Netflix 'Watch Now' plugin, script, or native code (with matching meta data scraper)?

[richlin71]

netflix plugin for mce2005 (http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/265/my_netflix_mce): my netflix mce 2005 plug-in

life doesn't get any easier for netflix subscribers who own a new media center edition 2005 pc. ryan hurst of www.unmitigatedrisk.com (the guys who brought you my dvd collection) has just released the my netflix mce plug-in that enables netflix subscribers to login and manage their queue, check their rental history, review suggestions and new releases, view top 100 or top 25 rentals by genre along with other functions through a 10-foot tv interface. so the next time you're watching tv and see a commercial for an upcoming dvd release, pop over to my netflix and added it to your queue.

my netflix is available for free, but if you're going to download the plug-in, give ryan and the other developers a little support via a paypal donation for their efforts – my weather and my recipes for your enhanced media center experience are also available.

[lifelong]

i saw this plugin for beyond tv that i thought was interesting, so i'm posting a link (http://blogs.snapstream.com/2006/04/10/netflix-on-your-tv/) here. it seems like a nice interface for managing a netflix queue.

[drakethegreat]

kind of cool, i don't think there is a huge use for it but why not right?

[lifelong]

yeah, i don't even use netflix, but i just posted it in case there are any netflix addicts out there who would be interested.

[tcupp]

Dont know if it is possible because Netflix uses its own player for their new online movie viewer but it would be really cool.

[wowser]

If this could be done it would be awesome. You'd basically have a new on demand video library.

[spiff]

read up on drm. i betcha it applies here.

[magawake]

I am not sure if this is the correct place to request this feature but, having Netflix's Watch Now feature embedded into XBMC would be very cool.

Any thoughts?

[szsori]

See spiff's response directly above yours.

[Aenima99x]

Before I found the wonderful world of XBMC, I was using a program for TiVo called Galleon. (http://galleon.sourceforge.net) It basically runs a "server" piece on a pc that connects to the TiVo and allows for access to mp3, pics, internet content, etc. through the tivo. There was a plugin called Movie Rentals (http://sourceforge.net/projects/movierentals/)that gave a nice interface to Netflix and/or Blockbuster queues, new movies, etc. Is anyone up for making something similar for XBMC? If I was any good at scripting, I'd give it a shot....I'm just a lowly network engineer. :laugh:

[earthtorob]

I second that request!

All in favor say ‘Yea’.

Netflix does support Rss feeds that you can have the XBMC read.

Not the same, but close.

[Typhoid Mary]

Would be nice. But as an RSS feed only I would skip it. I dont care about just seeing new arrivals and my queue I want to be able to select items to my queue, move my queue around, etc. The movie rentals plugin does all that.

:)

[scalon]

I agree... NETFLIX script for the xbmc would be sweet!

[zebraitis]

Yes, PLEASE develop a way to get "Netflix's Watch Now" on XBMC! :nod:

XBMC has an internet connection (at least mine does) and is connected to a HDTV.

Netflix streams movies to a PC, and plays them in Internet Exploer..

Seems like a small leap to get that to happen in XBMC.

Any ideas?

[gamerzhaven81]

I would definitely use a script like this...even if it was just for managing my queue...but the watch now would be cool if they're not using DRM...which they probably are, which sucks ???

[Gamester17]

...if they're not using DRM...which they probably are, which sucks ???yes as always, DRM (Digital Rights Management) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management) protected video/audio is a show-stopper.

[miamiwice]

I think it would be cool, but not sure if it is possible to have a script go to netflix queue to manage your rentals. I saw there was a plugin like this for mythtv, but now sure how well it works. I dont know if this would be of mainstream interest or not.

[ItchyD]

I gotta second that. As netflix watch now grows it is quickly going to become a very killer app for xbmc.

[agathorn]

I gotta second that. As netflix watch now grows it is quickly going to become a very killer app for xbmc.

The above request had nothing to do with Netflix's "Watch Now" feature :)

I believe those videos are DRM encoded at this point, so not watchable on XBMC.

[plex]

Are you saying that DRM is a show-stopper for xbmc because copyright restrictions would forbid exhibition of such DRM protected content on the xbox? If you're a paying netflix customer, what does DRM care about you viewing your DRM protected and paid for content on a machine other than your pc? (i'm not talking about removing the DRM from the content either)

OR
Because of technological barriers? Because on this subject, I think it WOULD be possible to do it... Take the "hack" to download the watch now movies on rorta forums. You can use cURL to fake a wmphostconnection or spoof a windows media player connection to download and connect to the watch now stream, to get the DRM content. cURL is bindable in python. So retrieving the DRM content is possible this way.

Now what about getting a key to play the content like we do in netflix's watch now player? The question is how can we do this on the xbox... This part is not so clear to me...

Comment away.

[plex]

look at this:
http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2008/05/07/whats-your-favorite-netflix-add-in-for-windows-media-center/#comment-6018

Looks like somebody figured out how to "watch now" on other machines from netflix service...

[agathorn]

Those plugins you point out are for Windows Media Center, so DRM isn't an issue for them. The only way something like this will work, is if there is an application running on a Windows machine that streams the Watch Now content from Netlfix, de-drms it, then streams it to XBMC. Which I don't even think is legal.

