Roku VLC player App?

[joshag]

I have a Roku 2 XS player and would love to see a better media player for it. The support for most file types is limited at best and if the codecs aren't just right it will fail the play. Any chance theres a port of VLC for the Roku anywhere or any plans for this?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Very little chance.

[joshag]

So sad.. I'm new to the development side of the VLC player.. is the source code for it available to the public?

[EternalGrump]

It's sad to hear this isn't really being considered.
Roku is a great piece of hardware but it's got one major drawback, the lack of a good media player.
Roku has a media player with very limited functionality, so limited in fact, it can't even handle avi files.
It's fairly pathetic as media players go.
Since VLC has all it's codecs internal I would think it would work great on a Roku.
It would pretty much eliminate Roku's biggest weakness and make it the ultimate media box.

None of the media boxes out there right now are perfect.
Some have better media player capabilities but less other options like app channels.
Others like Roku have more of the app channels but nearly no media player capability to speak of.
As it stands you pretty much need to buy 2 different boxes just to get the full array of options and even then it's not quite there
and for near $200 there's really no point to it if it isn't near perfect given the extra hassle.
You could always put together a home theatre pc but then you're looking at anywhere between $300-$500 in cost at the minimum.
You'll get everything you need with the HTPC but it's a fairly steep investment.
It should also be totally unnecessary since as far as I know the Roku has the hardware capabilities needed for the job, it's just lacking the software.
If I was going to see one of the various media boxes finally live up to it's full potential, I would want it to be the Roku.
It's got the best of everything else and deserves to be a complete product.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

THis is just that Roku is locked-down device. You cannot load apps.

[EternalGrump]

No, you can't load apps externally but the VLC player could be offered as a channel through the channel browser.
Many other developers have offered programs through the channel browser, I'm sure you would need Roku's cooperation but I don't see any reason VLC couldn't do the same.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Those apps are light apps, not full complete native apps.

[bmullan]

Plex, which was based originally out of xBMC but has been primarily a Mac/Windows app is now avail for Linux) has a server now available for the Roku. Install the plexmediaserver on ubuntu then run the web based admin tool to setup (ie ID where your video files are etc)
Then on the ROKU goto the roku store and you will find PLEX, choose that and let it autosearch for your server or you can enter the IP address of the server. There is a Port you have to open on your local wireless router 32400 (I believe). After that you can stream from you linux server to the ROKU.
I would REALLY like to see VLC do this since they already can stream from my PC to my android etc.

[edwardw]

This is NEVER going to happen, period, unless things change with Roku in the future.

From the Roku SDK page:

Roku Channels are written in a Roku-specific language called BrightScript. BrightScript is a scripting language similar to VisualBasic and is quickly learned by experienced programmers.

VLC is mainly written in C/C++, and cannot be made to run on bytecode, runtimes, or scripting environments such as BrightScript. Therefore, running VLC on Roku is absolutely impossible.