Netflix Streaming..... (again)

[viamptor]

So you guys are waiting on the mono project to get silverlight 2.o functionality into moonlight so you can stream netflix??
They (moonlight) say thats over a year away and most of us are skeptical about that. If roku was able to do a deal with netflix why cant neuros?? or is it that they will charge neuros for some sort of licensing fee and you dont want to pay it??

[JawsThemeSwimming428]

I think the issue is the lack of Netflix streaming support on Linux, not Neuros "striking a deal".

[cfranzen]

I say buy the ROKU, $99. I LOVE IT. It works great, is simple, and is getting amazon soon. It is worth the investment.

[JawsThemeSwimming428]

I think the issue most people have with that is they don't want multiple devices for streaming (that is my reason). I want ONE box that can "do it all". I understand that nothing is quite there yet but I am willing to work and wait (that's why I am using the Link). Once Netflix support is added to Linux (or Boxee or Neuros get it working via Moonlight) I will be a happy camper!

[JoeBorn]

So you guys are waiting on the mono project to get silverlight 2.o functionality into moonlight so you can stream netflix??
They (moonlight) say thats over a year away and most of us are skeptical about that. If roku was able to do a deal with netflix why cant neuros?? or is it that they will charge neuros for some sort of licensing fee and you dont want to pay it??

Netflix is releasing a public linux SDK, which should make it pretty easy, if not then yes, we'll definately reach out to netflix directly just like Roku.  It certainly won't be a year before we have netflix support, I'm confident of that.

[viamptor]

Joe thanks for the clarification. I have not heard of the linux sdk for netflix glad they are doing it. Figured something had to happen i see netflix streaming being built in to blueray players and tv's etc and they dont use microsoft cruft to do it.

[JoeBorn]

BTW, it's possible that netflix can be used with XBMC on the LINK and the latest mediamall playon software.  It's possible it "just works" and there's a bounty waiting for the first person to get it to work.

[sundevil98]

Well, I couldn't sleep tonight, and I figured that Joe was letting out a big "clue" here.  I read his post on Friday before leaving work, but figured by the time I got home, one of you guys would have already posted how to get Netflix up and running... Since I wasn't able to sleep tonight, and hadn't seen anything, I thought I'd give it a shot.  I'm by no means any sort of "expert" with Linux, or networking or anything.  Getting this up and running was very simple... I hope I can collect a bounty... 

As I'm typing this, I'm watching "Bridge on the River Kwai" streaming through PlayOn to XBMC installed on my LINK.

Here's all I did to get it running:

1) Followed Joe Born's instructions to get XBMC installed from this post:

http://forums.neurostechnology.com/index.php?topic=9660.0

In more detail:

I had to add the software repositories to the LINK:

SYSTEM --> Administration --> Software Sources

Enter the password "ntv"

Click the "Third-Party Software" tab

Click the "Add" button

Enter the following at the "APT line:" prompt:

Code:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-intrepid/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main

Click the "Add Source" button

Click "Close" to save your changes

When you're notified your software is out of date, select "Reload".

Set up your GPG key:

Copy the following and paste into a text file:

Code:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: SKS 1.0.10

mI0ESXhddgEEALZHX0uquOdLS+L0/3YLGDMBmwTjCRh8Oy8dmKYOwIZwEhtFD8JDSMNbjzGF
9Lc048FYPgEQqri68RYkwLOclz01WOjb/swbEqwqAqKhx9NY5R2LwO/5BXgKsaP7iI/MrqlJ
ba4gpKUGPw7MBu3KgHPE1tepyEYCMAYFyPTM226NABEBAAG0JExhdW5jaHBhZCBQUEEgZm9y
IFRlYW0gWEJNQyBJbnRyZXBpZIi2BBMBAgAgBQJJeF12AhsDBgsJCAcDAgQVAggDBBYCAwEC
HgECF4AACgkQQ8Cv8Nf65oBXxgQAioQiWuCkKs+DfQTtSD0sud5oLJwRRd/r8PUZ4uld6OKD
vPeKBrJm7h1At/103A82DN4XcnoPfAtj1uciciEdwPW+5qQsELBzxIAYwRySwI7XKnwS4rR4
5JVE1DL9Xyfp1AcBvjhMbcSc2gvotHg9RjfHH9gJd+d+T0BkXU6/h54=
=wFmE
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Open System --> Administration --> Software Sources  then click on the "Authentication" tab

Press the "Import Key File" button and point the browser to the text file you just saved above.

