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On 1/31/2020 at 10:14 AM, msgreenf said:

yes and yes. best driver ever!

So, these 'mini apps';
They will give me a nice icon on the OSD/iphone etc
They will give me nice individual 'Watch' list options on my remote
What happens when I select this mini app option?
Does my rooms say 'Disney+' or does it go directly to 'Roku' ? - assuming control needs to be given to the Roku driver ??

Cheers.

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17 hours ago, brucecampbell said:
So, these 'mini apps';
They will give me a nice icon on the OSD/iphone etc
They will give me nice individual 'Watch' list options on my remote
What happens when I select this mini app option?
Does my rooms say 'Disney+' or does it go directly to 'Roku' ? - assuming control needs to be given to the Roku driver ??
Cheers.

 


The mini apps will do just what I assume you want. The integration of Roku is one of the best of all 3rd party C4 devices and as of now certainly the best media player integration. Pretty Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc icons on interfaces and listed under watch as “Netflix”, etc. For the less common apps, you can have a “catchall” item listed on your watch menu that has a sub menu on the SR remotes for all of the apps. Mitch helped me set mine up last summer and like he mentioned the passthrough mode lets the remote actually display which app your currently controlling. Really good stuff. Best value of any integration I’d say.


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So, these 'mini apps';
They will give me a nice icon on the OSD/iphone etc
They will give me nice individual 'Watch' list options on my remote
What happens when I select this mini app option?
Does my rooms say 'Disney+' or does it go directly to 'Roku' ? - assuming control needs to be given to the Roku driver ??
Cheers.
The Netflix through Apple all go to Roku channels.

Is that what you are looking for?

Same on a TV. Same on the SR watch menu. 03a1be5035085f0a4ec2f15d138b5f39.jpg
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I install Roku, add Netflix, add Youtube, go to add Disney+;

No, damn it - Disney+ and Prime Video have not enabled their roku app to work for New Zealand yet.

bugger! So I'm stuck streaming from my iphone for Disney+ for now.

The whole purpose of Roku was to have an all in one streaming service.

Oh well, should have done more research first I guess.

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Is there another way besides using Roku to get direct access via remotes and OSD to an OTT (YouTubeTV, ATT, SlingTV etc) linear TV channel? YouTubeTV has apps directly built into many TVs and support on AppleTV. Does this help in any way and then, if so, how to handle return audio signal to distributed speakers ?


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AFAIK this isn't exposed, so no you can't list channels or favourites inside apps on a media player.
Can't comment on if this is limitation of the apps, the media players or Control4
The current API call is to the Roku channel number, Netflix for example.

Now we know Roku voice search and just watch can go to specific movies etc in Vudu etc so I think the answer is possibly but needs to be engineered from the api or reverse engineered from the call sent from the phone app.
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Is there another way besides using Roku to get direct access via remotes and OSD to an OTT (YouTubeTV, ATT, SlingTV etc) linear TV channel? YouTubeTV has apps directly built into many TVs and support on AppleTV. Does this help in any way and then, if so, how to handle return audio signal to distributed speakers ?


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I believe Samsung has mini app drivers for their embedded apps. But then you have to find a way to get audio looped back to the rack and out if you have an AVR in a rack room. Not sure about other mfrs.


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3 hours ago, time2jet said:

 


I believe Samsung has mini app drivers for their embedded apps. But then you have to find a way to get audio looped back to the rack and out if you have an AVR in a rack room. Not sure about other mfrs.


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mini apps don't work with all samsung apps

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3 hours ago, time2jet said:

 


I believe Samsung has mini app drivers for their embedded apps. But then you have to find a way to get audio looped back to the rack and out if you have an AVR in a rack room. Not sure about other mfrs.


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mini apps don't work with all samsung apps

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What’s a mini-app? I’m guessing it’s like the Hulu or YouTubeTV apps built into the “smart” TVs. Are there any C4 drivers to control ?

Just like C4 has native support for Spotify, Tidal, and Pandora on the music side, it would be nice if they had native streaming support on the video side too, no? One of the biggest issues however, with any of the OTT services, is a limitation on the simultaneous number of streams. YouTube TV for example only permits three simultaneous streams even though it permits six accounts under one master account. Others are worse


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9 minutes ago, msgreenf said:

mini apps don't work with all samsung apps

Specifically, the Samsung TV API only allows starting 6-7 specific apps through the network connection.

