Netflix Manager (Updated 02/10/07) (3 Viewers)

[hobbes487]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm still seeing the same problem though, I replaced the dll, which has a modified date of today, and I also replaced the xml file which didn't appear to have changed. They are in the correct directories, is there something I missed?

I updated it again. The latest version should have a modified time of 12:20pm today. sometimes it takes a little time for the update to be reflected on in the downloads section.

 

[hobbes487]

I have been trying to figure out how play the trailers from the Netflix site in the plugin. I think I know how to actually play video, but I can't seem to figure out how Netflix stores all the trailers and how to access them.

Can anyone figure out, by looking at the Netflix page source, how to access the trailers? I would love to be able to add this feature.

 

[RaDiKal]

Looking at the source for a typical movie (I chose Eight Below at random), the trailers are presented in an embedded document via a link in the At A Glance tab. A code snippet from that tab would look like:

<div class="mdp-nav">
 	<a href="http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?dmode=ATAGLANCE&lnkctr=mdp-tab-aag&n=1&movieid=70042689&trkid=189477">
<img src=http://cdn.nflximg.com/us/pages/browse/mdp/ataglance-on.gif
 		name="atAGlanceTab" border="0"
 		onmouseover="document.atAGlanceTab.src='http://cdn.nflximg.com/us/pages/browse/mdp/ataglance-on.gif'"
	 	onmouseout="document.atAGlanceTab.src='http://cdn.nflximg.com/us/pages/browse/mdp/ataglance-on.gif'"></a></div>

Note that the link (anchor) contains a movieid keyword value pair and a trkid keyword value pair. Within the at a glance subdocument is a preview link:

<div id="mainmoviepreview" >

    <div id="flashpreview" style="width:496px; margin-left:1px; display:none">
    <div id="flashpcontent">
    
    </div>
    <div style="margin:3px 10px 0px 5px; text-align:right"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="playPreviewMdp(); return false;">Close Preview</a></div>
    </div>
    <script type="text/javascript">

           var fo = new FlashObject("http://screeningcdn.nflximg.com/us/flash/210.swf?movieId=30596&
bl=http%3A%2F%2Ftrailermap.netflix.com%2Fitem%2Ftrailers%2F&sid=101115974262662109151116343f375959b4e8a80c569dcad6e77e3523d&
dlid=30596", "flashpcontent", "496", "271", "8", "#B9090B");
           fo.addParam("wmode", "transparent");
        </script>

    <div id="description-content" style="padding:15px;">
        <script type="text/javascript">
        var isMovieRecommended = false;
        </script>

In this case it is a flash based embedded object ( http://screeningcdn.nflximg.com/us/flash/210.swf) that takes a movidID param of 30596 along with some other codes. Note that the 30596 also appears with dlid which might mean this is the download id which you could leverage.

If you don't have Flash ver 8, you'll notice a bit further down in function showFlashPreview that you'll get a "Flash 8 is required to play previews" instead of the actual preview.

If you look at a different movie that doesn't use flash for preview (such as Monty Python Live! which uses mediaplayer to play its preview), you'll see the same division (mainmoviepreview) but different functions and layout. Looking into this you will find:

playPreviewMdp(thisForm.value, 363136, 'true', 60030581, 'true');

which references the same magic cookie # of 363136 for the full screen link:

<a href="http://www.videodetective.net/player.asp?cmd=3&publishedid=363136&CustomerId=67272&videokbrate=300" 
target="_blank" style="font-size:10px; color:#FFFFFF">open in new window</a>

So the next step is to see if 30596 and 363136 exist as readable files and what form they take (flash specific and the mediplayer based more leveragable codec).

 

[hobbes487]

wow! Thanks RaDiKal. I was able to determine that most of the movies are embedded in a flash object. I was able to play the preview full-screen in a browser, but the problem is MP needs to be able to play Flash files. Unless this is possible, i don't think it is possible to play the previews.

 

[RaDiKal]

I recall that Meedio had a theme that used a flash based utility to scroll the news feeds. I wonder if there is a similar plugin for MP that is also flash based. If so, then we can look at the source to figure out how they make that happen.

Have you looked at the non-flash previews to see if you can deal with them?

 

[hobbes487]

I recall that Meedio had a theme that used a flash based utility to scroll the news feeds. I wonder if there is a similar plugin for MP that is also flash based. If so, then we can look at the source to figure out how they make that happen.

Have you looked at the non-flash previews to see if you can deal with them?

The YouTube plugin for MP has a way of playing flash embedded videos. I have contacted the author about how to do it.

I will try to implement the non flash trailers once i get home (about an hour). Hopefully that won't be too hard.

P.S. Are you a new convert from Meedio? I noticed you only have 2 (very inciteful) posts so far. If so, welcome. I was once one myself.

 

[Wormfishin]

I updated it again. The latest version should have a modified time of 12:20pm today. sometimes it takes a little time for the update to be reflected on in the downloads section.

Thanks! that one did the trick, as an FYI for anyone who may come along later, I wasn't getting anything to show up after starting the plugin, turns out my software firewall was blocking it. Not really sure why though since I had already given MP access. Thanks for the great plugin Hobbes

 

[hobbes487]

Good news! I have implemented trailers. It will only play trailers that can be played with WMP, not the ones with flash yet. Better than nothing, right?

So, when you select a movie there is a new option in the menu, "Play Trailer." When this is selected, if the trailer can be played with WMP it starts to play. If it is flash, nothing will happen. Please test it out and let me now how it goes.

 

[Wormfishin]

So, when you select a movie there is a new option in the menu, "Play Trailer."

Which menu should it be on, I'm not seeing it for some reason. Should it be on the main menu to the left or the one that pops up allowing you to add it to the queue? I'm thinking it should be on the one that pops up.

I wonder if more detailed versioning might help as well. such as 1.5.x.

 

[hobbes487]

Thats strange. It didn't seem to upload to the downloads section. I guess I will have to do it again tonight when i get home. I have changed the version to 1.6. I will use better versioning in the future so we can all be sure we are talking about the same thing.