[plex]

I"m not familiar with the DRM process of getting a key to play content, but I know that DRM can restrict machines.. and a netflix subscription is part of the mixture needed to retrieve a key as you normally would on the netflix player. I was talking about just duplicating this process on the xbox, for example if spoofing a certain machine and certain proof of software running is what you need to get a key normally, then you can do that on the xbox...

Why do you think "de-drm-ing" is the only way? I was never talking about this in the first place. If you are familiar with the process that I was talking about before and something completely obvious about its technical impossibility to replicate on the xbox, then say it.

[miamiwice]

i wonder if something like this can be done for the regular xbox. http://gizmodo.com/389185/watch-netflix-downloads-on-your-xbox-360

[natethomas]

Has anyone spoken to Anthony Park about this? He's the guy who go the Vista Watch Now plugin working. I've played around with that some. It works amazingly well. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I get the impression that it connects your computer (in Vista, at least) to Netflix via an internet browser, gets the necessary permissions, and subsequently streams the video.

http://www.anpark.com/index.php/2008/05/

I'm not sure how much of that is theoretically possible from the xbox, but its an idea.

[StickyC]

I've found the IMDB scraper really isn't cutting it for my video collection. I've got a lot of offbeat DVD titles that didn't have theatrical releases, so they're just not being found.
ex: Pixar Short Films Vol 1 (and 2 and 3), Vandread Vol 1 (and 2 and 3...), Warner Brothers collections, etc...

Any chance of someone crafting up a Netflix scraper? (the Wiki still only talks about the IMDb scraper and I've seen no posts regarding creating alternate scrapers).

Thanks!

[Gamester17]

Feel free to learn RegEx and make your own scraper for any online website or API source you like:
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=How_To_Write_Media_Info_Scrapers
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Scraper.xml
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Scrap
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Regular_Expression_%28RegEx%29_Tutorial
May scrapers as examples (IMDb just happen to be the most advanced and most up-to-date):
http://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xbmc/trunk/XBMC/system/scrapers/video/
We even have a dedicated forum for scraper development:
http://xbmc.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=60

PS! Python is the wrong forum for scrapers (XBMC scrapers are not written in python, only RegEx).

[tomtolleson]

I just found out about this:

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002907.php

as well as the Netflix instant movies (sorry if I'm coming in way late on this).

Seems like there should be a way to python the Netflix instant movies. Anyone know of anything?

Cause that'd be awesome.

T

[J_K_M_A_N]

Try searching (http://xbmc.org/forum/search.php?searchid=1341892). It doesn't sound like it can be done. DRM issues.

J_K_M_A_N

[Gamester17]

I just found out about this:

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002907.phpThe Roku box is officially licensed from Netflix and support their DRM, that is why it can play Netflix.

[TheBoxMan]

Try searching (http://xbmc.org/forum/search.php?searchid=1341892). It doesn't sound like it can be done. DRM issues.

J_K_M_A_N

From what I've heard some plugins have circumvented some DRM systems so it might not be entirely impossible...probably 'an extreme headache' if it is. Still Voinage would be the man who would know what's possible, given he's the resident plugin guru.

[Gamester17]

No existing plugins circumvented real DRM, I think you are thinking about iPlayer and Veoh which only workaround formating or proxy quirks.

[JATWolf]

http://www.roku.com/community/gpl_nfp.php

This looks like a way to build a plugin for Linux (or possibly all?) XBMC... I am not familiar enough with this code but might look through it and see what's up. Someone that is more familiar with this code could probably get something working though. Man if this does happen my Vista Media Center will be a thing of the past forever. As it stands now I am booting into the Linux partition to use XBMC but I do miss the Netflix plugin.

[Gamester17]

http://www.roku.com/community/gpl_nfp.php

This looks like a way to build a plugin for Linux (or possibly all?) XBMC... I am not familiar enough with this code but might look through it and see what's up. Someone that is more familiar with this code could probably get something working though. Man if this does happen my Vista Media Center will be a thing of the past forever. As it stands now I am booting into the Linux partition to use XBMC but I do miss the Netflix plugin.No, (I already looked into it), the released source code by Ruku does not help here at all. Ruku have only released the source code for the third-party libraries that they use and made changes to, they have not released the source code of their actual Netflix player nor any code that parses the Netflix streams, (which actually make me wondering if they are not violating the GPL license as the GPL requires you to release all the source code of a project that uses any GPL code, unless you specificly workaround that by loading the libraries via some kind of middleware, like for example an operating-system).

...not that it would help us if Ruku did release the source code for their Netflix player as the stream is still DRM (encrypted/protected) thus requireing their specific decryption-key and DRM decryption hardware-chip (in Ruku's case the NXP PNX8935 processor chip (http://www.nxp.com/applications/set_top_box/ip_stb/stb225/) installed in the Ruku Netflix player).

DRM (Digital Rights Management) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management) is bad, very bad, mmmmmmkay :stare:

[JATWolf]

After posting I was researching more and did come across something that explained out the real code wasn't being opened up and how it wasn't really going to work. Too bad. I don't know what kind of DRM is in place either, I just figured it would authenticate against your Netflix account and if you are valid it would stream the content.

