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ppic
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just do it, we've all started somewhere
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cedell
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I'm not familiar with the XBMC development, or the availability of code between the two open source projects, but Plex has Netlfix playback ability built into it. Since Plex is a mac specific fork in development, couldn't it still be pulled over since it is open source as well? It works well, so I wonder why not start there?
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There is no Netflix plugin because:
1.) Netflix uses Microsoft's Silverlight to play videos. As far as I'm aware, there is no mature, multiplatform code that's able to play back Silverlight. The only way you can play back Silverlight video is by using the Silverlight plugin, which isn't available for Linux.
2.) Plex and Boxee are not open source, which means their code is not available for XBMC to use. Beyond that, they both, essentially, embed a browser window inside of the application, so you're just viewing the same webpage you'd view in your browser, but stretched to fullscreen. XBMC does not have a built-in browser, so it cannot do the same.
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has there been any progress
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Netflix requires silverlight, no? Silverlight is not open -> no go in XBMC.
I suggest you petition Netflix to not use a retarded, proprietary way to stream video when there's plenty of non-retarded, open ways to do the same thing.
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SSMI
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2010-09-15, 22:10
I was wondering kind of as a feature request or maybe a as a project for me(don't know python) couldn't some one make a script that uses the netflix api.
You would use it to browse the movies and search and view the netflix info. Also if it was instant play it could open the correct page in the browser so that it could be watched easily from xbmc. You could set it to use the remote for some of the keyboard shortcuts (play/pause at least) and the back would exit the browser and go back into xbmc. It could be designed to look like the plugin in windows media center.
Am I missing something with this idea? Is there anyone willing to develop it?
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2010-09-20, 19:03
I am looking to find a few people who would like to help bring netflix integration to our amazing XBMC platform. We are making great strides in bringing streaming video content to XBMC, but we are missing some major players such as Netlflix. I have no coding experience, but would love to design the interface. If anyone is interested in helping with this project please get in touch with me.
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BlueCop
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Ok I would love netflix on xbmc. The problem is they use DRM on their media and I don't think there is any way around it currently. I don't think cracking sliver light would be very effective ethier. Historicly the black box cracks of wmv drm didn't last long because they designed in ways to easily update that black box component.
I have looked at the netflix app for iPad and iPhone to see how it streams. I knew they were using apples native player with tv out support so it was receiving m3u8 playlist and streams a set of transport stream files. The problem I found is that a localhost(127.0.0.1) web server is setup and then streams the media to the player. I was hoping just to proxy the app and then replicate it's function.
The problem here is that the netflix app communicates via some encrypted protocol to netflix itself and then setups up a localhost web server to make a m3u8 playlist and stream ts files. The connection between apples media player and netflix local web server is also encrypted and they have special certificates for each with the app.
I would like to disasm the app itself to figure out how it communicates with netflix but that is probably beyond me. I was thinking I could probably manage a crack to allow another program to connect to the localhost web server and then access those streams in xbmc. This would be lame though because would require an idevice.
I think now that they are on the wii, ps3, set tops, blurry players, and tv sets that if you reverse a method that is common to them then you could have functioning netflix for a while. You will have netflix working against you though. So you risk them suspending your account if they detect you. Not to mention the legality of bypassing drm.
Sadly netflix will probably never embrace Linux, mono, or xbmc. Luckily I could get much more content on usenet and drm free. I would prefer a reasonably cheap and legal method to watch the media I like but the industry and companies like netflix refuse to provide it.
Arrrr matey...
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As BlueCop pointed out, there are significant technical hurdles. As much as I would love Netflix, going through the work of reversing the Silverlight DRM (which would require someone with a significant understanding of reverse engineering, cryptography and of Silverlight) would ultimately be futile as they could (and would) update it quickly and break all of the progress that has been made.
Although recently the community has made quite a bit of progress bringing online content to XBMC (Hulu, IPlayer, etc.), ultimately this will be a dead end, as they will update their encryption and break the add-ons in the process. The only real solution to this is using the approach Boxee and Plex take, which is embedding a web browser and just displaying the video that way, but unfortunately these portions of Boxee and Plex are closed source.
That being said, I really hope that a stripped down browser is incorporated into XBMC soon; with Eden bringing PVR to XBMC, it's really the final frontier keeping XBMC from being the media center software to use.
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Embedding a webbrowser doesn't solve the Netflix issue under Linux though, right?
It's also an incredibly inefficient solution for web-based video, though I agree it makes it much easier to obtain and view the content, it's just a really, really bad way to view it (you're now reliant on Adobe's flash player and the horrid "swf players" that folk subject you to on the web).
A comparison of the CPU usage of playback of Hulu within XBMC and Boxee is an example of this.
?!? 
