[y2kbadbug]

I noticed that there had been no real effort (that I could find) to try and get Netflix to write an official plugin for XBMC. I believe that XBMC is large enough for them to spend a little bit of time supporting an actual official plugin. I hope they would understand how much this would improve cross-platform support if they were somehow able to make this happen.

It was worth a shot, so if you are interested: https://www.change.org/p/netflix-write-a...merly-xbmc

I apologize if people see this as spam, this is something I am trying to do to better XBMC, as I love it and want to use it for everything related to my home media center. Netflix is the final thing that I always have to mess around with to use and it's a real pain in the arse.

Thanks for listening guys.

[ If this is in the wrong area, please move thread to right area. Thanks ]

[joeblack2k]

That is never going to happen, Kodi needs DRM support and they will never do opensource plugin

[Martijn]

That is never going to happen, Kodi needs DRM support and they will never do opensource plugin

Kodi allows to install binary plugins which can be closed source. We just won't host it ourselves.

[Qefx]

XBMC / Kodi is a way to small target group.

[Martijn]

XBMC / Kodi is a way to small target group.

4 to 5 million worldwide (very rough estimate).

problem will be that it's multiplatform and majority runs windows/android which already have apps.

[Qefx]

XBMC / Kodi is a way to small target group.

4 to 5 million worldwide (very rough estimate).

problem will be that it's multiplatform and majority runs windows/android which already have apps.

3/4 don´t have Netflix because they can´t get it (like me) another 10% don´t want it even they could get it, so you end like with what? 10.000 potential users? wow...

[y2kbadbug]

Thanks to the staff member who is supporting me on this.

I feel there is a strong userbase and it would benefit both XBMC (Kodi) as well as NetFlix to add some kind of official support.

More users will pick up NetFlix over the fact that it will have better cross-platform support, as well as more Kodi users due to NetFlix integration. Its a win-win situation. This isn't like Kodi is a small project. It is one of the strong media center software around. This I believe would probably even beat Windows Media Center in popularity taking Microsoft really doesn't care about that project anymore. If I remember correctly, even WMC has some official NetFlix support.

Feel free to sign it or not, the point of this petition would be to show how much we would like to have it. It's always worth a shot.

[rodalpho]

4 to 5 million worldwide (very rough estimate).

problem will be that it's multiplatform and majority runs windows/android which already have apps.

The windows app isn't remote-capable. Android isn't either, although the androidTV version will be.

[TamaraKama]

For what it's worth I've gone ahead and signed it also shared it on my facebook. Especially since I'm one who doesn't use Windows and I don't want to have to resort to browser based solutions. Also, as far as I can tell when it comes to the desktop only Windows 8 has an app. If they made an official add-on I'd get a Netflix subscription in a heart beat.

[olsonbri]

The only reason I run xbmc on Win 7 (as opposed to openelec, the pi, etc) is for the wmc Netflix addon. I use the advance launcher plugin (xbmc) to exit xbmc and launch the wmc Netflix, then recall xbmc upon exiting wmc Netflix. It's a work-a-round solution. I can post the link I used as a guide if anyone wants it.

I have not found any alternatives which allows xbmc as the media center + Netflix (in a wife-friendly GUI) + A 'normal' remote control (none of this air mouse in my house!).

IMO Netflix is very fussy about content players, whether it's a Netflix issue or a backbone internet infrastructure issue (?). We often get glitch errors trying to play Netflix from wmc lately.

Will pressure in a Comcast/Time Warner merger enlighten Netflix to consider fully supporting a Kodi plugin before they get squashed (). We're a small crowd, very small. But we know how to entertain

Thanks Kodi team!

[produno]

Signed. mainly because I think any kind of official support by the big companies would be a very good thing for Kodi.

[y2kbadbug]

Signed. mainly because I think any kind of official support by the big companies would be a very good thing for Kodi.

That is the truth. Kodi is not just some small program. XBMC/Kodi is years of hard work and, as mentioned before, probably one of most (if not the most) used media center solution out there.

I am curious also to ask the developers here.. Is writing a plugin for Kodi an easy to do task cross-platform? I mean, could NetFlix write one plugin, and it would work among all operating systems? Could they also include their own DRM into it, would that still work with Kodi? I guess the true question for the developers, is this achievable. I believe it could be, but I am not a developer for Kodi.

Thanks again for the support. I have XBMC running on 3 different machines in my house, and I use my Xbox 360 in my bedroom to play NetFlix at night. I have been wanting to just setup a small HTPC with XBMC for my bedroom.

[olsonbri]

signed!

[popcornmix]

I am curious also to ask the developers here.. Is writing a plugin for Kodi an easy to do task cross-platform? I mean, could NetFlix write one plugin, and it would work among all operating systems? Could they also include their own DRM into it, would that still work with Kodi? I guess the true question for the developers, is this achievable. I believe it could be, but I am not a developer for Kodi.

xbmc internally needs unencrypted video and audio frames to feed to a variety of software and hardware video decoders.
There is no way that DRM can work with this architecture. Anyone could trivially write these packets to a file and have a DRM free version of the file.

The only way this could be implemented with DRM is if the plugin is also the video player and so xbmc never sees the video and audio frames.
It would need to be distributed in binary form (and so would not be cross-platform), none of the features you like about xbmc's video playback will be available
(much like using an external player from xbmc).

Realistically the only way Netflix will work as an add-on is if Netflix choose to drop DRM. That would be very unlikely
(not impossible - Apple/iTunes chose to do this with music a while back, although not so far with video).

[olsonbri]

---

I am curious also to ask the developers here.. Is writing a plugin for Kodi an easy to do task cross-platform? I mean, could NetFlix write one plugin, and it would work among all operating systems? Could they also include their own DRM into it, would that still work with Kodi? I guess the true question for the developers, is this achievable. I believe it could be, but I am not a developer for Kodi.

xbmc internally needs unencrypted video and audio frames to feed to a variety of software and hardware video decoders.
There is no way that DRM can work with this architecture. Anyone could trivially write these packets to a file and have a DRM free version of the file.

The only way this could be implemented with DRM is if the plugin is also the video player and so xbmc never sees the video and audio frames.
It would need to be distributed in binary form (and so would not be cross-platform), none of the features you like about xbmc's video playback will be available
(much like using an external player from xbmc).

Realistically the only way Netflix will work as an add-on is if Netflix choose to drop DRM. That would be very unlikely
(not impossible - Apple/iTunes chose to do this with music a while back, although not so far with video).

popcornmix, Can you enlighten me on how the (unofficial) NetfliXBMC plugin worked for some users? I had this plugin working for a short period on a windows based pc, but was never able to revive its function.

I never had the impression it used an external player for DRM.

--bri