[chuckctv]

Could we not create a P2P to link to the xbox (XBMC)? and link all our movies to it? SOmetype of p2p server that connects everyone. And set it up as only those people who choose to dedicate a connection can log in? Id be willing to throw together a cheapy computer and load my movies on them for p2p share. along with others who would do the same only. (1) this limits the uses bandwidth and 2 only for those who contribute. My movies are HD (vidbit=1024, and audbit=256, and res= above 800x???). They play great. Im up to 700 movies all latest new going back. each movie is roughly 1gig. (850-1200mb). You know with the xbmc lots &lots&lots of us have our bulk of movies. We just need a central place to to put them that only those involved can join (Not everyone can see), nor can it be found searching for it. It would have to be a P2p because no one computer could hold everyones movies. It would have to stream. and only those with fast upload speeds. Not trying to limit use, but not everyone would have what it takes to make this work. Only a select group. Im willing to help, but not much of a programmer. But i do have a absolutely great collection. Basically every new release from today going back about 600 movies, and about 100 movies of some good older ones (ex, ghostbusters , back to the future, ect).

Also may i take the time to recommend DVDFaB, BEEN with them for years, and its absolutly great. www.dvdfab.com (works everytime) and free updates for life.

[rwparris2]

@chuckctv: I don't know why you put that in the netflix thread, but what you're talking about would likely be hard to code (at least compared to our current scripts/plugins) and would also be very illegal... it would put the blame directly on xbmc since there wouldn't really be any (or very little) legit function to having our own p2p network. How do you decide who 'those involved' are? How do you decide who has high enough bandwidth? Am I to be excluded just because I'm not willing/can't afford to pay $100 a month for even 3mb up (that's what it is in my area).
I think probably a lot of xbmc users (especially those of us in the states with relatively crappy ISPs) would fall into this area of using and even contributing to xbmc but suddenly excluded from your elite club of movie sharers with fast internet.

Or heck, maybe it's an awesome idea and I'm just way off base.

If you want to share your movies, I encourage you to upload them to veoh or one of the other video sharing sites and submit links to the likes of ninja video, quicksilverscreen, etc.

[Charliewards]

Too bad it can't work on the original Xbox. I've been using vmcNetFlix (http://myweb.cableone.net/eluttmann04/projects/vmcNetFlix/default.htm) to stream Netflix "watch now" movies to my 360 and it's great.

[Gamester17]

Could we not create a P2P to link to the xbox (XBMC)? and link all our movies to it? SOmetype of p2p server that connects everyone. And set it up as only those people who choose to dedicate a connection can log in? Id be willing to throw together a cheapy computer and load my movies on them for p2p share. along with others who would do the same only. (1) this limits the uses bandwidth and 2 only for those who contribute. My movies are HD (vidbit=1024, and audbit=256, and res= above 800x???). They play great. Im up to 700 movies all latest new going back. each movie is roughly 1gig. (850-1200mb). You know with the xbmc lots &lots&lots of us have our bulk of movies. We just need a central place to to put them that only those involved can join (Not everyone can see), nor can it be found searching for it. It would have to be a P2p because no one computer could hold everyones movies. It would have to stream. and only those with fast upload speeds. Not trying to limit use, but not everyone would have what it takes to make this work. Only a select group. Im willing to help, but not much of a programmer. But i do have a absolutely great collection. Basically every new release from today going back about 600 movies, and about 100 movies of some good older ones (ex, ghostbusters , back to the future, ect).

Also may i take the time to recommend DVDFaB, BEEN with them for years, and its absolutly great. www.dvdfab.com (works everytime) and free updates for life.@chuckctv, that has nothing to do with this topic-thread, feel-free to post a new topic-thread in the feature suggestions forum though.

[heraldoffailure]

Maybe the python guys would be more interested, but it'd be nice to see it integrated. As of tomorrow Netfilx is opening it's API completely free.

I would love you guys forever if you made my Xbox into a Netflix set top box as part of XBMC.

http://developer.netflix.com/page

FYI link should work as of tomorrow.

[CapnBry]

The API is for retreiving movie and tv show information as well as the user's queue and allowing you to rate things without visiting the site. I really doubt they're going to allow you to stream media with no DRM in it... right?

[jmarshall]

Indeed - there seems to be a scarcity of real information at this point.

Having another API to hit for scraping movie/show information will be valuable though.

As, ofcourse, would being able to make recommendations of other films (tying in trailers and so on perhaps).

Cheers,
Jonathan

[sw1tch]

Unfortunately it is US only, only 5,000 requests per API key per day and has tons of other strings attached:
Netflix API
Up to 5000 queries per day
If you select this API an API key will be issued after you agree to the terms of service.
1.11 The Netflix API is made available only for the creation of Applications available to end users in the United States.
http://developer.netflix.com/apps/tos

[Rand Al Thor]

Perhaps one of the sites we use to scrape ie meligrove/themoviedb.org could use it to scrape info and populate their site, which we can then in turn scrape from them. For example travis could scrape 5000 movies a day for related movies and suggestions. Soon the whole database would be done and then it would just be a matter of adding info to the movies created each day. It would be great if xbmc could scrape the info directly but they would EASILY exceed 5000 hits per day. I might make this suggestion at meligrove.

