Gauging Interest in Native Netflix support for Client PC

[wayner]

FYI - I started a new thread on cases for SFF mini-ITX PCs in the hardware forum:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55810

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

A major feature of v7 was implementing a full hardware accellerated 3D interface to sagetv... just noone has really used it yet, mostly because the extenders aren't capable of doing it.

That's a shame really. I've seen some pretty awesome stuff so far. I don't have any extenders yet, but those won't be used in "important" areas like the movie room, so not an issue for me.

I don't know why everyone is scared of clients. Mine has been perfect for a while. The issues I had weren't even sage's fault (a fact most seem to ignore). Sage is really really good at exposing issues with dshow. People seem to think because VLC and MPC-HC play something that sage should.

/rant (sorry, just irritating)

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wayner

Why would Roku be more reliable than a loopback?

Maybe you're right. I'm mostly worried about loss of window focus. Plus, even on my fastest machines, Netflix on a PC doesn't seem to playback as smoothly as on my blu-ray player. I also occasionally get DRM errors from Silverlight.

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I don't know why everyone is scared of clients. Mine has been perfect for a while. The issues I had weren't even sage's fault (a fact most seem to ignore). Sage is really really good at exposing issues with dshow. People seem to think because VLC and MPC-HC play something that sage should.

Didn't you answer your own question there? I don't think most people have a problem with the client software itself, but rather dshow and third-party decoders. Even when I could get all the codecs working with WMP I wasn't always able to get them working with Sage. Some files just wouldn't play back, and others wouldn't play back very well (since I sometimes had an awful time getting it to use one decode over another).

The HD300 (and the HD200, and for the most part the HD100) just work. They've been able to play back 99% of what I've thrown at them without any tweaking.

[PiX64]

Yeah that was the biggest client
Killer for me was all of the futsing around with codecs and such. Having to update each one and individual Plugins on every pc client made me quickly switch to an extender only house.

That being said, if we had a workable solution for Netflix and July on pc clients, I would strongly consider getting a pc client going in the main viewing area. But the cheapness of the roku 49.99 is also pretty enticing.

I'm torn :-)

[bialio]

For those that might be confused - when pix says 'July' he really means 'Hulu' and vica versa.

[rnadeau]

I for one am all for it. I currently use playon and it frequently will just stall while playing a movie. When I get out of it and restart it the movie will always stall at the same spot. I now have gone to watching them with my WII, but I can't get 5.1 sound with the WII. I would love it if you made a plugin for this Plucky and would gladly pay for it. I just hope there is enough demand for it that you will take the time to create it.

[Brent94Z]

PayPal ready

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by rnadeau

When I get out of it and restart it the movie will always stall at the same spot.

Off topic, but what's happening here is that PlayOn is just feeding you the same stream it's already buffered, including the stall. It's not actually restarting the movie. To get it to restart, you need to clear the buffer by either restarting the PlayOn service, or choosing a different movie.

[rnadeau]

Thanks for the tip. This makes alot of sense and I hadn't thought of that. After writing about this I thought there may be a way to diagnose this, like looking for a log file that may shed some light as to why it is freezing. It would be a pain to have to restart playon and delete the cache to get around the freezing. I need to find what is causing it and fix it so it doesn't happen. It may be a silverlight problem . I'm goin to see if I can tirn on debug with playon or silverlight.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by bialio

For those that might be confused - when pix says 'July' he really means 'Hulu' and vica versa.

yeah yeah make fun of the kid with the fat fingers..:-D

Again and from here on out you can assume its iphone autocorrects fault! yeah lets go with that.

[PLUCKYHD]

Well 18 prepays are enough to motivate me. I have to confirm a couple of things with the Netflix API before I take prepays. I should have a paypal setup by end of next week if things progress like I expect. I will limit the prepays to 18 people since that is how many voted. Once 18 people have prepaid I will no longer offer the 50% discount off the API.

Thanks for the votes and if it goes smoothly
I may look at adding a loopback method but no promises there it would definitely be a "unsupported" feature. And remember those who do prepay if I don't have at least a beta in your hands in 6 months I will refund your money. This will help motivate me to work faster and hit that deadline rather than this project linger for 2 years.

Cheers and here is to hoping hd Netflix support soon!

[Brent94Z]

[valnar]

Didn't read all four pages.

Count me as someone who could care less if this is brought only to Sage (Windows) clients. I'll just pull up IE instead.

I would only be interested in extenders, even if for some hardware reason it could only be done on a HD300. Since I already have an extender on each TV, adding a PC is a no-go. I might as well get the Roku.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Well 18 prepays are enough to motivate me. I have to confirm a couple of things with the Netflix API before I take prepays.

Great news!

Looking forward to beta testing, unless 18 others beat me to it.

[PLUCKYHD]

seems the world is telling me to stay away from clients

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

seems the world is telling me to stay away from clients

Certainly not -- you're just supposed to put more effort into the loopback hack after you get the clients working

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

seems the world is telling me to stay away from clients

Rigged...Rigged I say...

I have no issues purchasing that from you for "testing" purposes.

[sleonard]

It's trying to tell you that SMM still needs my optical drive feature for rentals and TV supports as well. I'm sure Diamond still needs some of your attention too and you just have so much time to give.

S

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

seems the world is telling me to stay away from clients

Ignore those people. Netflix on client good. I only have HTPCs so don't really care about Extenders.

(Although I am considering an extender for the last TV in the house without Sage. A HTPC in the Master bath seems like a bad idea but I must get my news in the morning and some music while in the Jacuzzi )

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Ignore those people. Netflix on client good. I only have HTPCs so don't really care about Extenders.

(Although I am considering an extender for the last TV in the house without Sage. A HTPC in the Master bath seems like a bad idea but I must get my news in the morning and some music while in the Jacuzzi )

Yes tvs in the bathroom are underrated. Exactly where I think this hd300 will go there or the back patio.