Press the "Add" key.

Press "OK"

Next, install XBMC

In a terminal window, enter the following:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc

XBMC should install with no problems, if everything above has been done correctly (I didn't keep good notes when I tried all this, because I really didn't think it would be so simple and would work).

2)  Next, you'll need to install the Media Mall PlayOn software on your home PC

You can download the software here (it's free for the first month or so, then you will need to pay to register it):

http://www.themediamall.com/playon

Run the setup file to install the software on your PC.

3)  Set up PlayOn with your Netflix login information:

Select the "User Accounts" tab

Enter your username

Enter your password

Select the "Test" button to make sure everything works... If not, double check you entered it correctly.

4)  Now, you need to set up XBMC to see PlayOn on your home PC

Run Applications -->  Sound and Video -->  XBMC Media Center

Select "Videos"

Select "Add Source"

Select "Browse"

Select "Add Network Location"

Under protocol select the arrow keys until you get to "uPNP Server"

In the server address box, enter your server address (in my case it was 192.168.0.1)

Click the "Browse" button and select the "upnp://" selection

Select "PlayOn (YourPCName-PC)"

Select "Netflix"

Select "OK"

Select "OK" again

5)  Now, you should be ready to watch a video.  Be sure your NetFlix account has some videos queued up in your online queue (you must have the right type of NetFlix deal - I think any agreement with NetFlix over 8.99 a month lets you stream videos).

From the main XBMC screen select "Videos"

Select "PlayOn (YourPCName - PC)"

Decide where you want to select your movie from (I picked "Queue Top 50")

Select a movie you wish to watch (I picked "Bridge on the River Kwai")

It should now open the stream and should start your movie!

Good luck!!!

Haven't really had a chance to play with anything.  Don't know yet how to get the video to show up in full screen mode.  ([edit] From what I read on my lunch break pressing the "\" key should toggle full screen mode[/edit]) But, I will try to play with that later.  The video is clear and smooth and has no issues.

Here are some screen shots of A Clockwork Orange:

[crweb]

Having the PlayOn upnp server show up in xbmc's play list is cool, but any upnp browser for linux should be able to access the upnp server and play with mplayer/vlc/totem, etc.   djmount maybe?

[JoeBorn]

Having the PlayOn upnp server show up in xbmc's play list is cool, but any upnp browser for linux should be able to access the upnp server and play with mplayer/vlc/totem, etc.   djmount maybe?

a couple months ago, I wasted a few hours trying it with djmount.  I don't know what's changed, maybe xbmc v. djmount, maybe the newer playon's do the job, I don't know.  I'm going to try tonight to see if I can duplicate the above.  I also wasted considerable time figuring out that mythtv doesn't have a upnp client built in.  we certainly need a good upnp built in that works without googling. If its going to be much longer before xbmc becomes standard, we need something else.

BTW, I didn't need the public thing to get xbmc running, don't know what difference it makes or if there's some insidious issue there, but it works anyway.

[sundevil98]

FWIW, you can stream Netflix through PlayOn and Boxee on the LINK as well. 

I had problems earlier getting Boxee to run, but installed the new ATI drivers today, and it working.

However, seems like Boxee is using more system resources as it runs a little sluggish, and the Netflix streaming through PlayOn seems a lot more sluggish than compared to using XBMC (video and sound are really choppy).

[JawsThemeSwimming428]

Don't know if this changes anything but Moonlight 1.0 was released...
http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight/

[flatcurve]

I had problems earlier getting Boxee to run, but installed the new ATI drivers today, and it working.

This is good to know. I tried installing boxee a while ago and it just wouldn't work. I'll give this new driver a shot and see if that helps.

[sundevil98]

What issues did you have with Boxee?

I was able to install it just fine, however it was very sluggish and really slow.

I was home for lunch... Installing Moonlight didn't let me watch Netflix videos streaming directly through Ubuntu's Firefox.  All I did was try installing it, and messing with Firefox's User Agent settings, nothing worked, but I only spent about 10 minutes on it.

I read that Moonlight supports Silverlight 1.0, but Netflix needs Silverlight 2.0...  So, it will take some time...

[cricket]

I was able to get netflix streaming through the PlayOn option...choppy audio probably related to the PlayOn server piece that has my, somewhat wimpy processor AMD XP1800, pegged at 100%. I can pause the stream and for a while after that it works beautifully ....briefly and then starts chopping again.