[booticon]

Yeah, I'm looking through the documentation as well, and it looks like it's just for scraping. It's unfortunate, but I'm sure there's licensing issues when it comes to streaming.

[heraldoffailure]

Yeah, info was scarce when I posted, I figured it'd be just for scraping, but you can always dream right? It would be nice to be able to rate movies straight from the xbox though, the netflix trailers... etc...

[super_sobbie]

I see vmcNetFlix was mentioned above. is there a way to stream movies off Media center. because maybe we could use a combination of tools like XBMC, MS Media Center, and vmcNetFlix sounds like it would work. I do not know how possible this would be but let me tell you it would probably be the best thing I have ever seen if it actually could connect to NetFlix.... ESPECIALLY NOW with the addition of all Starz movies!!!!!

another alternative may be to interconnect xbmc on xbox to the xbmc windows version. and have a plugin from the windows version to the xbox version. I am just slinging ideas out and I am sorry if all has been thought of before.

OK this is the 3rd time I am editing my post... as I was reading more on XBMC and UPnP I noticed that Media Player 11 is supported. since Netflix uses WMP11 to play its movies is there some way to uPNP the stream from it? maybe with a windows side script of some sort to open the netflix movie that you pick and an xbmc script that will stream it?? just another idea out there...

I truly hope that people do not give up on this venture...

Have a Great day and thanks :grin: to all the coders out there that have made xbmc possible.

SoBBie

PS Woo hooo Post number 1... that is where it all starts :D

[dwmcqueen]

Has anyone mentioned PlayOn by The Medial Mall? I use it, running on my PC, to play Netflix On Demand movies through my XBMC (on Xbox). Works perfectly.

PlayOn does cost money, however, but has a 30 day free trial.

[xeonicxpression]

Has anyone mentioned PlayOn by The Medial Mall? I use it, running on my PC, to play Netflix On Demand movies through my XBMC (on Xbox). Works perfectly.

PlayOn does cost money, however, but has a 30 day free trial.

Do you think you could post a video of how it works with xbmc? How do you select what movie you want to watch?

[dwmcqueen]

It converts it to a uPNP server...so it is added like any other uPNP host.

[waldo22]

Unfortunately it is US only, only 5,000 requests per API key per day and has tons of other strings attached:

If you select this API an API key will be issued after you agree to the terms of service

http://developer.netflix.com/apps/tos

Couldn't we just have a setting in the proposed scraper or script wherein a user enters his/her own API key?

That way, each user would be responsible for going to the Netflix site and generating his/her own API key, and our generic script would simply issue that specific key with the request to the Netflix server.

That should get around the 5,000 limit.

-Wes

[sparkey]

Has anyone mentioned PlayOn by The Medial Mall? I use it, running on my PC, to play Netflix On Demand movies through my XBMC (on Xbox). Works perfectly.

PlayOn does cost money, however, but has a 30 day free trial.

Really... I tried the Netflix channel on PlayOn. It found the top 5 movies in my queue that can be played instantly; but when I tried to play them, some wouldn't start at all, and others caused the Xbox to freeze up. You haven't encountered any similar issues?

[dwmcqueen]

I had the same issue with the latest on - the earlier one worked just fine (well, got skippy far into the movie, but that is a bandwidth issue).

[sparkey]

I had the same issue with the latest on - the earlier one worked just fine (well, got skippy far into the movie, but that is a bandwidth issue).

I lowered the Performance setting to Medium and now have better luck. I did notice that some of the new Starz movies in their Watch Now catalog have a lower quality compared to the native Netflix streams - interesting.

Still, I'm loving accessing my Netflix (even if for just the 30 days).

[clintshaneh]

I've been using the XBMC launcher plugin to start up GBPVR for netflix watch now functionality. Whurlston on the GBPVR forums wrote a plugin that adds watch now to GBPVR. http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?t=35030

Works very well, loads the covers/info faster then the VMC netflix plugin and crashes far less for me. It's almost seamless, the movie is played externally fullscreen.

If only he'd port it to XBMC....

[sparkey]

I've been using the XBMC launcher plugin to start up GBPVR for netflix watch now functionality. Whurlston on the GBPVR forums wrote a plugin that adds watch now to GBPVR. http://forums.gbpvr.com/showthread.php?t=35030

Works very well, loads the covers/info faster then the VMC netflix plugin and crashes far less for me. It's almost seamless, the movie is played externally fullscreen.

If only he'd port it to XBMC....

That sounds nice. Only wish something like that could work with XBMC on Xbox.

[fcastro]

Hi everyone, I haven't read anything about the netflix plugin for xbmc but I was wondering would this be such a difficult thing to get ported over?

[Abeerdrinker]

Use www.themediamall.com/playon to stream netflix,Hulu, Youtube to xbmc from the pc. Works perfect, Havent had a problem yet

[sdaniels]

I agree, PlayOn is cool, but it requires a PC... a powerful PC at that. A XBMC Plugin could be used on ATV.

[raddevon]

I'm running XBMC on Windows. Will PlayOn also work for this or is there an easier way? Is it possible to run PlayOn on the same machine as XBMC to get Netflix Instant Watch? It seems like there would be a more elegant solution.

[miamiwice]

any new news on this?

