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YouTubeTV automation


DallasBBQ

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13 minutes ago, DallasBBQ said:

I noticed a a post where someone stated that DirectTV Stream lets you target channel numbers.  Is this true and has anyone had success?  

You'd have to use their hardware box, which uses standard directv IR codes, and then yes, you could direct access a channel from Contro4, would function just like a cable box or satellite box with favorite channel setup and all.

They're the only streaming service that uses numbers. But, their hardware is the only box that can receive numbers.

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I'm not betting on Apple TV enabling this, but would be great if smart TVs (Google TVs) allowed deep-linking with Mini Apps.  Would be great to have a one-click favorite in C4 that would launch YouTube TV app on the TV and bring up a live feed of a specified channel.  Would be very user-friendly for guests, even though most media is consumed on demand these days.

 

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8 minutes ago, cnicholson said:

I'm not betting on Apple TV enabling this, but would be great if smart TVs (Google TVs) allowed deep-linking with Mini Apps.  Would be great to have a one-click favorite in C4 that would launch YouTube TV app on the TV and bring up a live feed of a specified channel.  Would be very user-friendly for guests, even though most media is consumed on demand these days.

I agree 100% but the services don't want to do this as they want more control.  They want as much control as possible and they want to push content or ads at you.  That is harder to do with deep-linking.  I think there used to be a limited amount of deep linking possible with Netflix but they moved away from that.

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28 minutes ago, zaphod said:

I agree 100% but the services don't want to do this as they want more control.  They want as much control as possible and they want to push content or ads at you.  That is harder to do with deep-linking.  I think there used to be a limited amount of deep linking possible with Netflix but they moved away from that.

Deep linking is VERY much alive and growing on Roku including the Netflix app.  It’s not going anywhere…

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The Josh.ai demos (direct media selection, even within apps) are impressive, and imply deep linking (and probably access to metadata for searching).  And, from within the Apple TV environment, Apple can "deep link" to media in other apps via their "TV" app.  Seems to be a good trend.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/4/2022 at 4:29 PM, cnicholson said:

I'm not betting on Apple TV enabling this, but would be great if smart TVs (Google TVs) allowed deep-linking with Mini Apps.  Would be great to have a one-click favorite in C4 that would launch YouTube TV app on the TV and bring up a live feed of a specified channel.  Would be very user-friendly for guests, even though most media is consumed on demand these days.

 

There seems to be some deep linking going on within Apple TV api. There is a custom remote you can get from Charter that has buttons for the Guide, DVR functions and channel up/down buttons. Wonder if Control4 could take advantage of this.

https://www.spectrum.net/support/tv/pairing-spectrum-remote-apple-tv-troubleshooting

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  • 6 months later...

Just wanted to offer a quick take on this, even if way delayed. Was interested in doing this and got it (deep links to YouTube via Roku) working.

It's pretty easy, actually. Roku has a local API published here and a deep linking tester here. The YouTube HTTP (POST) command to launch a specific video is:

http://<your Roku IP>:8060/launch/837?contentId=<specific video ID>&mediaType=<what it is, e.g., episode, live, etc.>

The API also lets you search for content vs. just call specific content and all kinds of other stuff. The commands can be sent a bunch of ways, including the Generic TCP Driver.

Cheers!

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14 hours ago, booch said:

It's pretty easy, actually...

http://<your Roku IP>:8060/launch/837?contentId=<specific video ID>&mediaType=<what it is, e.g., episode, live, etc.>

Sure, the API is easy, but knowing what contentId and mediaType to pass in is going to different based on what app is receiving the data.  It's extremely flexible, to the point of not being terribly useful, since you can't query for contentId, etc.  You can search, but that doesn't return any data through the API, it just causes the search to happen on the Roku.

RyanE

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45 minutes ago, RyanE said:

Sure, the API is easy, but knowing what contentId and mediaType to pass in is going to different based on what app is receiving the data.  It's extremely flexible, to the point of not being terribly useful, since you can't query for contentId, etc.  You can search, but that doesn't return any data through the API, it just causes the search to happen on the Roku.

RyanE

It sounds like a job for the MSP lol. In all seriousness isn't this live? MSP interface works the way it does?

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4 hours ago, RyanE said:

Sure, the API is easy, but knowing what contentId and mediaType to pass in is going to different based on what app is receiving the data.  It's extremely flexible, to the point of not being terribly useful, since you can't query for contentId, etc.  You can search, but that doesn't return any data through the API, it just causes the search to happen on the Roku.

RyanE

Yeah, I got ya. The ‘easy’ comment was more based on the lack of capabilities offered by competitive streaming boxes. (Looking at you, Apple TV.) The omission of local APIs in the (IoT) space really peeves me, as it results in tons of fragmentation and much useless hardware down the road (when companies drop support, go under, etc.)

In defense of Roku, I also think there’s some logic in omitting comprehensive search capabilities — beyond what they’ve provided — in their API, as it’d necessarily vary by partner/channel, and those partners provide it. In this case, also integrating the YouTube API offers many ways to return the necessary content info. to pass.

For example, I got on this because I want the TV’s to come on and launch a livestream if certain conditions are met (both from their YouTube channel/their Twitter feed and at the house), and the combination works well. 

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12 hours ago, booch said:

For example, I got on this because I want the TV’s to come on and launch a livestream if certain conditions are met (both from their YouTube channel/their Twitter feed and at the house), and the combination works well. 

Yeah, as a 'trigger this known thing', it should work fine.  Not great for general purpose use, though.

RyanE

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15 hours ago, msgreenf said:

It sounds like a job for the MSP lol. In all seriousness isn't this live? MSP interface works the way it does?

No, you can't implement MSP if the device doesn't return any data.

The Roku will let you launch specific content, *if* you already know the content's information.

It will *NOT* let you query for that information.  The Search function does not return data, it just starts a search on the Roku's UI.  It doesn't return results back through the API.

RyanE

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2 minutes ago, RyanE said:

No, you can't implement MSP if the device doesn't return any data.

The Roku will let you launch specific content, *if* you already know the content's information.

It will *NOT* let you query for that information.  The Search function does not return data, it just starts a search on the Roku's UI.  It doesn't return results back through the API.

RyanE

Ahhhhhh. Ok. Was not aware of that API limitation

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3 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

Ahhhhhh. Ok. Was not aware of that API limitation

Yeah, the Roku API is *almost* a one-way API.

It does let you query for a handful of specific data, including which apps are installed (which is used in an MSP for the 'Roku Channels' UI), and current status (which is used by the RokuTV to notify ON/OFF state).

There's probably additional data that *could* be exposed by the driver, but IMHO most of it is not all that useful.

RyanE

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