Hello.
I am new to Roku development, but not necessarily programming. I wrote a php file that outputs everything correctly, but I am guessing it doesn’t accept php files? Idk. So, I took the output of the php file and had it write an xml file. Here is the XML file it created.
http://roku.joystar.tv/feedd.xml
Is there any way someone can please guide me? I’m lost as to why it doesn’t work. I thought I matched the format exactly.
Any help would be much appreciated!
In your feed you have the following item:
[http://joystar.tv/roku_media/media/play_media151.mp4](http://joystar.tv/roku_media/media/play_media151.mp4) Mon, 29 May 2017 19:44:23 GMT I Love Lucy - Getting Ready I Love Lucy - Getting Ready Comedy I Love Lucy Season 4 Episode 11: Getting ReadyOne little error here is causing the problem…you can’t have a semicolon (
in a keyword element
Once you remove the semicolon Roku Direct Publisher will read your feed. Roku Direct Publisher will find additional errors with your file but these errors (file, thumbnail size) won’t be an XML formatting issue.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the reply!
Ok, so what I did was, added an array of not allowed characters, and then have the PHP strip (str_replace) the array before adding to the XML content.
$notAllowed = array(“&” , “;” , “:”);
Is there any others I should add to the list? And is there a problem with having the actual PHP file as my feed url or does it need to be the xml file?
Btw- I really appreciate your help!
The feed url has to be an XML file.
Your XML file still has errors (video files, thumbnails, descriptions, etc) but at least now the file can be read by Roku.
Is there any way you can guide me on what my errors are and how to fix them? Even if I can pay you for the help, I’d really appreciate this. I’ve been working on this for a few days now and still no luck.
Thank you so much for the help thus far!
Actually, I made a file to make the .json. I’m hoping it is accepted. The .json file can be seen at:
http://roku.joystar.tv/jstv_feed.json
Anything stand out? I’m so lost obviously.
PJSWeb,
Please see MRSS Feed Update Utility and MRSS to JSON Converter. This may help you.
“PJSWeb” wrote:
Actually, I made a file to make the .json. I’m hoping it is accepted. The .json file can be seen at:
http://roku.joystar.tv/jstv_feed.jsonAnything stand out? I’m so lost obviously.
I am currently getting an “Unable to download from feedUrl.” error which means your Roku is not able to download the file from your server. I had this problem when I start and I don’t remember what I needed to fix on the host end but it will come to me (or someone else). It was an easy fix. I will download your .json file later and look for errors on my end.
“PJSWeb” wrote:
Is there any way you can guide me on what my errors are and how to fix them? Even if I can pay you for the help, I’d really appreciate this. I’ve been working on this for a few days now and still no luck.Thank you so much for the help thus far!
By the way, I am not interested in money.
Thank you so much!! If you see anything in my json file that may stand out, I’d really really appreciate it! But, I’m thankful already for the help.
Also - thanks to the poster for the documentation. I have read so much documentation, including those links - but I am obviously still missing something.
in your feed there are three consistent errors:
Thumbnails:
“thumbnail”: “http://roku.joystar.tv/”,
There are no thumbnails actually defined. You are just calling a path not an actual file. Subsequently you will fail the 800x450 minimum requirement as well (because the picture isn’t defined)
Url:
“url”: “http://roku.joystar.tv/”,
Same as Thumbnails, url is missing the actual file. Right now it is just a path.
Genres:
“genres”: [“faith”, “”],
You are calling a second genre but the genre is blank. Chang it to “genres”: [“faith”], and you should be fine.
Again, I cannot thank you enough. I really appreciate your help!
I updated my php code, which then updated the json code. However, I didn’t know about the thumbnail size. I will need to find a way to resize that thumbnail at this point.
THANK YOU!!
It still has an X beside the feedURL… is this because of the thumbnail size? Or do I still have an issue with the new json file?
“PJSWeb” wrote:
It still has an X beside the feedURL… is this because of the thumbnail size? Or do I still have an issue with the new json file?
If you have any error (including thumbnail size) you will get an X. Plus your thumbnails aren’t loading.
Here is what is being presented:
http://roku.joystar.tv/roku_media/images/poster6.jpg
“mediadisconnect” wrote:
“PJSWeb” wrote:
It still has an X beside the feedURL… is this because of the thumbnail size? Or do I still have an issue with the new json file?
If you have any error (including thumbnail size) you will get an X. Plus your thumbnails aren’t loading.Here is what is being presented:
http://roku.joystar.tv/roku_media/images/poster6.jpg
Thanks! I changed the url to make sure it is directed to the right path for video and poster sources. I also wrote the script (using FFMPEG) to change the thumbnails to 800x450, and verified it worked correctly. I uploaded the new json, but it seems there is still something messed up? Idk, or maybe I just have to wait to see the progress?
If there is anything with PHP or maybe MySQL or something I can do for you in the future for helping me like you have, please reach out to me. I do appreciate your help a lot!
For some reason, Roku isn’t liking your video files. I am just not sure why.
Roku still has a problem with your json file downloading from your server. I am getting “Unable to download from feedUrl.”. I am still trying to remember how I fixed it on my end.
Ok I remember how I fixed my issue with “Unable to download from feedUrl”…
If you look at your server logs, when Roku tries to download your .json file you are probably getting 406 errors. If your hosting service provides you cpanel access go into apache meme types and add the meme type: application/json with the extension: json
Once I added this, my 406 errors went away and Roku could download my feed.
If you don’t have cpanel access you can add the following to your .htaccess file:
AddType application/json json
If that still doesn’t work then just call your hosting company and tell them you need to fix 406 errors.
I still don’t know why your mp4 files aren’t being seen by Roku (I can download them fine).
Did you try your json file so many times?
I know some servers, if there is so many tries from certain IP, will block IP from accessing the file.
Make sure Roku IPs are not blocked in your server side.
Ok, I took your JSON file and video file put it on my server and everything works fine. At this point they problem is with your hosting. Check your error logs and I am sure you will be seeing a few weird errors especially 406s. Talk to your provider to have them help clear up the issue. Both issues with the JSON and video file are probably for the same reason.
So sorry, didn’t see the second page to this post. I see your updates now and am gonna try all of that out… I will post an update very soon. Thanks!!