[Smirnov]

Would be nice to open a browser and start streaming, this would work for Windows and Mac users (who opt into Netflix Silverlight). The hard part of this would be scraping Netflix afaik.

[zimmerick]

So now that we have the ability to stream the "watch it now" movies from our Netflix cue of the 360, (which is a TOTAL rip off BTW). $50 a year for Gold to stream movies, puhleez!

How long before we get a script that will do it on XBMC?

[Aenima99x]

It's apparently being done on Boxee, so not sure why it can't be done from XBMC.

[rayodin88]

OK i have seen a lot of stuff floating around the forum about using NetFlix with xbmc, but in all the threads its seems like there is still no concrete answer to whether it works or not, but it does seem to be a talked about possibility. now i have been looking into the NetFlix accounts and with the basic account $4.99/month you can get one disc in the mail month (so what) but the really cool part is you get access to all of their movies by stream for free with an account. now with that being said, my question is, is it possible to make a dedicated plug-in/script for viewing said streams? because 4.99 a month for unlimited access to 12,000+ movies is pretty good if you ask me. just thought I'd throw that idea out in case no one had thought about that possibility yet. well i hope this could work, because that opens up a whole new movies database for us all in much better quality than most of theses other plug-ins offer us. just a thought..... thanks for your time everyone.

[mfsav2]

is it possible to have a plugin/script to browse instant watch library and watch movies?

Thanks for the help.

M

[quake101]

I also think it would be awesome if there was an Netflix plugin. I know boxee and media portal have this feature. I think that XBMC is far better then both boxee and media portal.

I noticed the media portal plugin uses the Netflix API, see the following thread:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/plugins-47/plugin-netflix-play-now-support-50573/

Netflix API:
http://developer.netflix.com/docs/Home

I believe XBMC is capable of streaming Netflix but I'm not a XBMC dev. Maybe a XBMC dev can shed some light on this subject for us. :)

[Raketemensch]

I spotted this tonight, any chance someone could pick it up and run with it?

http://www.dinkumator.com/netflix.py

[rwparris2]

as soon as you or someone else breaks their drm, we'll run with it.

[CptKen]

Any idea how Boxee is bypassing the DRM?

[adowen]

I also agree it would be really nice to see Netflix streaming within XBMC, so the plugin would be wonderful!

[d0u6]

Any idea how Boxee is bypassing the DRM?

netflix for boxee only works on windows machines so i would surmise they are using ie to make it all happen?

[davilla]

Any idea how Boxee is bypassing the DRM?

silverlight on OSX.

[nalthien]

I suppose the questions here are:

1. Is the Boxee implementation open source?
2. Can the Boxee implementation be ported to work with XBMC?

I don't have an Xbox, so I can't speak to the state / non-state of Sliverlight support on that platform--that may well be why Boxee can get away with this--they don't support XBox afaik.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the internals of either project so I can't really speak to either of those questions. But I'd like to think that as Boxee was originally a fork of XBMC, it can be made to work with XBMC.

[mfsav2]

Sorry to arrive later on this topic but Netflix Instant Watch (that's great) is based on Silverlight and protected from PlayReady that is included in Silverligth, as they reported in their press release.

My understanding is that will work on PC and Mac, on Linux there is http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight but I do not think they have the DRM in (well is an Open Source so it would be weird to have it there).
On the XBox I donno as I do not have it :( sigh!

Anyway the question becomes: is it possible to host a internet explorer object in XBMC? if yes it should be possible to play the Instant Watch contents as well as all other online streaming services.

Mf

[drzdiplomat401]

Are there any netflix plugin for xbmc.
Thanks

[MPauley73]

no, netflix uses a drm'ed stream not playable on xbmc.

[drzdiplomat401]

This there any Netflix Plugin/Script.
If so can you provide a link so i could download it.
Thanks in advance. :)

[kizer]

You and several others are wishing for the same my friend. ;)

[mfsav2]

no, netflix uses a drm'ed stream not playable on xbmc.

Not complitely correct. :shocked:
It could not be played via standard playback pipeline. :nerd:
A plugin using Silverlight is requested. It would work both on pc and mac :;):

[fekker]

I don't know how much is actually possible, but I'll be it can be forced to work under windows
(like the media portal version http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/plugins-47/new-my-netflix-plugin-watch-now-support-56764/index14.html) ..

I'm not sure if it would work with Moonlight, but it should with silverlight, it it could work with all three, that would rock.

There's a .net wrapper, WrapNetflix.dll to provide the low level functions, that with a call to firefox to open the page and display it, might work (might not) .. if the wrapper and silverlight handle the drm, i'd think it could be played in xbmc, maybe something like the external player option for hd movies under winders.

i've also asked the guy who did the MP plugin if there was any interest in porting to xbmc.

what i can't confirm is that you can actually play the items using the api, but it does state functional play and add to queue buttons, so i'd think it's possible.

[natew]

+1

This is by far the first thing on my wishlist for xbmc.

[dkg354boy2]

This is my #1 XBMC addition request as well - Would love to view my NetFlix account and movies from XBMC

[windrago]

This is my #1 XBMC addition request as well - Would love to view my NetFlix account and movies from XBMC

+1

[Eloh]

Can anyone elaborate on why this doesn't exist for XBMC for windows and Mac?

