[Original Thread] "My NetFlix" Plugin with Watch Now Support (4 Viewers)

[WileECoyote]

This is great! Thank you SO much for taking this on! Been playing around with it a while now. A couple observations....

1.) I can't seem to EXIT the movie once it starts without actually closing the silverlight/ie browser window via ALT/F4 or ALT Tab. ALT+Tab of course leaves the movie up and running beneath the MP. I can pause and play via the space bar or enter key but those are the only two keys that seem to work. Right Clicking gives a contex menu but no option to close the browser window. Looking at it closely it seems that it is opening a new IE window for the silverlight player but the command to open probably has the switches on to turn off everything - ie menu bar, address bar, etc. This is probably to get it to mimic to full screen mode, but the full screen option is still available.
I tried it in a regular browser at the netflix site and the window they open is a standard window and you have to click the full screen option to actually view it as a full screen. Then hitting escape pops up the menu bar and all and you can close it out. You may want to review the switches and at least leave the menu bar up in that window.

2.) I knw this is BETA and there is much work to do. One thing I don't see is a skin for the Blue3 regular format screen. So everything appears squished when I try to run it. I tried putting both the Blue3wide and StreamedMP skins on the regular Blue3 skin but it is awful and unworkable. So I would like to request a skin for the Blue3 regular screen format for those of us with normal TVs still. Also, I can't seem to figure out what the heck the StreamedMp skin is for. Anyone have any clues?

Aside from those two things, it works - wonderfully! Thanks again!

kevinfreels,
Thanks for the feedback!

1. What remote are you using? If your using the Hauppauge remote check the instructions on the first post on how to fix this...

2. Im begging for skinners Please, please, please....Help I hope to have the skins up to date within a few weeks, so please hang in there.....

yes sir! that was it. I installed .net 3.5 and it's working as advertised.

I also noticed on the way in here to post this, that the very first item on the list in the very first post on this thread is:

1. Install the latest .NET Framework 3.5 (We think only Framework 2.0 is requried - Thnx Blitzkrg)

Soooo, I thought I had followed instructions........

It doesn't look like .net 2.0 is going to cut it.

thanks for the help.

I updated the instructions, as well as posted a new version....

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Vaelek]

I finally installed the StreamedMP skin and updated to the latest version here. I still get no reaction to the 'I' button. Also, when viewing the queue, selecting a title with the mouse can be somewhat difficult. The covers go out of focus when the mouse is anywhere in the lower right majority of the list. The list of titles is also brighter when the menu has focus and dims when the titles have focus.

I also switched it to IE 32 bit and videos do start now. The remote has no effect while playing except the back button, which just reloads the player. To actually select a title to right click (as the 'I' has no effect), for the top row if the mouse is below about the 1/2 way point on the coverart the focus is lost. This happens for anything under row 1 and past about column 3 or 4. This is with StreamedMP.

 

[WileECoyote]

I finally installed the StreamedMP skin and updated to the latest version here. I still get no reaction to the 'I' button.

This is strange. I use the common methods for calling a context menu, I will have to do more research on this...

Also, when viewing the queue, selecting a title with the mouse can be somewhat difficult. The covers go out of focus when the mouse is anywhere in the lower right majority of the list. The list of titles is also brighter when the menu has focus and dims when the titles have focus.

I am also aware of this. This is a skin issue, and it is really intended to be mouse driven. I am hoping someone with 'skinning' skills will assist...

The remote has no effect while playing except the back button, which just reloads the player.

I wonder if this is an HP MS Remote thing? Keith2048 had issues with his Hauppauge remote until he changed a setting to allow button capture when focus is lost.

To actually select a title to right click (as the 'I' has no effect), for the top row if the mouse is below about the 1/2 way point on the coverart the focus is lost. This happens for anything under row 1 and past about column 3 or 4. This is with StreamedMP.

If you navigate with the remote and select a title, the Play button will now start playback...

Thanks again for the feedback. I will continue to work to get this plugin as solid as possible....

 

[kkozma]

Curious if you've gotten a chance to address the issue with having MP set to always be on top? I also have no way of exiting the player. I'm using an MCE remote.

 

[WileECoyote]

Curious if you've gotten a chance to address the issue with having MP set to always be on top? I also have no way of exiting the player. I'm using an MCE remote.

Hey Kkozma,
I will focus on that tonight. I also want to nail down the 'Series' issue some folks are having, so I will focus on those two things tonight. If anyone has a title that they are having issues with please let me know, that would help out tremendously...

On a side note, I'm going to the beach tomorrow afternoon through Tuesday. Although I try to respond quickly, it may be a day or so before I respond....


Wile E.

 

[kkozma]

Beach? You suck... lol

Two series I have issues with are Battlestar Galactica (original series) and Knight Rider (original series).

 

[dwagner]

Wile E.

As somebody else mentioned, the authorization shows up in whatever your default browser is. I was able to authorize in Firefox and then watch video in IE (once I got all of my skins set up). Also I got confused about the -k option and added that to the end of the IE location. I figured out from the logs that that field should only contain a single filename, so things seemed to work pretty well once I removed that. I've just been using mouse and keyboard input, which has worked great (I don't have any remotes).

Oh, and Alt+F4 works fine for me to exit the player (by closing the IE that has focus), but that only works if you have a keyboard.

Thanks for the great work!

 

[WileECoyote]

Beach? You suck... lol

Two series I have issues with are Battlestar Galactica (original series) and Knight Rider (original series).

