[Original Thread] "My NetFlix" Plugin with Watch Now Support (1 Viewer)

[WileECoyote]

A big thank you WileE for this plugin. It looks and works great! I installed RC2 and it works very well.

I had an issue in the beginning with it being slow and hanging up but I changed the default profile and it started working without a hitch. Not sure what that did but it works and works very well.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
mr

Thanks for the feedback Moonracer! If it happens again, please post your logs and I will try to determine the slow down...

 

[mellroc]

Has anybody upgraded to Silverlight 3 yet and used this plugin?
Do things look any better with the new hardware video acceleration available? Can the video acceleration be utilized?
Just curious.

BTW, I use your plugin on a daily basis WileECoyote. Love it.

 

[keith2045]

Jmvaughn,
Thanks for the feedback and welcome to MP. We are glad you made the switch

You are correct about the keyboard shortcuts, I cannot control them within MP. BUT, I have attached a file that is a control program (From a nice guy over on the Sage Forums) that controls my script via keyboard shortcuts. Unzip the file and put it in a folder of your choice, then double click the file. An 'H' Icon will show up in your system tray letting you know the program has started and is running. After it is started, open MP->NetFlix and start a movie, try it and let me know if it works. If I can get this script to work along side my script for the remote, I will include it in the final build. The Keyboard shortcuts are as follows...

CTRL-a or Left Arrow: Jump back in the time line
CTRL-s or Right Arrow: Jump ahead in the time line
CTRL-f : Change to next episode (for titles that have episodes)
CTRL-b : Change to previous episode (for titles that have episodes)
F10 : Increase Volume
F9 : Decrease Volume
F8 : Toggle Mute/Unmute
CTRL-p : Toggle Play/Pause
CTRL-e : Close Netflix Viewer / IE window

I cant launch the exe, i get an error message. It is trying to launch netflix_silverlight_control.exe which i dont have

 

[jmvaughn]

Thanks very much for this great plugin. This was the thing that convinced me to switch to MediaPortal.

I sure wish Netflix would add some keyboard shortcuts, though I know this obviously has nothing to do with you.

Anyway, I have two quick questions. First, I was wondering if there is a way to make some of the fonts bigger? In particular, the list of movies down the middle. Is there a value in an .xml file I can adjust somewhere? I had a look around, but was not able to find anything.

Second, I noticed that there is a little red ball symbol displayed for Instant Play movies in my Recommended list, but the symbol is not there when looking at things in my rental queue. Is there a way to have the symbol show up there as well?

Any help appreciated. And thanks again for this awesome plugin.

Jmvaughn,
Thanks for the feedback and welcome to MP. We are glad you made the switch


You are correct about the keyboard shortcuts, I cannot control them within MP. BUT, I have attached a file that is a control program (From a nice guy over on the Sage Forums) that controls my script via keyboard shortcuts. Unzip the file and put it in a folder of your choice, then double click the file. An 'H' Icon will show up in your system tray letting you know the program has started and is running. After it is started, open MP->NetFlix and start a movie, try it and let me know if it works. If I can get this script to work along side my script for the remote, I will include it in the final build. The Keyboard shortcuts are as follows...

CTRL-a or Left Arrow: Jump back in the time line
CTRL-s or Right Arrow: Jump ahead in the time line
CTRL-f : Change to next episode (for titles that have episodes)
CTRL-b : Change to previous episode (for titles that have episodes)
F10 : Increase Volume
F9 : Decrease Volume
F8 : Toggle Mute/Unmute
CTRL-p : Toggle Play/Pause
CTRL-e : Close Netflix Viewer / IE window

Okay, on to your two questions...

1. Which skin file are you using? Each skin file has its own set of font names, so you can open the fonts.xml file in the root of the skin to see which fonts are available. From there, through trial and error, you can find the one that fits your style best.

2. This was a recent change, I had feedback from folks who wanted to be able to see which format would be shipped, so now the Disc Queue only shows one dot corresponding to which format will be shipped. I could include the Instant dot (if applicable) if that is not too confusing to folks.

Thanks again,
Wile E.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

In answer to your questions....

1. I am using BleazleWide 7.1.0. I think I can get the skin thing figured out. Thanks for the tip on the fonts.xml file.

2. I would personally really like to see which movies in my regular queue can be viewed instantly. Maybe it could be made an option so those that don't like it could hide it?

Regarding the Netflix_Control.exe file....

This sounds like exactly what I need. However, as Keith mentions he also experienced later in this thread, I get an error message when starting it saying the netflix_silverlight_control.exe file is not found.

Finally, one new item....

I noticed that having multiple users allows us to view different Instant Queues, but that the regular DVD Queue stays the same regardless of which user you have selected. Am I doing something wrong here or is this just how it's supposed to work? I would really like to be able to view my own queue (because if it can only work with one, it will end up being the wife's).

In any event, this is really coming together nicely. Thanks for all your hard work.

 

[jmvaughn]

I just had a thought this morning on a possible solution to showing which formats are available in the DVD queue while still showing what was actually set to be shipped.

How about using a series of dots (like you are now in the other lists like recommended movies), but making the disk currently selected to be shipped for DVD queue items set to a larger, brighter disk, while the dots for the alternative formats are still shown but are smaller and a little dimmer.

