Audio only stream

[DerekWongMI]

I believe I am still currently using pre 1.0.0.4 template on roku ( but don't quote me). I am exploring updating to the latest version, but I have noticed, one of my asset is for a mp3 audio stream "videoType":"mp3" (example: NOAA Radio Stream), it works in the previous version but not in the Version 1.0.0.7 - it will freeze the channel . Any thoughts to make that to work again?

If i haven't said it before, many thanks to those who started and continue to develop this project!

[rrirower]

Can you provide the following for testing :

1. The url to your feed file.
2. The channel manifest file.
3. The custom attributes file.

I'll take a look once I receive the above.

[DerekWongMI]

I've simplified the feed for debug, thank you.

https://muskegonchannel.com/assets/temp/ROKUTEST.json
manifest.txt
custom_attributes.json

[rrirower]

This is a bug that was created when some code was re-factored. I have created issue #123 and will be working on a fix.

[rrirower]

Question: You indicated that this worked in a prior version. What happens to the screen when it did work? Did you display anything, or, does it just play the .mp3 file while showing the Details screen? If you have a screen capture showing an example playback, that would be helpful.

[DerekWongMI]

That prior version is actually the one that is still live on ROKU. You can install Muskegon Channel on ROKU, look up category "Featured", and click "Radio" for demo.

It will play audio with black screen with no graphics or video (of course), if there's a way to add a static graphic with that would be great.

I have a similar channel and also have an audio only item, literally is a NOAA weather radio stream.

Thank you.

[rrirower]

I have this working in a test environment. It uses the thumbnail image as the background. Do you have another feed URL I can test? Also, if you can supply the .mp3 duration (length) as part of the feed, I can display that on the screen also. Your current file lists it as zero.

[rrirower]

Additionally, the NOAA stream will play, but, the Live - Houghton, Michigan stream seems to have a problem. I've found others on the Roku forum that have had problems with .m3u8 files if they are not formatted correctly. I don't have experience with these types of streams.

[DerekWongMI]

"What do you use to construct your feed file?" While that might sound embarrassing, I mostly kept the feed file from the Roku Direct Publisher Days, with the help to compare with your channel feed manager when things changes and doesn't work right. The answer is, mostly by hand. I have 2 Roku channels, with over 800 content items each, I admin I am too lazy to fully change it over to channel feed manager yet with the mentality "if its not broken, don't touch it. "

A lot of those ideas I pulled from - https://developer.roku.com/docs/specs/direct-publisher-feed-specs/json-dp-spec.md , was a trial and error thing. DP never used to be able to play audio files itself, but when I switched over to your wonderful DP2SceneGraphWizard, I thought I gave it a try, and it worked.

So the second Feed URL (excerpt) I sent is from the other channel I have, the "Live Houghton" works also on the 1.0.0.0-alpha-8.1 ( i checked) version that is currently live on Roku. You can find the channel by searching for "Channel 96 Muskegon".

[DerekWongMI]

I would also like to add that, I only begin to test the first channel with 1.0.0.7 there for I was unaware of the problem with the .m3u8 for the second channel, so thank you for pointing it out. It won't be a deal breaker but it just adds to the channel if it works, I mean, its kinda cool.

[rrirower]

I got three streams to work. The only one that does not is the m3u8 stream. I had to define a new content type called audioOnly for this to work. I'll need to update the Channel Feed Manager to reflect this change. In the interim, you'll need to change your content type from "tvSpecials" to "audioOnly" once I release this version.

I need to test this further before releasing it. You'll receive a notification once issue #123 is closed.

[DerekWongMI]

Thank you for your hard work.