Network Control

[ProdigiousJuggalo]

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Is there a method to jump right to a particular movie? Perhaps by queue number?

Unfortunately there no way to do this since the player does not return information to the controller about the location of the cursor and the current display mode.

Hmm... I think I may have a crude but possible way to do this (Netflix only). Let me look into it.


Yup,
Prodigious Juggalo

[eri3k]

Hmm... I think I may have a crude but possible way to do this (Netflix only). Let me look into it.

I will be very impressed if you do come up with a way. I though I had one, but then remembered that when you leave the Netflix queue and re-enter it, the player does not take you to the first item in your queue but rather to the item you were last on. You could code it so that when the network remote first goes into the Netflix queue it is assumed to be at the first item then store the new location after each navigation, but any use of the IR remote will throw off the location stored by the network remote.

It would be very easy to derive the navigation sequence necessary to reach a particular location in the queue if there was a place for the user to enter the current location of the cursor (i.e., cursor now on item 43 in the queue) and the display mode (so that it doesn't take at least 44 commands to get from item 43 to item 86, for example). However such a system seems like more of an inconvenience than just using the remote.

Both of the solutions above are half-assed at best. In order to do it right the Roku would have to return the cursor location in response to a query by the remote so the remote could then determine the required navigation or the player would have to accept requests to move the cursor to a particular queue item (e.g., goto netflixq_86). I don't see Roku making either of these possible any time soon.

[ProdigiousJuggalo]

Hmm... I think I may have a crude but possible way to do this (Netflix only). Let me look into it.

I will be very impressed if you do come up with a way. I though I had one, but then remembered that when you leave the Netflix queue and re-enter it, the player does not take you to the first item in your queue but rather to the item you were last on. You could code it so that when the network remote first goes into the Netflix queue it is assumed to be at the first item then store the new location after each navigation, but any use of the IR remote will throw off the location stored by the network remote.

It would be very easy to derive the navigation sequence necessary to reach a particular location in the queue if there was a place for the user to enter the current location of the cursor (i.e., cursor now on item 43 in the queue) and the display mode (so that it doesn't take at least 44 commands to get from item 43 to item 86, for example). However such a system seems like more of an inconvenience than just using the remote.

Both of the solutions above are half-assed at best. In order to do it right the Roku would have to return the cursor location in response to a query by the remote so the remote could then determine the required navigation or the player would have to accept requests to move the cursor to a particular queue item (e.g., goto netflixq_86). I don't see Roku making either of these possible any time soon.

I forgot about that, and I misread your previous post. I was thinking that the box returned to position #1 after a "home" and re-entry of the Netflix queue. I was going to use this thought and then move in increments of 5's and 1's to the selected flick. Oh well.

Yup,
Prodigious Juggalo

[Saqqara]

There's another way, it just isn't pretty.

I have an application on my iphone which can edit ones queue to remove and reorder items, as well as add them to a list. So apparently that is possible.

Regretfully, moving the desired flick to the first position achieves nothing, since the first movie isn't generally the one that is highlighted in the Roku view of the queue.

So the solution, such as it is, would be to move all movies except for the desired one out of the queue to an external database or array, then you can be sure the single remaining movie would be highlighted. The remaining movies could be reinserted later programatically.

Such a solution might as well have capabilities to maintain multiple queues: a kid friendly one, an adult one, an individual one, etc. All queues would be kept offline, with one queue at a time active on the player.

Oh; of course you would lose your saved position in any half-watched movies and stuff like that. That probably kills it for many folks.

[rxdx]

The only other thing I'd see me partaking in is possibly looking into creating an iphone app to do the same as the remote. The Roku SoundBridge has had a remote for some time now. I really like the boxee remote and wouldn't mind seeing something similar for the Roku Video Player. Again I only question how long will the dev team leave this open. If the soundbridge device has something similar then it may be promising?

Word, I think the iPhone remote should definitely be able to control this. I'm not saavy enough myself, but if telnet commands can be sent via Wifi to execute button commands, someone should really do it.

I'm not a developer who could convert terminal commands into something executed by an iPhone GUI, but I hope someone out there is.

[eri3k]

I'm not a developer who could convert terminal commands into something executed by an iPhone GUI, but I hope someone out there is.

I don't understand what's stopping you. The Roku's telnet commands are posted here. The iPhone SDK is freely available and extensively documented. As long as you consider developing an app to be not worth your time and effort, there's a good chance nobody else will either. Hope may be all you are left with.

Of course if you are determined to have someone else to do the heavy lifting, this forum is probably not the best place to cajole others into action. Perhaps you would have more success if you floated this project in a forum devoted to iPhone application development. Someone there might take pity on you and just crank it out.

[-LD]

What's stopping him is what he posted, he's not a developer.

Why would you think someone who admits he isn't a developer could develop an app? Why so rude?

[eri3k]

What's stopping him is what he posted, he's not a developer.

Why would you think someone who admits he isn't a developer could develop an app?

Neither am I, but that didn't stop me from coming up with the first remote app for the Roku by tinkering with some Python code. I had never worked with Python before, and completion of one introductory programming course in college years ago hardly qualifies me as a developer.

For a while now I've been wrestling with PHP to see if I can come up with a script I can host that will allow people to go to a website, enter the Roku's IP address on their local network, and control it with a web GUI. I've never worked with PHP before, and it's been both a challenge and a learning experience. Should I have simply posted in the forum a description of what I wanted and hidden behind the excuse that I'm not a developer?

Why so rude?

Rudeness was not my intention. One of the things that really get under my skin is people saying "Someone should do X," without a compelling reason why they don't qualify as "someone". I should not have voiced my frustration so strongly.

[-LD]

He said he hoped someone developed it. Didn't seem like any sort of demand to me.

[eri3k]

True enough. But this does fall under the irritating construction I mentioned:

I'm not saavy enough myself, but if telnet commands can be sent via Wifi to execute button commands, someone should really do it.

[pcnetwrx]

There could be "page right" and "page left" functions that send an arbitrary 10 clicks right or 10 clicks left (or even have user-defined how many clicks a "page" is), couldn't there?

[rudyking]

After reading about the remote control codes, I wrote a simple VB6 application. It is posted on Planet Source Code. (planet-source-code.com/vb).

It should be up soon. One thing is that you must have VB6 to compile and run it. I could see compiling it later and setup a installer.

I'm thinking of using simple HTTP get commands to control it, but one step at a time.

[pirey4]

For simple remote control of your Roku DVP from an iPhone, try DVPRemote which is in the app store now.

I'm not a developer who could convert terminal commands into something executed by an iPhone GUI, but I hope someone out there is.

I don't understand what's stopping you. The Roku's telnet commands are posted here. The iPhone SDK is freely available and extensively documented. As long as you consider developing an app to be not worth your time and effort, there's a good chance nobody else will either. Hope may be all you are left with.

Of course if you are determined to have someone else to do the heavy lifting, this forum is probably not the best place to cajole others into action. Perhaps you would have more success if you floated this project in a forum devoted to iPhone application development. Someone there might take pity on you and just crank it out.

[Saqqara]

That's good news: I can quit my efforts to build one.

Do you (or the developer) have any intent to add the "secret screen" and "reboot" sequences?

[pirey4]

V