Its mainly for the significant other... I will still have my laptop with me

Thanks for the info, I will look into those as well...

Also, Everyone can feel free to add bug reports on Google Code Here. That may save us some space here in the forum...

Wile E.

As somebody else mentioned, the authorization shows up in whatever your default browser is. I was able to authorize in Firefox and then watch video in IE (once I got all of my skins set up). Also I got confused about the -k option and added that to the end of the IE location. I figured out from the logs that that field should only contain a single filename, so things seemed to work pretty well once I removed that. I've just been using mouse and keyboard input, which has worked great (I don't have any remotes).

Oh, and Alt+F4 works fine for me to exit the player (by closing the IE that has focus), but that only works if you have a keyboard.

Thanks for the great work!

You just gave me an idea. I may add a second text box on the config for command line options. That way folks can use FireFox or whatever browser they choose....

 

[dcwp]

Have a great time at the beach! I'm traveling to Minneapolis this weekend, so maybe not as warm and exciting. Oh well.

So I finally got this working and I want to Thank You! again as well as making a couple of observatins.

1) As others have noted, .net 2 didn't cut it. In addition to 3.5, I could not get this working without 3.5 Service Pack 1. It might have been something else I was doing wrong, but others who are still having trouble with 3.5 might want to install the SP.

2) I realize you noted that you are currently only supporting certain screen resolutions, but I didn't pay close attention at first and I suspect others won't either. Anyway, the only impact this had was that it made it impossible for me to use the i button to get fullscreen. As soon as I switched from native resolution to a supported one, it worked like a dream. (Not to mention that other stuff looks better now!) So anybody having trouble with this, be sure you're using a supported resolution.

3) I don't know if it's supposed to, but the "OK" button on my MCE remote works as a pause/resume button. This is great since I would like to avoid mouse/keyboard altogether if possible. So with the MCE remote, we have stop, pause, play, volume, mute, and fullscreen functionality. That's about all you can ask from a streaming service!

4) Very minor feature request. Once this sucker is stabilized if you could offer an option in the config to change the plugin name, it would be greatly appreciated. I like to strip the "My" prefixes and just have "TV" "Music" "Netflix" etc in the home menu. Again this is extremely minor, but if it could find its way to the bottom of the todo list, I would be most greatful.

Thanks again and have a great weekend!

One more thing...

I was just clicking through my "Watch Instantly" playlist giving the demo to my housemate. I noticed that there are some movies that open in a smaller player window with the FullScreen button in a place that doesn't respond to the i button. I believe it is movies that are originally in 4:3 aspect. The two that I have noticed so far are Airwolf Season 1 and something called "Teen Sorcery." I'm a little embarrassed by that last one, I think my wife put it on the list.

 

[WileECoyote]

Have a great time at the beach! I'm traveling to Minneapolis this weekend, so maybe not as warm and exciting. Oh well.

So I finally got this working and I want to Thank You! again as well as making a couple of observatins.

1) As others have noted, .net 2 didn't cut it. In addition to 3.5, I could not get this working without 3.5 Service Pack 1. It might have been something else I was doing wrong, but others who are still having trouble with 3.5 might want to install the SP.

2) I realize you noted that you are currently only supporting certain screen resolutions, but I didn't pay close attention at first and I suspect others won't either. Anyway, the only impact this had was that it made it impossible for me to use the i button to get fullscreen. As soon as I switched from native resolution to a supported one, it worked like a dream. (Not to mention that other stuff looks better now!) So anybody having trouble with this, be sure you're using a supported resolution.

3) I don't know if it's supposed to, but the "OK" button on my MCE remote works as a pause/resume button. This is great since I would like to avoid mouse/keyboard altogether if possible. So with the MCE remote, we have stop, pause, play, volume, mute, and fullscreen functionality. That's about all you can ask from a streaming service!

4) Very minor feature request. Once this sucker is stabilized if you could offer an option in the config to change the plugin name, it would be greatly appreciated. I like to strip the "My" prefixes and just have "TV" "Music" "Netflix" etc in the home menu. Again this is extremely minor, but if it could find its way to the bottom of the todo list, I would be most greatful.

Thanks again and have a great weekend!

One more thing...

I was just clicking through my "Watch Instantly" playlist giving the demo to my housemate. I noticed that there are some movies that open in a smaller player window with the FullScreen button in a place that doesn't respond to the i button. I believe it is movies that are originally in 4:3 aspect. The two that I have noticed so far are Airwolf Season 1 and something called "Teen Sorcery." I'm a little embarrassed by that last one, I think my wife put it on the list.

Thanks so much for that great feedback!

1. I will note that in the instructions, just in case!

2. I plan to add a feature to turn on/off the remote features of watch-now, that way if someone is using Girder or Event Ghost it doesnt screw them up. I was just wanted to get test version out there for everyone to try...

3. I will try this when I get home! I never tried the OK button on my remote...that would be perfect!

4. As much as I want to be able to do this, NetFlix outlines in their Branding requirements that any application that uses the API's must refer to itself as something other than just 'NetFlix'. Like My NetFlix or NetFlix Manager or something along those lines. With that said, I am not stuck on "My NetFlix". I would like to hear the communities voice on this and lets come up with some grand name (All this to really say I want to play by their rules so they dont shut us down... Not that they could, but its better to play nice )


LOL - Oh, come on now.... You can admit you liked the movie Teen Sorcery, no reason to be ashamed I will try to accomodate for this if the movie has format infomation.