Netflix?

[blocke]

I want to start by saying I have absolutely no programming experience (okay I successfully wrote "Hello World") but I was wondering why there is no Netflix Plugin (streaming). I see it on all kinds of other media-type...TVs, STB's, Xbox, Wii, etc... so the code must be out there to have but is there some sort of rights or other road block keeping people from including it in a Sage plugin? I would think Netflix wants to be on EVERY platform

I apologize for the Noob sounding Q, just wondering....

Thanks

[gplasky]

You need to use the Playon product with the SageTV Playon plugin which gives you Netflix, Hulu, MLB, Pandora, ABC, CBS and other websites that stream video.

Gerry

[Khristopher]

Playon requires and additional subscription to their service so not really a viable solution in my opinion. I bought a second gen Apple TV specifically for Netflix and couldn't be happier.

[Fuzzy]

Blame Netflix, not sage. Netflix won't let you license their product unless you can show that you will bring in a certain number of customers.

[rwrussom]

how about a way to launch a browser window or desktop application similar to what already exists with the launch hulu desktop. If you dont have the hulu desktop installed, then a browser window opens on the hulu site. I would think that could be any website if coded to it. There are a few netflix desktop apps out there that could be launched the same way. I know it is not close to sage integration, but would be much cleaner.

[Fuzzy]

Hulu Desktop has the advantage of being relatively easy to control with a remote. The netflix web site, or other netflix apps, on the other hand, pretty much depend on a mouse to function, so really, if you need a mouse/keyboard, you could just launch them yourself, and the menu item isn't all that important.

[SteveD]

You can use netflix viewer. I have it installed on all of my PC clients. I use it instead of playon. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=348. I have it installed on the server with a scheduled task setup to keep the database updated. I then use eventghost to launch the exe from which ever PC client I am using. Works great. You do not have to install it on the client. Just execute it on the client.

[blocke]

I will look into the playon plugin as an option... to bad the playon software costs 80 bucks while all i would use it for is Netflix, I can record all the shows that are available through Hulu and such.

Is the netflix viewer running inside of Sage.. it looks like an external app. Would this run on an extender?

Thanks for the great discussion, these forums are great!

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by blocke

I will look into the playon plugin as an option... to bad the playon software costs 80 bucks while all i would use it for is Netflix, I can record all the shows that are available through Hulu and such.

Is the netflix viewer running inside of Sage.. it looks like an external app. Would this run on an extender?

Thanks for the great discussion, these forums are great!

Be Aware playon degrades the quality from netflix and hulu so you will not be able to get HD. Some people don't know this going in. It is more than likely netflix's fault sagetv doesn't have it do to usage base.

I too bought an appletv for native netflix in the room I didn't already have it in a blu ray player

Skye

[SteveD]

Originally Posted by blocke

I will look into the playon plugin as an option... to bad the playon software costs 80 bucks while all i would use it for is Netflix, I can record all the shows that are available through Hulu and such.

Is the netflix viewer running inside of Sage.. it looks like an external app. Would this run on an extender?

Thanks for the great discussion, these forums are great!

It is an external app. I use all pc clients. I would love to do everything through the sage interface, but there are so many compromises have to be made to make things work. With PC clients, and eventghost, I can do native netflix and hulu.

[blocke]

I installed the Playon trial and the plugin.... Very Very UNimpressed. Plucky, you are so right. Because there is no HD support I am actually very surprised that this counts as a viable solution for some folks. It is unfortunate.

How many users does it take to get the code from Netflix? Are there enough sage users who would like HD Netflix support?

Until then, I suppose I will continue to use my Xbox

Thanks Guys!

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by blocke

I installed the Playon trial and the plugin.... Very Very UNimpressed. Plucky, you are so right. Because there is no HD support I am actually very surprised that this counts as a viable solution for some folks. It is unfortunate.

How many users does it take to get the code from Netflix? Are there enough sage users who would like HD Netflix support?

Until then, I suppose I will continue to use my Xbox

Thanks Guys!

It is really people just living with what they can get.

