Using Vzaar with Roku

Vzaar's video hosting platform can be used to insert multiple video streams into a Roku channel using a single URL. Vzaar allows complex Roku channels with large numbers of videos to be quickly built and easily maintained.

• Your channel must either be newly created, or be at Update #300 or higher in order to use Vzaar.

To store videos on Vzaar:

  1. Log into your Vzaar account.
  2. Click the UPLOAD VIDEO button at the upper right corner of the Dashboard.
  3. Change Video dimensions to "High Definition" if you are uploading widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) videos.
  4. Click the Select files to upload button.
  5. Select the videos that you would like to upload from your local computer.
  6. Click the blue Begin Upload button. The upload process will begin.
  7. Wait for the uploading and encoding process to complete.

Enter your Vzaar account settings into Instant TV Channel. This only needs to be done once for each Roku channel:
  1. Log into your Vzaar account.
  2. Click on the SETTINGS link at the top of the Vzaar page.
  3. Click the Encoding button on the menu at the left side of the page.
  4. If you haven't already done so, adjust the Player Size & Compression settings to suit your requirements, then click the Apply button.
  5. Record the numeric values in the Kbits boxes, you will need to enter these values into Instant TV Channel later on. If your Vzaar account has dual-encoding enabled there will be 2 Kbits values, otherwise there will only be 1 Kbits value. In the example below the Kbits values are 1024 and 2048:
  6. Click the API button on the left side navigation menu.
  7. At the bottom of the Vzaar API page, click the All Videos button.
  8. Click the Security button on the left side navigation menu.
  9. Set Make videos private to "ON" if you want to prevent your videos from appearing on the Vzaar website.
  10. Set the Secure Embed Code slider to "Signed Keys".
  11. If you haven't already done so, click the Generate New Signing Key button.
  12. Record the Signing Key, you will need to enter it into Instant TV Channel later on.
  13. Log into your Instant TV Channel account and navigate to the "Services" page for the Roku channel that you wish to add Vzaar videos to.
  14. Enter your Vzaar User ID into the Instant TV Channel Vzaar User ID parameter.
  15. Enter your Vzaar Signing Key into the Instant TV Channel Vzaar Signing Key parameter.
  16. Enter the first (or only) Vzaar Kbits value into the Instant TV Channel Vzaar Encoding Bitrate parameter.
  17. If your Vzaar account has dual-encoding enabled, enter the second Vzaar Kbits value into the Instant TV Channel Vzaar Dual-Encoding HD Bitrate parameter.

To use a video stored on Vzaar in your Roku channel:
  1. Log into your Vzaar account.
  2. Click on the VIDEOS link at the top of the Vzaar page.
  3. Locate the video you would like to include in your Roku channel and record the ID number associated with it.
  4. In the example below, the Vzaar ID for the first video is 5166186:
  5. Log into your Instant TV Channel account, and navigate to the "Content" page for the Roku channel that you wish to add the Vzaar video to.
  6. In a new or existing Instant TV Channel video content item , enter a URL in the following format as the Stream 1 URL:

        vz://video-id

    For the example above, the URL would be:

        vz://5166186

  7. The Stream 1 Bitrate parameter should be left at the default value of "0". If your Vzaar video uses dual-encoding then the Roku device will automatically select the most appropriate of the 2 possible bitrates based on the speed of the Roku device's Internet connection.
  8. That's it, your Vzaar video should now be playable from your Roku channel. For a production-quality channel, you'll probably want to replace ListPosterUrl to customize the appearance of the new video.

To use a multiple videos stored on Vzaar as a playlist in your Roku channel:
  1. Choose a label for the playlist. The playlist label should be a short string of characters related to the playlist, for example a playlist about new sports cars could use a label of "sportscars". Each Vzaar playlist in your Roku channel must have a unique label. The label itself will not be visible on the channel, it is only used to select the videos from your Vzaar account.
  2. Log into your Vzaar account.
  3. Click on the VIDEOS link at the top of the Vzaar page.
  4. For each video that you would like to include in the playlist:
    1. Click the Manage button for the video.
    2. Enter the short playlist label into the Add labels box, then click the Save button. It's OK to have more than one label for a video.
  5. Log into your Instant TV Channel account, and navigate to the "Content" page for the Roku channel that you wish to add the Vzaar playlist to.
  6. In a new or existing Instant TV Channel playlist , enter a URL in the following format as the Stream URL:

        vz://playlist-label

    For the example above, the URL would be:

        vz://sportscars

  7. That's it, your Vzaar playlist should now be playable from your Roku channel. For a production-quality channel, you'll probably want to replace the playlist's ListPosterUrl parameter to customize the appearance of the new playlist.


Want to know more about using Instant TV Channel? Check out this Quick 5-Minute Walk-Through.

 

Instant TV Channel is a cloud-based tool for Roku developers and content providers that shortens development time and eases maintenance after deployment.


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If you are considering subtitles for your Roku video content, our sister-site InstantSubtitles.com provides an easy-to-use and inexpensive solution. Click here for more information.




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