Does the HD300 Stream Netflix

[photon]

Does anybody know if the HD300 will stream Netflix in stand alone mode?
(without sage TV software and customizations)

[JetreL]

I don't own one but from the post I have read. No not natively unless you use PlayOn and the PlayOn plugin.

[Tiki]

It has been pointed out that the hardware inside the HD300 supports encryption, which means that is possible that at some point in the future, Sage might be able to support streaming from Netflix, Amazon, or something similar natively.

However, as of right now there is no built-in support for these and there have been no official announcements or press releases suggesting that they are even considering it - just the speculation that it would probably be possible with this hardware if they wanted to do it at some point in the future.

My personal guess is that they are investigating this stuff and if they can find a cost-effective way to do it in a way that works well and doesn't compromise the rest of the Sage experience they will do it. Given the number of requests for a feature like this, they would be foolish not to try.

In the mean time, as others have posted, it is possible to stream from a Playon server to the HD200 or HD300 extenders in either stand-alone or extender mode. Playon can stream from Netflex, Hulu, Amazon and others, but apparently the picture quality isn't as good this way.

[heffneil]

I just bought a Roku and I am currently watching a netflix movie on it which I think is really cool. I didn't mess too much with playon and the plugin. I tried playon when it was first coming on and didn't like having the maintenance every time something changed and keeping up with it. It just wasn't for me. While I like the roku I don't know it is worth the $100 I paid for it. Honestly you can get a decent blu-ray player with netflix for $159 or maybe a little more. I don't know how well it works and I don't know if any support amazon video which I am very interested in as well with their newer lower pricing.

Apple TV isn't going it for me so I bit the bullet for the Roku and I am trying it out for now. I wish the HD300 will support those services and then the box becomes infinitely more valuable to me.

[photon]

Right now my solution is just connecting my laptop to the TV to watch netflix but if the HD300 could stream netflix that would mean one less device and I would upgrade to the HD300 immediately.

[Suntan]

Originally Posted by Tiki

In the mean time, as others have posted, it is possible to stream from a Playon server to the HD200 or HD300 extenders in either stand-alone or extender mode. Playon can stream from Netflex, Hulu, Amazon and others, but apparently the picture quality isn't as good this way.

Just for clarity, the HD100 also plays back Netflix and hulu, etc. by way of Play On in extender mode too. (Of course the HD100 does not have a stand alone mode.)

-Suntan

[photon]

I apreciate the suggestion of Playon. I guess a lot of sage users here like it. For me I'm not seeing the attraction of a none SageTV solution such as Playon that I have to pay for and maintain in addition to SageTV. My laptop with VGA out connected to TV plays netflix for free and there is no down side other than connecting it when I want to use it for this purpose. I Got SageTV and HD100 running off Windows Home server to replace the multitude of hardware players, computer codecs and other software solutions for digital media and give me a DVR the pretty well eliminates the need for hulu. If I want to purchase something other than SageTV it might make sense to put the $79 playon cost toward a Blueray player that plays Netflix since I don't have a blue ray player yet. If the HD300 streamed netflix like the blue-ray players do it would be a killer reason to upgrade to the HD300 immediately.

[bastafidli]

I actually like the PlayOn route better than putting additional piece of HW in my living room. I bought it while they had the sale for around ~20. I had to go through the additional hoop of installing VMWare Server and WinXP to be able to access it from my Linux SageTV install, but when that was done, the experience of accessing Netflix and Hulu from my HD100 was definitely worth it. My living room is now down to TV, HD100 and speaker system and I love it that way.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by photon

I apreciate the suggestion of Playon. I guess a lot of sage users here like it. For me I'm not seeing the attraction of a none SageTV solution such as Playon that I have to pay for and maintain in addition to SageTV. My laptop with VGA out connected to TV plays netflix for free and there is no down side other than connecting it when I want to use it for this purpose. I Got SageTV and HD100 running off Windows Home server to replace the multitude of hardware players, computer codecs and other software solutions for digital media and give me a DVR the pretty well eliminates the need for hulu. If I want to purchase something other than SageTV it might make sense to put the $79 playon cost toward a Blueray player that plays Netflix since I don't have a blue ray player yet. If the HD300 streamed netflix like the blue-ray players do it would be a killer reason to upgrade to the HD300 immediately.