I believe netflix agreement states you have to bring 100k or something like that to the table. I don't know what sage's user base is but that is a high number.
Plucky

[blocke]

Yeah, that is huge... I can't imagine it will hit that number anytime soon

[bialio]

It'd be nice if one of the media streamers out there (Roku, etc) supported a rich set of external API's - it'd be possible to integrate into Sage then with a plugin (similar to the playon hulu/netflix queue importer) and captured from an HD-PVR.

[bits]

IMHO the market for devices that play Netflix natively is growing much faster and is potentially much larger than for STV like PVR's and Sage is missing out on a golden opportunity.

I am a staunch supporter of STV and the HD200/300 as a PVR solution but not for Netflix and or similar applications. Over the last few months 5-6 friends and associated have asked me to recommend a solution for streaming video to their TVs. In all cases their primary desire was for Netflix. In good conscious I could not recommend STV.

I have been using PlayOn since it first came out and it continues to be lack luster. It mostly works but does not work enough of the time to be annoying. And there is no denying that the PQ is noticeably lower than for devices that natively support things such as Netflix. I have a life time subscription to PlayOn but rarely use it.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by bits

IMHO the market for devices that play Netflix natively is growing much faster and is potentially much larger than for STV like PVR's and Sage is missing out on a golden opportunity.

I don't think it is sage that is missing out on the opportunity. If netflix has a required user base as others have stated and sage doesn't have it don't know that there is much if anything they can do about it.

Let's take Roku and Apple for example. Roku is on pace to sell 1 million boxes by end of year as is Apple of their new appletv. Microsoft/xbox 360 is a no brainer as far as user base as is PS3/wii.

To me I think it is just a numbers game that sagetv can't compete in. Of course I am pulling that all out of their required user base statement.

[bits]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

I don't think it is sage that is missing out on the opportunity. If netflix has a required user base as others have stated and sage doesn't have it don't know that there is much if anything they can do about it.

Let's take Roku and Apple for example. Roku is on pace to sell 1 million boxes by end of year as is Apple of their new appletv. Microsoft/xbox 360 is a no brainer as far as user base as is PS3/wii.

To me I think it is just a numbers game that sagetv can't compete in. Of course I am pulling that all out of their required user base statement.

Agreed assuming the user base statement is fact. If I did not have a BD player that supports native netflix I would seriously consider a Roku or even the Apple in addition to my HD300's, heck I may get one just for the fun of it!

[ranger]

Originally Posted by SteveD

You can use netflix viewer. I have it installed on all of my PC clients. I use it instead of playon. http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=348. I have it installed on the server with a scheduled task setup to keep the database updated. I then use eventghost to launch the exe from which ever PC client I am using. Works great. You do not have to install it on the client. Just execute it on the client.

Maybe it's just me but I don't understand something. If it costs money or a commitment of X number of users to get a Netflix plugin approved, how did the guy that wrote the Netflix viewer noted in Steve's post manage it? I don't see where he could have possibly met any conditions like that. On the other hand, the viewer is a bit clumsy, especially when it comes to downloading information from Netflix (failed or took too long). I don't really use it anymore since I got a TV that has a NetFlix viewer built in.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by ranger

Maybe it's just me but I don't understand something. If it costs money or a commitment of X number of users to get a Netflix plugin approved, how did the guy that wrote the Netflix viewer noted in Steve's post manage it? I don't see where he could have possibly met any conditions like that. On the other hand, the viewer is a bit clumsy, especially when it comes to downloading information from Netflix (failed or took too long). I don't really use it anymore since I got a TV that has a NetFlix viewer built in.

That program is great, but it isn't a native netflix app either. It is more of a front end for the netflix web based player. It has all the same restrictions as that as well. (and the same horrible playback interface).

[stanger89]

I saw something interesting in the Oppo BDP-93 thread over on AVS the other day. They stated that all the Netflix code comes from Netflix. If true that means that Netflix is actually building the apps for the various platforms, and that Netflix would have to implement "SageTV support" not the other way around.