TheCranium 2 Posted January 27, 2017 Posted January 27, 2017 In the beta Roku app that I looked at this evening, Live TV shows up and basically tells me, "Live TV is only for Premier members". If I use the normal or "old" Roku app, Live TV is still there and it works (through another Live TV plugin). Live TV works fine in a web browser too. When the beta Roku app first became available Live TV wasn't ready yet. Now Live TV appears in the beta app but I can't try it out because I haven't paid for Premier. Is Live TV going to be taken away from users that have not decided to spend the money on Premier? Is this a future change coming that will affect all apps/clients, not just the Roku beta app? I guess I'm just afraid that one day the new beta app won't be beta any more and I'll suddenly lose the ability to watch Live TV on my Rokus, and I'll be forced to either pay up for Premier, or find a different solution for Live TV.
Luke 42077 Posted January 27, 2017 Posted January 27, 2017 Hi there, welcome. We work hard everyday on these apps and we thank you very much for your support.
TheCranium 2 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Luke. I wish I could find a more polite way to say this, but...you didn't really answer my questions... Is Live TV going to be moved behind the Premier pay-wall? Will that be Roku-only, or all apps? I have no complaints at all if Live TV does become a Premier-only feature. The team here does fantastic work. The work is certainly deserving of the support. It would just be nice to know what is coming, before it happens.
ebr 16169 Posted January 27, 2017 Posted January 27, 2017 Yes, Live TV access will require Premiere in the new Roku app. Thanks.
speechles 2055 Posted January 27, 2017 Posted January 27, 2017 In the old apps (official and blue neon) the liveTV wasn't free either. What they did allow, is you got to "sip" it, so to speak, for free. Without premier you are limited to 5 channels(a single sip), with premier you got a maximum of 80(tons of sips). Is this the difference you mean? The new beta app doesn't let you "sip" liveTV for free, because it will support a full TV grid eventually. Adding this grid requires development time. To get funding for this development time, well you get it, there has to be an end to the "sip" for free.
TheCranium 2 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Posted January 28, 2017 In the past, in the old apps (official and blue neon), you could still navigate to Live TV, then channels, then select a channel and watch that channel live, for free. This ability to watch a live TV channel on Roku using only Emby software went away with a server update a few months ago. This was probably in the same server update that added the "ad" for Premier to the Live TV channels function in a web browser. However, I can still watch live TV for free right now, in the old official and blue neon Roku apps, but only by using a third party DVR software, and a plugin for that DVR software. The "sip" that speechles is describing only applied to browsing the live TV guide data on a Roku though. Having the guide on a Roku was never a big deal to me. If I wanted to view the guide I could always just take a look from a web browser on my laptop. What appears to be changing in the new Roku beta app is that the entire Live TV section will require Premier. When the new Beta app becomes the official app, there will be no access to the entire live TV section, plugins for third party DVR software or not, on Roku, without Premier. I want to again be clear. I am NOT saying live TV on Roku should still be free. Emby is certainly entitled to make whatever features that they see fit, part of the Premier subscription service. I'm sure development of the server, the new Roku app, and the new way that I presume that the guide data will be displayed in the new Roku app, costs plenty of time, effort, and money. That is not the issue. I should probably just get over it and go ahead and support this great software that I've been taking advantage of for such a long time. The only issue I have is that the Emby Premier Terms of Service does not make this clear, in my opinion. (I'm not a lawyer.) Right now the only mention of Roku in the Terms of Service says... Emby Roku channel (current version 2.x - Live TV Guide - available through the Roku Channel Store)*** *** These applications unlock specific features for the application as indicated in the description of the app. To me, this only specifies the guide, not the live TV function as a whole, and not the live TV "channels" section of the old Roku app. It also refers to "specific features for the application as indicated in the description of the app" which I guess could mean the message shown in the Beta app now when you select Live TV. I just wish the Terms of Service did a better job describing that Live TV on Roku is included, instead of referring to other text in an app. The Premier FAQ in the forums also does not mention Live TV on Roku as a benefit of Premier. Live TV on Roku is also not mentioned on the Premier purchase page.
Happy2Play 9780 Posted January 28, 2017 Posted January 28, 2017 As a beta product no terms or faqs are true until the product is release. Or that is at least how I would see it.
ebr 16169 Posted January 28, 2017 Posted January 28, 2017 As a beta product no terms or faqs are true until the product is release. Or that is at least how I would see it. Correct. We won't change the terms doc until it actually is the current situation.
TheCranium 2 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Posted January 28, 2017 Ok, leaving the beta Roku app out of it completely... Live TV still doesn't work without Premier, in the old official and blue neon Roku apps, without using a third party DVR software and the plugin for that software. That's the inaccuracy in the terms doc as it stands today.
TheCranium 2 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Posted January 28, 2017 I decided to quit being such a tightwad, and just buy Premier. So this is a moot point now, for me. Like I've been saying, Emby is worth the cost. Live TV on Roku is what brought me to Emby a few years ago, back when it was still called Media Browser. Emby is definitely the channel that my family and I use most often on all our Rokus. It's the center of my TV setup. It was kind of silly for me to not support it. I still think that which parts of Live TV on Roku that require Premier or don't, could have been communicated better, but, not so much that I didn't think it was worth the money. It sounds like that the complaints I had won't matter any more when the beta app "goes production" anyway. I just tried out Live TV in the beta Roku app, and, it works, and looks great. i do have some suggestions, but, that can be a different thread.
TheCranium 2 Posted January 30, 2017 Author Posted January 30, 2017 I wanted to take a minute and apologize here. I did some troubleshooting over the weekend. It turns out my previous statement... "Live TV still doesn't work without Premier, in the old official and blue neon Roku apps, without using a third party DVR software and the plugin for that software." ...is inaccurate. I just needed to fix the configuration of my hdhomerun in the Live TV, Tuner Devices section of Emby server. Now live TV works just fine in the old Roku official and blue neon apps, without having to rely on a third party DVR software like NextPVR. I thought lack of Premier was causing my Live TV problem in the old Roku apps, but, that was not the case. So...my bad. Sorry. 1
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