Rolling out Roku: THEOplayer?

"Rolling out Roku: THEOplayer?" is the last part of a 3-part series. Read up on "Rolling out Roku: Why?" and Rolling out Roku: How?".

You know what Roku is. You know why you want a Roku app. You know how you want to build your app. We arrive at the epilogue of our story.

Let's explore THEOplayer's role on Roku through the following topics:

• What is THEOplayer doing on Roku?
• Building a Roku SDK
• Deploying an app
• Why use THEO?

What is THEOplayer doing on Roku

So, what's THEOplayer's stake in all of this? What do we offer?

• The THEOplayer Roku SDK – a video player SDK. You can integrate this SDK in a custom Roku channel.
• The self-service portal to build and manage a Roku SDK. (The SDK is free below 10k impressions per month).
• Documentation to get you started on our SDK.
• Sample Roku apps on Github to inspire you.
• Our team to help you out.

Building a Roku SDK

You can build the THEOplayer Roku SDK through our self-service THEO Developer Portal, as demonstrated by the video below.

Deploying an app

The video below demonstrates how you deploy the basic-playback-app Github repository on a local Roku device.

Refer to the getting started guide for an in-depth article.

Why use THEO?

I'm a big fan of starting with the "why?". However, for this article, it was appropriate to put the practical stuff first. (Besides: you might already be convinced of the added value of our Roku SDK.)

"So, why should I use the THEOplayer Roku SDK, and not just use Roku's native video player - or another open-source/commercial video player SDK?"

I love questions like these - and I'm not even being that sarcastic. It's a genuine important question. You deserve to know why - or rather: when - using THEOplayer is the right choice for you.

Let's start at the beginning: why did we build a Roku SDK?

Customers have always been requesting a Roku SDK. We saw the Roku requirement on a ton of RFPs. We got Roku questions all the time on trade shows - especially in the States.

We had our answer: "Our focus is currently on improving our existing products. That being said, we can help you out with custom development if Roku is a hard requirement." Customers didn't take us up on the offer -- a classic case of chicken or the egg.

We also felt that we didn't really need to build a Roku SDK just yet. After all, Roku's native video player API is a black-box: a stream either works, or it doesn't work. As a video player company you have to use their native video player. Any video player company, us included, has to work very hard to improve the developer experience on Roku.

So what changed? Why do we have a Roku SDK all of a sudden?

Well... Expectations shift, the industry evolves, and we feel that we're in a better position to add value to the Roku landscape.

After listening to our customers throughout the years, we feel like we know what you want from a Roku video player SDK. This will be a continuous process. A process we're very, very excited about.

So, let's revisit your question: when should you consider using the THEOplayer SDK?

• When you want to encapsulate the complexity. Getting the video player right is hard. We want to take care of that complexity for you. (And we achieve this by bundling a set of features into an SDK.)
• When you want help. Sometimes, something funky is happening with Roku, and you need some help to figure things out. We're here to help, and to share the knowledge.
• When you want samples and integrations. Getting a Roku player up and running isn't the easiest thing. Sometimes it's useful to leverage existing snippets and samples. Additionally, THEOplayer might have connectors with other industry components, such as DRM, SSAI and analytics vendors. These connectors and samples speed up your time-to-market.
• When you want a universal video player. THEOplayer's Roku SDK is just one of our video player SDKs. If you're looking for video player solution which you can implement across the board, THEOplayer might be the choice for you.

Sounds good? Or maybe you have a different reason for considering THEOplayer? Let us know, because we're excited to help.

TL;DR

THEOplayer offers a video player SDK for Roku to reduce complexity and to expand our offering as a universal video player. You can build the Roku SDK through our self-service portal. The getting started guide and Github help you get familiar with our Roku SDK.

If you read the entire series: thank you! Please let me know what you liked and didn't like through LinkedIn or Twitter, and I'll improve the quality!

Want to talk more about Roku, or our platform support? Contact our THEO experts.