It seems like you can use the Netflix API to authenticate user account, browse catalog, change queue, and launch a movie (external player for DRM reasons).

For actually playing the movie shouldn't it just be a matter of launching the external player and passing the info?

I don't think this would get into the same back and forth as say Boxee and Hulu as the person accessing Netflix already has a Netflix account and is thus a paying customer of content.

[sansat]

netflix also works on zeevee - free software called zinc so if there is any way netflix can be added to xbmc it would be great

[rwparris2]

Can anyone elaborate on why this doesn't exist for XBMC for windows and Mac?

It seems like you can use the Netflix API to authenticate user account, browse catalog, change queue, and launch a movie (external player for DRM reasons).

For actually playing the movie shouldn't it just be a matter of launching the external player and passing the info?

I don't think this would get into the same back and forth as say Boxee and Hulu as the person accessing Netflix already has a Netflix account and is thus a paying customer of content.
It probably would... I don't have a netflix account so I can't look into it myself.

[quake101]

It probably would... I don't have a netflix account so I can't look into it myself.

Maybe someone can loan you their account details... ;)

[sansat]

netflix provides 15days trial to try their service..

[Eloh]

Well seeing as I do have a netflix account and would really like to see this in xbmc I guess I'll just start trying to code it. Haven't done anything in python before so that will be a hurdle but we will see how it goes.

[quake101]

Well seeing as I do have a netflix account and would really like to see this in xbmc I guess I'll just start trying to code it. Haven't done anything in python before so that will be a hurdle but we will see how it goes.

Awesome! :D

[Eloh]

So here's what I've figured out so far....

There is a python netflix library that already exists here:
http://code.google.com/p/pyflix/
This will really help as it handles all the oath access requests.

I've got my Netflix developer account, there was concern earlier in this thread about # of requests but after reading through the netflix forum I don't think that will be a problem. The consumer key is allowed to make 5k daily calls to the public resources, things like catalog search, movie desc etc. However the user protected resources are also allowed to make 5k daily calls. So I'm planning on making all calls as user protected resources and that should ease the code distribution/installment process and everyone won't need their own netflix dev key.

For this first plugin build I'm going to try to accomplish the following 3 things:
1. authenticate the user with the oath dance.
2. Browse my user instant queue
3. Launch a movie in a new browser window.

I'm a little concerned about the movie launch part as I don't much about that yet. Netflix allows launching of a movie through a buttonless javascript call which I'm not sure how to accomplish. I'm thinking I should be able to launch a browser and pass it the javascript to execute or something. Maybe the launcher plugin could help here or write out an html page that the browser would open. Let me know if you have any bright ideas on that, this is the netflix reference page for launching the player:
http://developer.netflix.com/docs/JavaScript_APIs

I'll be out of town most of this weekend and will work more next week.

[rwparris2]

I think launching something like this might work:
"http://www.netflix.com/CommunityAPIPlay?devKey="+applicationId+"&movieid="+movieId+"&nbb=y"
obviously untested :rolleyes:

I think the rest of the args in that function are javascript specific.
The api states that the top="+xPos+",left="+yPos part is required, so you may have to play around.
('playerWindow', "status=1,toolbar=1,location=1,menubar=1,resizable= 1,scrollbars=1,width=800,height=600,top="+xPos+",left="+yPos)
you might be able to do this with command line arguments, who knows.

report your findings, I may have to do that 15day trial thing to help out with this :)

EDIT: after some quick googling, check out python-spidermonkey

[Eloh]

I've made another small step forward on this, I was able to put together an api request that will return my instant queue in xml or json.

I kinda cheated on the oath process by getting the firefox flixo add-on that helps with oath and user token creation. Using it I created my user token and then through this page on netflix http://developer.netflix.com/resources/OAuthTest was able to roll a request to bring back the instant queue. Long term I think the process will be once you install the addon you initialize it, launch a browser that goes to netflix for the oauth authentication (netflix stores this) and then write the user token to a file for future reference.

Working with the api seems pretty straightforward so far. Putting together the following request of http://api.netflix.com/users/userid/queues/instant + "Oauth stuff" brings back the xml of my instant queue. You can also add on output=json to return json data instead of xml.

I've tinkered a little with trying to launch a movie through the api with no luck so far. I briefly looked at python-spidermonkey but it didn't have windows support and I would like this to be as generic as possible. Still not quite sure how that would work, it gives python access to javascript functions but I think for the purpose of the player we need to have that code execute in a browser. Or am I missing something here?

Next up I'm going to work on bringing the instant queue from the api call and hopefully bring it into a video list. Now I'll really have to learn some python. :grin:

[rwparris2]

Feel free to contact me on IRC (irc.freenode.net #xbmc-scripting | #xbmc-linux) if you need any help with the python side of things. I'm still learning things myself but may be able to assist with somethings so you don't have to figure it all out by yourself.

I didn't know if python-spidermonkey would actually help or not... at a cursory glance it looked like it might but I certainly didn't spend any time on it.

Long term I think the process will be once you install the addon you initialize it, launch a browser that goes to netflix for the oauth authentication (netflix stores this) and then write the user token to a file for future reference.
Nuka's flickr plugin does something similar to this.
I think launching something like this might work:
"http://www.netflix.com/CommunityAPIPlay?devKey="+applicationId+"&movieid= "+movieId+"&nbb=y"
obviously untested


I take it that didn't work? Try using one of the other methods of playing a video listed in the api along with wireshark to see if you can figure out what is actually called.