Basically:

  • Netflix
  • Hulu
  • YouTube (not YouTube TV)
  • 'Browser'
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • Pandora
  • VUDU

No other apps can be made into mini-apps for the Samsung TV.

RyanE

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Universal Mini apps are drivers available through Control4's online database, that work with app-enabled devices, that allow you to show the icon for the service on the user interfaces, and when those service icons are chosen, the device providing the service is selected.

They are 'universal' in the sense that there is not a specific Netflix mini-app for Roku, and a different one for Amazon Fire TV.  It's the same mini-app, it can connect to either of the devices that supply the service.

It's a nice addition to Control4's UI, and makes it easy for dealers to directly expose services to the UI for the homeowner.

RyanE

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Universal Mini apps are drivers available through Control4's online database, that work with app-enabled devices, that allow you to show the icon for the service on the user interfaces, and when those service icons are chosen, the device providing the service is selected.
They are 'universal' in the sense that there is not a specific Netflix mini-app for Roku, and a different one for Amazon Fire TV.  It's the same mini-app, it can connect to either of the devices that supply the service.
It's a nice addition to Control4's UI, and makes it easy for dealers to directly expose services to the UI for the homeowner.
RyanE

Thanks. That’s a great answer


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On 2/24/2020 at 3:06 AM, brucecampbell said:

I install Roku, add Netflix, add Youtube, go to add Disney+;

No, damn it - Disney+ and Prime Video have not enabled their roku app to work for New Zealand yet.

bugger! So I'm stuck streaming from my iphone for Disney+ for now.

The whole purpose of Roku was to have an all in one streaming service.

Oh well, should have done more research first I guess.

Get SmartDNS Proxy account and you have all US based materials as well, no more Geo locking ...

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On 2/24/2020 at 12:29 AM, phantomgordon said:

Is there another way besides using Roku to get direct access via remotes and OSD to an OTT (YouTubeTV, ATT, SlingTV etc) linear TV channel? YouTubeTV has apps directly built into many TVs and support on AppleTV. Does this help in any way and then, if so, how to handle return audio signal to distributed speakers ?

So this then requires a second API for that specific service.  In other words, you would have to be able to hit the Samsung TV API to choose the YouTubeTV app and then switch to the YouTubeTV API, tell it to tune into "CNBC" or whatever.  That would be difficult as I am not so sure that those types of APIs exist for services like YouTubeTV.  It is kind of analagous to be able to tell Netflix to start playing the show "The Crown".

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Makes sense. I think the industry isn’t there yet. But with the rise of streaming linear tv (and OTT services in general) I wonder if C4 will push to have native support of streaming video like it does for audio. To your point, tv channel level control necessary for a rich experience might be challenging given existing state of YouTubeTV API and, without C4 pushing Google to make changes, ultimately impossible.


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ATT and Comcast will be the catalyst for direct channel access in streaming cable services.

It will be their hook when the introduce their own 'little boxes' and remotes. See it's just like the big box, but smaller, same remote, etc.

Since smart TVs will be Google etc primary target, and the vast majority of TV remotes still have numbers, it really wouldn't be difficult for them to implement. What we need is a TV brand to allow you to 'install' a default streaming cable services app, the way you pick a browser now. Then the old "TV" button on the remote would simply launch the chosen app, voila, watching TV like the old days without boxes.

I wouldn't expect to EVER see streaming video services in a Contorl4 processor. Way too much support work for zero gain. Roku is so cheap, leave it separate.

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On 2/25/2020 at 11:18 AM, RAV said:

Since smart TVs will be Google etc primary target, and the vast majority of TV remotes still have numbers, it really wouldn't be difficult for them to implement. What we need is a TV brand to allow you to 'install' a default streaming cable services app, the way you pick a browser now. Then the old "TV" button on the remote would simply launch the chosen app, voila, watching TV like the old days without boxes.

I believe that Comcast has this, at least in beta.  For your "client" boxes you can just use an app on Roku:  https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/activate-xfinity-tv-app-on-roku

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Or just do what i did.
No cable boxes, no dongles, and full IP C4 Control.   
All the HDMI extenders I ran years ago are just gathering dust now.


Full IP C4 control? So there is a free driver for the TV and Roku you used to add this functionality? And all over wireless for 4k UHD?

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