How to use My Programs to rent movies over the Internet

[Jetboy]

Quite a few sites start popping up where you can rent movies on the web. These are instructions on how to set up the My Programs plugin to use these sites from within MediaPortal. I'll set it up to use Internet Explorer to access two Swedish movie sites but you can change that to match your situation as you set it up. Ok, here's how to do it:

1 - Security settings
The sites I'm using launch a fullscreen web page for their interface, so the first thing to do is to make sure they're allowed to open pop-ups and things like that.
- Open Internet Explorer
- Go to Tools > Internet Options... > Security > Trusted sites > Sites...
- Uncheck "Require server verification..."
- Add the sites you wish to use, I added *.sf-anytime.com and *.film2home.se
- Click OK in the two open windows

2 - Site settings
Since these sites use things like personalized WMP players, what you have to do next is go to the sites you added above and try using them. They usually have some kind of automatic test that installs whatever you need to get going. Launch the sites and watch a free trailer or something just to see that it works. I won't give any step-by-step instructions since the procedure differs from site to site.

While you do this, take note of the actual address that launches the interface. In my examples, www.sf-anytime.com launches the interface, but in the case of film2home you have to right-click the start button on the site and select "copy shortcut". That's the address to use later on.

Also, make sure to create any accounts you need to use the sites.

3 - Remote settings
If you want to use your remote you might want to make a few configuration settings. What you have to do depends on your remote and what sites you use, here's what I do. I use the iMON remote, so I make sure that it can control the Windows Media Player. That's the player that film2home use, so my iMON settings for WMP work at their site. SF-anytime use WMP too but it's embedded in an IE window so it can't be controlled the same way.

I make sure I can use the arrow keys and enter under Internet Explorer as well, as that's how the interfaces are built. I find it a good idea to make sure the number keys on the remote work under IE too, as you might want to punch in your credit card number to rent the movies. Check your site and your remote to find the best solution, maybe you can program a macro to perform the entire login/payment procedure.

4 - MediaPortal settings
Here's where you glue everything together. Let's get going!
- Start the MediaPortal setup
- Go to Plugins, right-click "My Programs" and select "Disabled" to enable. Right-click "My Programs" again and select "Configuration".
- Click Add Child > Filelauncher
- Change the title to your likings, "Online movie rentals" perhaps? This will be the headline under which to find sites you add.
- At "Launching application", browse to your web browser, i.e. C:\Program files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
- I don't know if it matters, but I uncheck "Wait for exit" as I want to keep MP working in the background. I don't know if I'll miss any recordings with this checked, but I don't want to try either!
- Set a pin code if you like, set the window style to you likings (I prefer "Maximized" as I use my SDTV)
- (*) Go to the "Files" tab, press "New..."
- Set "Title" to the name of the first site to add, i.e. SF-Anytime
- At "Filename", enter the address I told you to take note of under point 2 above. Make sure to include all the http and www and whatnot.
- If you like it fancy I suggest you add an imagefile, too. I suggest you find this at the website you're using.
- Click OK, then select your added site and click the "Launch" button. If it works then your a-ok, if not check all your paths and web addresses. You might want to go back to the "Details" tab and uncheck "Quotes around filenames" too.
- If you want to add more sites, just repeat from the step marked with the star (*) a few steps back.
- When you're done, exit the plugin setup and click OK in the MP setup.

Congratulations, you're done!

If you have any questions just ask.

[Jetboy]

I thought we could use this thread to keep track of the sites avaliable, too. Post the name and address of the site, as well as the country/countries where it works. From time to time I'll check in and add the sites the list.

Australia
ReelTime

Denmark
SF-Anytime

Finland
SF-Anytime

The Netherlands
Cinema 1
Maxx-xs
DirectMovie.nl

Norway
Film2home
SF-Anytime
TVNorge
TV2 webtv

Sweden
Film2home
SF-Anytime
TV4-Anytime

[mzemina]

Those of us in MP community who are in the USA and have a NetFlix account can look at this thread for a NetFlix plugin. If you try it out - please provide feedback and suggestions to the author.

Mike

[j1nx]

For people in the netherlands;

http://casema.internetbios.tv
www.maxx-xs.nl
www.DirectMovie.nl (recommended)

[Spragleknas]

*BOOKED*

Thanks for this!

For norwegian users: Web TV: TV Norge

[EMKO]

any sites like that in Canada ?

[Spragleknas]

More for Norwegian-users: FXTV link: webtv.tv2.no/webtv/fotball/

Would be nice if this was made easyer (ie. a plugin)

[otla]

Norwegian Tv2 webtv for online spotlight is:

http://webtv.tv2.no/webtv/iptv

[overfiendau]

Just to add, here are some ugly ways of handling windows from websites:
Download Managers
Some websites use download managers which are seperate to the website, often are not running in your web browser.
Specifically for www.reeltime.tv who use a download manager, I wrote a simple vb script which runs a batch file (which just runs the application) and/or brings it to the front. You can use the My Programs plugin to point to the vbs file.
Here is the code:

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'Runs reeltime download manager
WshShell.Run("c:\reeltime.cmd"), 0, True
'Activates download manager window, iWave is the window name
WshShell.AppActivate ("iWave")

The Website
For the website i use some simple switches to make internet explorer run it in full mode.
In the arguments field i use:
"-k http://www.website.com/directlink.html"
-k is for kiosk mode in Internet Explorer.


Ideally the website and download manager would be embeded in MP but these instructions are a nice and easy work around.

[stefanbj]

Originally Posted by Jetboy

3 - Remote settings
If you want to use your remote you might want to make a few configuration settings. What you have to do depends on your remote and what sites you use, here's what I do. I use the iMON remote, so I make sure that it can control the Windows Media Player. That's the player that film2home use, so my iMON settings for WMP work at their site. SF-anytime use WMP too but it's embedded in an IE window so it can't be controlled the same way.

I make sure I can use the arrow keys and enter under Internet Explorer as well, as that's how the interfaces are built. I find it a good idea to make sure the number keys on the remote work under IE too, as you might want to punch in your credit card number to rent the movies. Check your site and your remote to find the best solution, maybe you can program a macro to perform the entire login/payment procedure.

I use the new Hauppage remote. Could anyone help me with instructions on how to configure it to do things described above (control Windows Media Player and use number keys + enter under IE)?