EDIT:
IMO simplejson is easier to work with than any of python's XML libraries.

[Eloh]

The first couple of times I tried this it didn't work so I started looking into the javascript and realized that there is no place where it is passing the userid into the call. After hunting around a bit that seems like it's a limitation of their api currently...a cookie has to already be set on the machine to play a movie with that call. So I went in and set the standard Netflix cookie(I ususally don't) you get at login for all users and made sure it stuck around in firefox. I ended up writing out a play.html file with the necessary javascript, had the link to a movie as an onload event and was able to play the movie directly from that. I figured that I could write over this file each time with the plugin whenever a movie was played and it could work pretty well.

However, rwparris2, after your very helpful reminder I think it can be even simpler, I am able to get the direct url to play the movie as long as the cookie is set. Seeing that this will already require a browser to play I don't think requiring the cookie is a big leap.

I was able to use:
"http://www.netflix.com/CommunityAPIPlay?devKey="+applicationId+"&movieid="+movieId+"
dropping off the x & y location and still able to play a movie. So it should be possible to just construct this url, pass it to a browser and directly play the movie...assuming the cookie is set of course, otherwise you will get a user login screen.

One interesting thing I came across is that the netflix movie ID does change and also a movie that was previously available for instant play is no longer available. I had been using King Kong for testing but now I can't instant play that movie anymore.

I'll take a look at nuka's flickr plugin to see how it works as well.

[rwparris2]

You can create save & pass cookies with python via urllib2.

If possible it would be best to handle it like that since many people won't have any way of interacting with their browser through a remote.

If not... too bad. :nerd:

[tangomar]

Could pyflix be helpful?
http://code.google.com/p/pyflix/

[Eloh]

yes, do plan on taking advantage of the pyflix code that already exists.

Sooo having a little problem with the simplejson getting to run in xbmc, trying to just do an import simplejson statement but no success. It looks like simplejson comes with python but doesn't get packed in with xbmc. I tried putting an simplejson lib into my plugin folder but having issues with that as well. Any examples of this that someone knows of?

[rwparris2]

yes, do plan on taking advantage of the pyflix code that already exists.

Sooo having a little problem with the simplejson getting to run in xbmc, trying to just do an import simplejson statement but no success. It looks like simplejson comes with python but doesn't get packed in with xbmc. I tried putting an simplejson lib into my plugin folder but having issues with that as well. Any examples of this that someone knows of?

The newest version of ted talks uses it

PS - I do think I had to make a small change to the way it imports.

[Eloh]

Made several more steps forward in getting this thing going and it looks like I've got a call to the Netflix API ready but still running into the simplejson import error message.

NOTICE: from simplejson.scanner import make_scanner
NOTICE: ImportError
NOTICE: :
NOTICE: No module named simplejson.scanner

I did find that Dan Dar uses the simplejson library in the Microsoft Channel 9 videos plugin but I still can't import his library for some reason. Tried to setup my file structure like that but still no luck.

Here is what i've got right now...
Video\Netflix\NetflixAPI\ contains the Netflix.py code from pyflix with the import simplejson call
Video\Netflix\NetflixAPI\simplejson contains the library with init, speedups, decoder, encoder, scanner & tool. It looks like the import starts working but then dies with this make_scanner error. Feel like I'm missing something very simple here.

[natew]

Best of luck to you in this.

I've never used any plug-ins but if this gets working I'm sure ready to start!

[Eloh]

Thanks natew, hope to get it working soon.

After more fiddling around got it figured out with a sys.path.append in the default.py.(No idea if this is the proper method) I now have made a call through the netflix API and am getting results back, whooo hooo!

[quake101]

Thanks natew, hope to get it working soon.

After more fiddling around got it figured out with a sys.path.append in the default.py.(No idea if this is the proper method) I now have made a call through the netflix API and am getting results back, whooo hooo!

Nice! I'm glad your making progress on this. Thanks for all your hard work. :)

[mfsav2]

I'm ready to do the beta teter for you :)

just le me know

[Ayala]

after some light reading, i'm wondering (and excuse me if its been answered) what are the fundamental differences between xbmc and plex? as plex has a functioning plug...

[rwparris2]

after some light reading, i'm wondering (and excuse me if its been answered) what are the fundamental differences between xbmc and plex? as plex has a functioning plug...

Plex is osx-only, and is capable of leveraging silverlight & flash in safari for plugins of this type.
mot2dk was working on doing something similar for xbmc, but as with all of us, his time is limited & work has slowed.

[Ayala]

Plex is osx-only, and is capable of leveraging silverlight & flash in safari for plugins of this type.
mot2dk was working on doing something similar for xbmc, but as with all of us, his time is limited & work has slowed.

Ah! thanks, i was just wondering what made it work. I totally understand time being limited ;)

[celticwonder]

I wish to apologize ahead of time if my suggestion/query may appear to be blunt, but I'm just trying to be to the point about this. I also posted this at forums.xbox-scene.com (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=638104&st=15&gopid=4564547&#entry4564547) so we'll see what happens there too.

