VMC's MyNetFlix Plugin in SageTV - WOOHOO!

[osburnfamily]

I can't believe I actually thought of this!

I love NetFlix WatchItNow & use it A LOT. But, I HATE having to pull out the keyboard & mouse because the current Sage plugin is severely lacking (though much appreciated—don’t get me wrong)

Come to find out Vista MediaCenter has a new MyNetflix plugin that work flawlessly for WatchItNow with just the remote... auto fullscreen / auto login / no scroll bars... it's AWESOME..

But I obviously didn't want to go back to VMC just for NetFlix.

HERE'S MY SOLUTION:::

1) Re-enabled the Allow MediaCenter in gpedit.msc
2) Set all Windows MediaCenter Services to DISABLED
3) Removed ehtray.exe from HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run in the registry
4) Downloaded a free little program called Process.exe (this kills current windows processes) & placed it in windows\system32 (you could also use taskkill or some other windows task/process killer)
5) Downloaded a free little program called MC Menu Mender & installed it
6) Downloaded the Vista MyNetFlix plugin & installed it
7) Using MC MenuMender, I removed all VistaMediaCenter menu options EXCEPT the MyNetflix Plugin & the ShutDown/Exit button & made the MyNetflix button the first/primary strip.
8) Created the following NETFLIX.CMD batch file in C:\Windows\eHome\:
@echo off
start /wait c:\windows\ehome\ehshell.exe
c:\windows\system32\process -k ehmsas.exe
c:\windows\system32\process -k ehtray.exe
exit
9) In SageMC, I created a new external command on the Main Menu & had it launch my newly created NETFLIX.CMD. Setting the external command the sleep & restore sagetv on launch & exit.
10) That's it!!!

The reason for the process killer was if those two processes are running, my Green Button on my MediaCenter remote (that I use in sage) will auto-start VMC, so I had to kill those processes after VMC shuts down.


With this, I can launch the MyNetFlix VistaMedia Center Plugin & use it within Sage all from the comfort of my chair using only my remote.

Not the "prettiest" solution, but I LOVE IT.

Links to the apps listed:
MyNetFlix - http://www.anpark.com/Software.aspx
Process.exe - http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions...rocessutil.htm
MC MenuMender - http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/1/2...howThread.aspx

[ChePazzo]

Is there any way to use this with a Linux server?

[Enormous]

Originally Posted by ChePazzo

Is there any way to use this with a Linux server?

Since Netflix's Watch It Now is so tightly integrated with Windows Media Player and DRM, it is highly unlikely this will every work on Linux.

[theMixxMaster]

Will this work with regular XP?

[osburnfamily]

Originally Posted by theMixxMaster

Will this work with regular XP?

I don't think so considering the netflix plugin is a vista mediacenter plugin. Not sure if there is of equal-quality XP plugin for netflix or not; but, if so--the process would be the same.

[flashbacck]

Not sure how VMC plugins work, but can't we just ask the author for a stand alone version of mynetflix?

[EmuZombie]

Originally Posted by theMixxMaster

Will this work with regular XP?

From the FAQs

Does MyNetflix run on Windows XP Media Center Edition?

No. MyNetflix uses the new MCML (Media Center Markup Language) development framework, which is only supported on Windows Vista Media Center

As for a stand alone, based on tha answer I'd guess it would be impossible based on current code

[Brent]

Seems like getting the existing SageTV Neflix plugin to handle remote control and viewing on extenders would be the best avenue for SageTV Netflix as opposed to getting the VMC plugin to work with SageTV. I think Morgan's Neflix plugin is almost there - just needs a little more work.

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by Brent

Seems like getting the existing SageTV Neflix plugin to handle remote control and viewing on extenders would be the best avenue for SageTV Netflix as opposed to getting the VMC plugin to work with SageTV. I think Morgan's Neflix plugin is almost there - just needs a little more work.

Agree 100%, if it doesn't work on the extenders it's a crippled plugin.