Netflix for Standard UI

[MrTea]

First I hope I am not posting this in the wrong forum. I couldn't decide if this belonged here or somewhere else.

I wonder if there is a plugin available for integrating the NetFlix watch-now feature with the standard UI. I know there is one for SageMC, but I may be one of the few people on this forum who do not like the SageMC ui.

I tried looking thru the available plug-ins. I found one that was for NetFlix and seemed to be for the standard ui. But after installing, I found that my menus were all different.

Does anyone know if there is a plugin that:
works with the standard uiprovides a front-end to the netflix watch now feature.
I should be able to pick available watch-now movies.
I should be able to watch a watch-now movie, with at least pause and resume.
no other netflix features should be available
I don't want to put movies in my rental que or event view my que.

I realize that what I want is not trivial. But I hope that there is already a plugin that does this or something like it. Or maybe there is someone already working on this?

I am using SageTv version 6.4
Thanks for any advise.

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by MrTea

I found one that was for NetFlix and seemed to be for the standard ui.

Good topic! I'm also very interested.

Morgan111's great plugin was actually based on DwarF's work with the default stv but that plugin seems to need an overhaul.

I'd humbly like to officially give a call out to the two developers DwarF's & Morgan111. How about showing some love to the default guys I'd be willing to devote my time to this effort (although my capabilities are limited to some basic studio stuff).

Oh wait..... just remembered about the Hulu announcement. Might be better to wait this one out for awhile. ?.?

[MrTea]

Hulu is ok, but I would really prefer a NetFlix interface.

[wado1971]

I'm referring to the announcement from SageTV that the next beta will support Hulu playback. SageTV has been progressively improving the online content items with each release and it seems Netflix is a natural progression in there business model (lets hope). Therefore any outside development would be obsoleted by core support from SageTV.

[MrTea]

Oh

[mightyt]

Originally Posted by MrTea

I wonder if there is a plugin available for integrating the NetFlix watch-now feature with the standard UI.

Me too ...

[Fuzzy]

Based on the rapid development going on with the default STV of late, and the slowing developement of the SageMC environment, I'd like to make another request for a NetFlix plugin for the Default STV. Morgan111? any chance?

[PLUCKYHD]

Alright Fuzzy reading all your post I am intrigued

What rapid development in default STV? What makes it so great over SageMC (I know looks can't be it )

I have honestly never spent more than 5 minutes with the default and just curious why some love it so much..

[Fuzzy]

It really comes down to what you do most in sage. For most people, the screen seen most often (aside from actually watching something) is the TV Recordings. SageMC's 'My TV' menu, with the silly 4 most recent and 4 upcoming is for the most part, a waste of space for many, and you end up going on to the next level with the 'Recorded TV' screen, which does not offer anywhere near the experience that the malore recordings screen does, or even the default screen. When grouped by title, which I feel is the most useful method of viewing the recordings, you either have 1 recording, in which case it is a singleton item in the list, or 'More' (not saying how many unless you select it). This ends up with a jumbled list where you have a hodgepodge mix of individual episodes, or folders. The SageMC interface also offers no easy way to view episode numbers, or sort by episode number (closest thing is sort by orig, which is spotty and dependent on reliable guide data).

Basically, most of my comparison is based on SageMC vs. Malore. Yes, I do know there is an import for the Malore menus in SageMC, but it has some visual flaws, hasn't been updated since 07, lacks most the special icons, and lacks view presets (the most important missing feature). The Default STV is also noticably faster than SageMC on less than top hardware (HD100, MVP's, Placeshifter, etc).

As for "I Know looks can't be it", what DON'T you like about the looks of the Default STV? It offers the options you want, is easy to read, and is very responsive.

Keep in mind, as far as appearance goes, the Default STV is also has full theme support. About the only thing the default lacks appearance wise is the various menu styles. (Dock, Horiz, Icon, Text, etc). However, most themes I've seen end up using different menu styles every page you go to, ending up with a very inconsistent UI experience.

[PLUCKYHD]

There are addins coming for sagemc one in particular that is great and uses allot of the malore menus for much better interface (tv) as well as I believe it will offer season filtering and the such. Check out the sagemc screenshot thread there are some pictures posted there.

As far as looks my wife just couldn't stand the plainness of the default sagetv interface she prefers the sagemc. Like I said we didn't play with it a whole lot but maybe I will spend some time with it.

They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

[Fuzzy]

Something 'coming' is not good enough to satisfy WAF. I'm guessing you're talking about razr's dual pane view. True, it does offer dual pane style, but it does not offer the features I mentioned that make malore so usable.. it also puts an obvious priority to fanart over the actual menu, which is pointless in my eyes. I much prefer Tiki's banner only approach in his FanArt for Default STV plugin. Gives the 'neat' factor of the customized fanart, without it overpowering the usability of the interface.

WAF Über Alles...

[toricred]

You can get the count of episodes in a folder instead of just More with a setting in the SageMC settings.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Something 'coming' is not good enough to satisfy WAF. I'm guessing you're talking about razr's dual pane view. True, it does offer dual pane style, but it does not offer the features I mentioned that make malore so usable.. it also puts an obvious priority to fanart over the actual menu, which is pointless in my eyes. I much prefer Tiki's banner only approach in his FanArt for Default STV plugin. Gives the 'neat' factor of the customized fanart, without it overpowering the usability of the interface.

To each his own I don't care for that one all that much.