This FAQ is designed to be helpful in raising awareness about the use of Roku and our products.
Question: My videos are viewable based on subscription only (no free videos are available). I am encoding all my videos with the specs outlined in the Roku SDK with my own encoder. I will like to have all movies available via my website (subscribed) to be available on the Roku platform. Does this mean i have to upload every movie twice?
Answer: No, you will not have to encode the movies two times. You may allow for the user to watch the movie via web or Roku.
Question: What is the relevance of the customer publishing compatible videos to Roku? I want to publish all movies to Roku.
Answer: The Roku videos have to be a particular format and that is fine if you make them all compatible. As said above they will work on the web as well.
Question: I want to publish the movies to Roku based on Categories. Can I do that rather than general listing?
Answer: When you use the Roku module the categories are picked up that you establish on the Streaming platform portal. You wish to have different categories than what you have on the site? This may take a bit more understanding on our part as to what you are looking for.
Question: The user will not be able to view free content as there will be no free content. What can be done to have their account tied to the Roku box so that only paying customers can view subscribed content?
Answer: Since all users must authenticate through Roku and have a subscription to the premium content they are trying to watch. Otherwise the premium content is not visible for the users that does not have a subscription to it. Once the user buys the access from the web interface, the gateway would let them in to see it based on membership status.
Question: What LIVE streams are supported by Roku?
Answer: H.264 Encoded streams with AAC audio streaming through the HD Wave broadcaster and FMLE 3.1. All other live feeds are not supported by the Roku Player unless the transcoding services are integrated.
Question: Does Roku support scheduled Channel Manager Playlists?
Answer: The Roku module supports scheduled playlists only if you have Channel Manager HLS optional module installed.
Question: How do I check how many Roku Devices are activated?
Answer: In order to check how many Roku devices are activated, you need to follow these steps: Log into cPanel > Open phpMyAdmin > Open the _Live database > Open the roku_device table. There you will see the total number of activated Roku devices.
Question: Can I password protect my Roku content?
Answer: Roku module does not include Password Protecting content for neither Live Channels nor VODs through the roku box.
Question: Why doesn’t a channel or an embedded video load, when accessed for the first time?
Answer: An embedded video or a channel engine consumes resources and it starts when that stream has viewers. The engine is automatically shut down in 10-20 minutes after last viewer leaves.
The first viewer trying to watch a channel on Roku STB will kick-start the engine, however the initiation takes some time and a stream may take a few seconds until is retrieved. The viewer is sent back to channel/video page and he needs to click Play this Title button again . This behavior is normal and the viewer will have to try to access the channel or video again. Once the stream is started, it will be available for every subsequent viewer until shutdown.
Question: Is the Watermark displayed on Roku Set Top Box?
Answer: No, at this moment the watermark is only displayed on the Flash and HTML5 players (PC and mobile devices).
Question: How do I see premium content on Roku STB?
Answer: A premium channel or a channel group is only available on the Roku box after the user has subscribed to it from his dashboard on the website. Not even the website administrator can view them on Roku unless he buys a ticket to the PPV event on the platform or subscribes to a premium channel.
Question: Why don’t I see all videos attached to a specific category on Roku box?
Answer: Video categories on Roku display all videos attached to a specific category, except those videos that are attached to Premium or/and Channel group.
If ALL videos attached to category are attached to Premium or Group channels, and there are NO free videos attached, when users access the category the following message will be displayed – No content available.