So... WHY is it that XBMC (on XBOX1) categorically "can not play any audio or video files protected/encrypted with DRM" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC#Cross-platform_.28software.29_limitations)? Is it a hardware limitation that translates directly over into a software limitation? Is it the fact that there's no open-source DRM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_DReaM) development? And if we're limited to Netflix (+ Hulu, etc.) uPnP streaming via PlayOn's software, why is this? If it can be done with commercial software, certainly the same uPnP streaming can be accomplished by some savvy open source programming?

Another thought: I've read multiple times on posts over the years that DRM can "only" be decrypted successfully on a Windows or OS X machine. Who says? With the [confirmed?] rumors of Netflix (clearly "locked down" by DRM) coming to PS3 and Wii, isn't it obvious that it *SHOULD* be possible on XBMC (or Linux (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/05/itunes_drm_cracked_wide_open/)) for that matter?

I don't have the knowledge or patience [yet] for programming on the XBOX, but in my searching:

1) no one appears to have a real answer to WHY DRM can't be decrypted on there, just lots of people, either in a polite or bothered tone, saying "it cannot be done" or "do your searching!".
2) there are plenty of "netflix api"-this and "python"-that floating around, but mostly relating to Media Center "extenders" and use with the XBOX360 before it was a built-in feature -- can't these be tapped for info?
3) why isn't vmcNetFlix compatible with XBMC?
4) how come Boxee can do it?

Running XBMC on an XBOX is considered "illegal" and voids warranties and legal agreements all over the place. It made the impossible possible, and along the way, proprietary code was used successfully. What the hell are people afraid of to take a crack at live DRM decrypting streaming? I don't get it.

[sgeoxd]

I wish to apologize ahead of time if my suggestion/query may appear to be blunt, but I'm just trying to be to the point about this. I also posted this at forums.xbox-scene.com (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=638104&st=15&gopid=4564547&#entry4564547) so we'll see what happens there too.

So... WHY is it that XBMC (on XBOX1) categorically "can not play any audio or video files protected/encrypted with DRM" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC#Cross-platform_.28software.29_limitations)? Is it a hardware limitation that translates directly over into a software limitation? Is it the fact that there's no open-source DRM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_DReaM) development? And if we're limited to Netflix (+ Hulu, etc.) uPnP streaming via PlayOn's software, why is this? If it can be done with commercial software, certainly the same uPnP streaming can be accomplished by some savvy open source programming?

Another thought: I've read multiple times on posts over the years that DRM can "only" be decrypted successfully on a Windows or OS X machine. Who says? With the [confirmed?] rumors of Netflix (clearly "locked down" by DRM) coming to PS3 and Wii, isn't it obvious that it *SHOULD* be possible on XBMC (or Linux (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/05/itunes_drm_cracked_wide_open/)) for that matter?

I don't have the knowledge or patience [yet] for programming on the XBOX, but in my searching:

1) no one appears to have a real answer to WHY DRM can't be decrypted on there, just lots of people, either in a polite or bothered tone, saying "it cannot be done" or "do your searching!".
2) there are plenty of "netflix api"-this and "python"-that floating around, but mostly relating to Media Center "extenders" and use with the XBOX360 before it was a built-in feature -- can't these be tapped for info?
3) why isn't vmcNetFlix compatible with XBMC?
4) how come Boxee can do it?

Running XBMC on an XBOX is considered "illegal" and voids warranties and legal agreements all over the place. It made the impossible possible, and along the way, proprietary code was used successfully. What the hell are people afraid of to take a crack at live DRM decrypting streaming? I don't get it.

Thanks to the DMCA, the cracking or the reverse engineering of any DRM system, whether it be Netflix, Hulu, DVD's, or the XBOX itself, is illegal in the U.S. (and similiar laws in many other countries). So there is a difference between writing software for a system (the XBOX) and software that defeats DRM (what you used to unlock the XBOX to allow code execution). Unless that is changed, I imagine there are not many talented people that would want to endanger their personal lives with prison time or hefty fines so you can watch Netflix on your XBOX. "DVD Jon" in Europe already set an example for that years ago (he among those responsible for your CSS decryption and the ability to watch DVD's on Linux). If you don't like it you need to lobby your local Congressman and/or support the EFF to essert your fair use rights and allow such development to occur.

Other programs that are able to use systems such as Netflix don't decode streams directly. They work because they piggy back an embeded browser on a system (OSX/Windows) that supports the DRM.

As far as support on the 360/PS3/Wii, it's because Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo are working in conjunction with the content provider to write the code and not doing so independently. They are provided this ability because of a few factors such as:
1. Paying a hefty licensing fee.
2. Have copy protection and additional restrictions built into the platform.
3. Are not open source.

IF there were someone who wanted to take the risk and reverse engineer these DRM systems, all it would take is a simple change by the owners of the content systems to make them start all over. It would be nothing more than a cat/mouse game. This would result in a feature that wouldn't be fully functional and broke most of the time. That's not the best use of resources (personally) for any project.

[celticwonder]

THANK YOU! You answered my question. :nod: One of those sad but true -- that's just the way it is -- things. ...but finally here's a concise, informed answer explaining WHY that might help others understand now. Thanks again.