This would make it very obvious what you had set to be shipped, while giving the user a visual cue that other formats were available for the movie.

The reason I would like this -- and I imagine I'm not alone here -- is that when I am bored and looking for something to watch, the movies I've painstakingly selected in my DVD queue are a great place to start. If I feel like watching a movie, and I can see it's available for instant play, I can watch it, then remove it from the DVD queue.

Anyway, just some random thoughts on the matter

John.

 

[WileECoyote]

Sorry Guys,
Try the attached...

Wile E.

 

[WileECoyote]

2. I would personally really like to see which movies in my regular queue can be viewed instantly. Maybe it could be made an option so those that don't like it could hide it?

That is a good idea, I will see about adding that to the plugin.

Regarding the Netflix_Control.exe file....

This sounds like exactly what I need. However, as Keith mentions he also experienced later in this thread, I get an error message when starting it saying the netflix_silverlight_control.exe file is not found.

See the post above, hopefully that will resolve the issue...

Finally, one new item....

I noticed that having multiple users allows us to view different Instant Queues, but that the regular DVD Queue stays the same regardless of which user you have selected. Am I doing something wrong here or is this just how it's supposed to work? I would really like to be able to view my own queue (because if it can only work with one, it will end up being the wife's).

No, your not doing anything wrong. The issue with having multiple DVD queue's is how would you know the true order of the queue? If you have 4 movies in your queue and your wife has 4, how would you order them?

How about using a series of dots (like you are now in the other lists like recommended movies), but making the disk currently selected to be shipped for DVD queue items set to a larger, brighter disk, while the dots for the alternative formats are still shown but are smaller and a little dimmer.

That is a great idea. I will see about adding this feature in the next version.

 

[WileECoyote]

Update RC2a...

I created a new version, RC2a. The new version has these changes/enhancements....

1. I added the Netflix_Control.exe to the setup package, so it will install automatically. I have tested this on two machines, and the remote & keyboard functions appear to be working okay.
2. I changed the DVD Queue to display the Red icon if the movie is an instant movie. Just to be clear, it will only show the delivery format (DVD or Blu-ray) and the Instant icon if applicable.


Try it out and let me know if there are any issues...
Wile E.

Has anybody upgraded to Silverlight 3 yet and used this plugin?
Do things look any better with the new hardware video acceleration available? Can the video acceleration be utilized?

Hey Mellroc,
I installed Silverlight 3 tonight, and other than the movie starting a little quicker, I see very little or no difference. I will continue to test and let you know if I see any difference...

Wile E.

 

[jmvaughn]

I will give both RC2a and the netflix_control a try later tonight. Can't wait to try both.

Thanks a TON for adding that red dot, it really extends the enjoyability of the plugin for me.

]No, your not doing anything wrong. The issue with having multiple DVD queue's is how would you know the true order of the queue? If you have 4 movies in your queue and your wife has 4, how would you order them?

Well, what I personally would most like would be when user "John" is selected, his DVD queue is displayed and when user "Cathy" is displayed, her DVD queue is displayed. That would be quite awesome, but I don't know if it's possible or desirable with regard to your vision of the plugin. Would be neat from my perspective though. My wife and I have some movie tastes in common, but there are many things (e.g., any post-apocalyptic zombie flick) that she has no interest in. We enjoy having complete control over separate queues

Thanks again for the quick update. Will post later after I have a chance to try it out.

 

[WileECoyote]

Well, what I personally would most like would be when user "John" is selected, his DVD queue is displayed and when user "Cathy" is displayed, her DVD queue is displayed. That would be quite awesome, but I don't know if it's possible or desirable with regard to your vision of the plugin. Would be neat from my perspective though. My wife and I have some movie tastes in common, but there are many things (e.g., any post-apocalyptic zombie flick) that she has no interest in. We enjoy having complete control over separate queues

Hey again John,
Thanks for the fresh ideas. I understand what you are saying, but let me break down the technical difficulties in doing seperate DVD queue's.

Let say you add three movies to your queue...

Movie A
Movie B
Movie C

Then Mrs. John comes in and adds three movies to her queue...

Movie D
Movie E
Movie F

When you go to the Netflix site and viewed your DVD queue, you will see them ordered as such...

Movie A
Movie B
Movie C
Movie D
Movie E
Movie F

Now with seperate queue's Mrs. John thinks since she just added Movie D, Movie E and Movie F they would be the next three to ship (assuming that you have a 3 at a time plan), but in reality Movie A, Movie B and Movie C would be shipping from your queue. And as time goes on you will be adding movies randomly to each queue, so there would be a time when you would have no idea which movie shipped unless you either a.) checked the queue on the Netflix site or b.) click on the Add to First Position.

On thinking further about this, the one thing I could do is add the position number to beginning of the title, that way you would know where it was in the queue to be shipped, but that would require a database change and some re-coding. I would be happy to do it if it is a most wanted feature.... And if it is something we add it will have to be after the 1.0 version is finalized. I would really like to get the first official release done

Let me know your thoughts, or maybe other ideas you can think of to keep the confusion to a minimum.

Thanks again for your ideas John!