Roku Direct Publisher

[OddScott]

Videoopp,

I don't think that's exactly correct. The URL that you provided ( https://help.vimeo.com/hc/en-us/articles/12425990752529--Learn-more-about-Vimeo-ending-support-for-T... ) is about Vimeo discontinuing their Vimeo-branded apps on various platforms. On Roku, this refers to the "Vimeo" channel which has been basically dead since Vimeo changed their thumbnail URL format in 2021.  It does not mean Vimeo streams are no longer playable on Roku. Even though Vimeo is not exactly as Roku-friendly as it used to be, there are plenty of devs (as of August 2023) who are still using Vimeo with their Roku projects.

Yes, the "feed" that Vimeo was providing for Showcases might no longer work. But SDK channels written to access Vimeo's API can still access complete Showcase information including all metadata, thumbnails, and stream URLs.

Some Vimeo MP4 URLs stopped working with Roku too. It looks like this is because the URLs now use several levels of indirection in order to get Vimeo's various CDNs which Roku's OS cannot handle. Fortunately this seems to affect only a subset of MP4 URLs. See the note here: https://www.instanttvchannel.com/roku/vimeo. Vimeo's newer HLS and DASH URLs seem to work reliably with Roku.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but this same issue just came up in another thread related to Direct Publisher to SDK conversion. Not sure if the OP in that thread is getting his information from your post.

[Trigold]

We just went through a month of **bleep** with Vimeo.  As of June 27, Vimeo is no longer supporting playout to any third party (it will only play on a Vimeo app, and the user has to screencast to a TV).  They aren't telling anyone this.  We found out, like everyone else, because our titles were not going live in Roku.  

In addition, you should be aware that if your channel is successful, Vimeo has a 2000 GB bandwidth cap and if you exceed that cap, they will threaten to terminate your Vimeo account (as in forever, you can never have another Vimeo account, in theory), unless you move to a plan that is $300 per month (minimum) and 30,000 GB per month.  We asked for time to ramp up to that (we exceeded the bandwidth cap by like ... 100 - 300 GB, i.e., we were at 2100 GB - 2300 GB, nowhere near 30,000 GB).  They were very unfriendly and unhelpful.  

We were actually willing to try the higher plan (we did not have another short term option), and asked about the playout issue.  If we moved to the more expensive plan (any of the more expensive plans), then would the vimeo links work in our apps?  The answer is - NO.  We went back and forth with Vimeo, had to get a supervisor involved, and eventually threatened legal action if they shut down our account because their TERMS OF SERVICE (the contract with YOU), does not clearly say they can terminate a fully prepaid annual plan, when they unilaterally have changed the functionality of the account.  Just passing on this info and hope you find it helpful.