Netflix Manager (Updated 02/10/07) (1 Viewer)

[RaDiKal]

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.

It appears the YouTube plugin for MP deals with Flash so you may want to chat with that plugin's author.

 

[hobbes487]

It appears the YouTube plugin for MP deals with Flash so you may want to chat with that plugin's author.

Yes, I have spoken with the creator of that plugin and he has a flash player included with that plugin. The problem with that player is that it will only play files that end in .flv

The addresses for the flash trailer on netflix dont have this extension.

 

[mr_poopyhead]

would it be possible to make this plugin work for zip.ca? it's the same type of service for canadians...

if you think it's not too difficult and are willing to give it a go, i'd be willing to give you an account to work with...

thanks for reading.

 

[cfaslave]

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).

Wow, very detailed and helpful post. I'm a Beyond Media User (don't shoot me as I may go to MP some day), and use a similar Netflix plugin for that software. It has had preview capability for quite a while and is running into trouble with the new Netflix, flash previews also.
Two problems -
1. Viewing a Flash Video in the software is more difficult. Some posts on that on the Snapstream forums HERE: http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=35360

2. Identifying or predicting the preview hyperlink is more difficult than the old previews. I've posted on that HERE:
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showpost.php?p=218849&postcount=9

Hopefully some of those posts are helpful to you guys developing this plugin. If you happen to figure out our problem #2, please post as I'm really stumped on this one.

Thanks!!!
Brent

 

[hobbes487]

would it be possible to make this plugin work for zip.ca? it's the same type of service for canadians...

if you think it's not too difficult and are willing to give it a go, i'd be willing to give you an account to work with...

thanks for reading.

Unfortunately I do not have enough time in the day to create this kind of plugin. The site looks very similar to the Netflix site, so i'm sure it would be pretty easy just to take the source of my plaugin and change it to work with zip.ca

 

[hobbes487]

Wow, very detailed and helpful post. I'm a Beyond Media User (don't shoot me as I may go to MP some day), and use a similar Netflix plugin for that software. It has had preview capability for quite a while and is running into trouble with the new Netflix, flash previews also.
Two problems -
1. Viewing a Flash Video in the software is more difficult. Some posts on that on the Snapstream forums HERE: http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=35360

2. Identifying or predicting the preview hyperlink is more difficult than the old previews. I've posted on that HERE:
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showpost.php?p=218849&postcount=9

Hopefully some of those posts are helpful to you guys developing this plugin. If you happen to figure out our problem #2, please post as I'm really stumped on this one.

Thanks!!!
Brent

Thanks for the info! I will keep my eye on those threads to see if anything gets solved.

 

[cfaslave]

Thanks for the info! I will keep my eye on those threads to see if anything gets solved.

Well we have a fix for these new netflix previews on Beyond Media now. In case its helpful to you on the MP, netflix plugin, here is the post with the details.

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showpost.php?p=219857&postcount=22

Hope this helps.

Brent

 

[hobbes487]

Thanks for the info! I will keep my eye on those threads to see if anything gets solved.

Well we have a fix for these new netflix previews on Beyond Media now. In case its helpful to you on the MP, netflix plugin, here is the post with the details.

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showpost.php?p=219857&postcount=22

Hope this helps.

Brent

Awsome! I will be trying to implement this tonight so we can play all previews from Netflix. Thanks for helping out.

 

[mckinlsm]

Netflix Search Feature

Just installed this plugin today which I must say is very impressive! Just wondering about the Search feature which doesn't seem to work for me is this something that is going to be added in the future or have I miss configured something?

Thanks

 

[hobbes487]

Just installed this plugin today which I must say is very impressive! Just wondering about the Search feature which doesn't seem to work for me is this something that is going to be added in the future or have I miss configured something?

Thanks

It seems as though the on screen keyboard has broken in one of the latest versions. Hopefully I will find some time in the future to fix this.