This week Roku rolled out a new OS: the 7.5 update. We already know of a few of the big changes such as the ability to pause live TV with the Roku TV; however, there is a lot more to the Roku 7.5 than the changes the end user will notice.

Here is a quick overview of some of the changes made under the hood that will help make Roku channels more powerful.

The Roku MediaPlayer automatically detects and plays a video even if the file type is not specified. All major file types—HLS, DASH, Smooth, and MP4—are detected.

The video player automatically scales when changing to a different stream with different ratios.

More channels can now access the Fast Video Start similar to the way Netflix and Amazon preload content they think you are about to watch.

More channels have access to a “Continue Watching” feature.

Roku channels can now start to load the next video in a playlist before the video you are currently watching ends, meaning you should see fewer if any loading bars between videos.

A new content meta-data attribute ‘ignoreStreamErrors’ allows you to skip to the next item in a content list when an item fails due to a streaming-related error.

These are only some of the changes you will notice. There are a ton of other changes that will allow channel developers to create even more powerful channels. You can find the full list of changes that the 7.5 update made under the hood on the Roku Developer Blog.

The 7.5 update is bringing more power to the developers and the ability to pause live TV really helps Roku stand out.

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