Netflix and Phoenix(2)

[JonTom]

Recently while I was out of town, our sage server crashed. Rather than try to have me remotely fix it, she decided to sign up for a free trial of netflix.ca. Now she and our son are hooked

Is there a way to get netflix working in P2?

- is there a way to make netflix a vfs?
- I see there's something called a PlayOn plugin for the default stv, maybe I can jump to the default stv for this via a menu setting?
- Maybe I can launch an external firefox window and make the cursor obey the arrow keys on the remote (ugh)?

[alfi33]

I haven't used Playon in a while but I thought it was a big cludge when I did. And probably any method that does provide the ability to stream Netflix from within Sage at this point is also going to be cludgey. (I had always hoped that it would get officially added as a feature before Sage was bought.)

I find the best way to get Netflix steamimg is to use a cheap device that does this natively. A Ruku can be had for like $50...cheaper if you find a used one. It's also in just about every DVD player and TV you can buy these days.

The next best option (since your're on a full client and not using an extender) is to just launch straight into the Windows Media Center Netflix plugin. I set a button on my remote to do this using EventGhost but you could probably make a menu item in Sage to do this as well.

[bialio]

Playon can be accessed in Phoenix 2 natively without bouncing to the default UI. It's a little buggy right now - workin on fixing that in my spare time - you have to sometimes load a view a couple of times before you see Netflix - but we have been using it without any issues.

[JonTom]

Originally Posted by bialio

Playon can be accessed in Phoenix 2 natively without bouncing to the default UI. It's a little buggy right now - workin on fixing that in my spare time - you have to sometimes load a view a couple of times before you see Netflix - but we have been using it without any issues.

Having never read anything about what Playon is or how it works, can you point me in the right direction?

[JonTom]

I buy & install PlayOn server which either downloads in advance (surely not?) or streams NetFlix (and others) to PlayOn clients.

PlayOn plugin acts as a PlayOn client for SageTV

Somehow I create a view that displays the available PlayOn content?

[JonTom]

I've got the MCE NetFlix plugin working now. Now to play with this and see if I can get it working. Free instead of pay for PlayOn, so I think I'll give it a try.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=107881
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=98829

[bialio]

If you are running on clients then you definitely have more options with online video services. For those running on extenders, Playon is about the only game in town.

You basically install playon somewhere ( I have it on a computer separate from my Sage server ) and then give playon your sign on credentials for various online sights. Then you can browse playon as a uPnP server from any uPnP client.

Phoenix has a uPnP client built in, and it is what Phoenix2 uses to browse uPnP servers. Phoenix 1 doesn't support the uPnP views very well so you need to use P2 if you were going to leverage phoenix in this way.

btl.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by JonTom

I've got the MCE NetFlix plugin working now. Now to play with this and see if I can get it working. Free instead of pay for PlayOn, so I think I'll give it a try.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=107881
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=98829

All u need is a shortcut don't jump through all that hoopla. Happy to send you one if you want it.

[JonTom]

Well I've got this working pretty well now, I think.

First I got netflix working in MCE.
Found the shortcut Plucky mentioned somewhere on the net.
Created an AHK script to minimize sagetv and open MCE directly to the netflix plugin.
Added a profile into LMGestion; now if I'm in MCE, my remote's Menu button (HOME in Sage) runs another AHK script to close MCE and maximize the sage window, returning me to the landing zone.

The only potential issue I need to test is I noticed last night that the sagetv screensaver would pop over MCE every 20 minutes. I've added in the script to minimize sage in the hopes that that will cancel that behaviour, but now I need to find 20 minutes to test

[alfi33]

That's similar to what I do but I don't have the 20min SageTV screensaver issue. Maybe if you 'Sleep' Sage instead of just minimizing you might have better luck? Do you have Sage set to always be on top?

[JonTom]

Originally Posted by alfi33

That's similar to what I do but I don't have the 20min SageTV screensaver issue. Maybe if you 'Sleep' Sage instead of just minimizing you might have better luck? Do you have Sage set to always be on top?

Minimizing it seems to have worked - I left a movie running while I showered and got ready for work this morning and it was still "on top" when I was ready to go.

I have discovered another small issue though - for some reason, the play/pause buttons on my remote don't work for NetFlix, until I've skipped forward/back. Then they work fine... I'm going to do some testing and see if I can figure what's going on there.

[JonTom]

Oh, also found out the hard way that profiles in netflix break the MCE plugin. I hope that gets fixed? Thanks to my son, I see way too many recommendations for Transformers and SpiderMan... Well, actually, I guess my wife does