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nabeards
Visitor

Re: MRSS Feed Update Utility

"RokuTomC" wrote:
nabeards, what is the name of your channel? We are actively investigating a similar issue on other channels and can include you in a list of channels known to be affected.

PCR On Demand (you may already have it on your list, not sure)
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