I don't think anyone here 'likes' the PlayOn route, it's just that with extenders, it's the only way to do it. I think everyone would much rather watch the actual netflix stream, instead of some poorly streamed-decoded-captured-encoded-streamed-decoded-displayed mess. But netflix doens't support that idea it seems.

[Suntan]

Agreed. I don't "like" using Play On. I "like" being able to watch Netflix and hulu on my extender, even though I have to put up with using Play On.

Also, for a lot of us, Play On was a lot cheaper than $80.

Anyway, as for hooking up a computer to the TV, personally, I could never get Netflix to play fluidly, without a lot of tearing, when running directly from a computer (at least ever since they went to Silverlight.) Wheather it is a weak powered PC running XP or a quad core running Win 7, direct playback on the PC is fail. Play On is not as sharp and shows more compression artifacting, but for one reason or another, it has no tearing and is much smoother in pans (which tends to annoy me more than compression.)

-Suntan

[Fuzzy]

I think the newer silverlight player uses hardware accelleration, leading to much smoother playback, and no tearing. At least it's been looking flawless to me. The only thing really lacking are a good selection of keyboard shortcuts to make remote control use practical.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I think the newer silverlight player uses hardware accelleration, leading to much smoother playback, and no tearing. At least it's been looking flawless to me. The only thing really lacking are a good selection of keyboard shortcuts to make remote control use practical.

I have not had a problem with netflix playback quality on my laptop either but I would still prefer to use Sage TV.

Some years ago I bought a wireless touchpad keyboard the size of a typical laptop keyboard and have been happy with that when I want to use my laptop attached to the TV. I think this is the one I have: ADESSO WKB-4000US 2-Tone 88 Normal Keys RF Wireless Mini Keyboard

[osx-addict]

So just to bring this around one more time.. If I've got an HD300 and want to stream NetFlix, Hulu or related streams, do I need to install something on the HD300 to do that? I think I read above that a plugin needs to be done but I'm not sure..

Also, what do you all think of the video/audio quality of the playOn service? I'm contemplating using this but am not completely sure how it will look on a 50" plasma.. Acceptable? Poor?

Thx!

[heffneil]

I am using playon now but still using Roku mostly. I don't think it is easy to search in netflix with playon. Roku makes it super easy. I wish there were an easy way to use roku with sage but that might be too many layers to the source!

Neil

[osx-addict]

Originally Posted by heffneil

I am using playon now but still using Roku mostly. I don't think it is easy to search in netflix with playon. Roku makes it super easy. I wish there were an easy way to use roku with sage but that might be too many layers to the source!

How's the video quality in your opinion..?

[brantmacga]

Originally Posted by osx-addict

How's the video quality in your opinion..?

i ran the playon trial; its terrible, in my opinion.

[Slipshod]

The video quality was pretty crappy, but I watched it anyway. I couldn't stand the inability to search, modify queue, or start from the beginning of a recording with Playon and the plugin.

I'm now the proud owner of two Roku boxes for watching Netflix.

[osx-addict]

Originally Posted by brantmacga

i ran the playon trial; its terrible, in my opinion.

Thanks.. You saved me $79..

[photon]

I gave in and bought a Samsung Blue-ray player because it also does Netflix instead of upgrading to the 300 immediately. I probably will upgrade eventually even though the 300 doesn't do anything I cant already do (but might do it better). I don't rent BD movies because they cost extra to rent. That extra would soon amount to the $139 I paid for the BD player. Since I don't rent BD disks all this player really does is play DVDs and stream netflix. The DVD upscaled picture and Netflix streaming picture looks great to me.

[Tomahawk51]

Speaking of Netflix...

I wish they didn't charge more for Blu Rays, and I wish the plans weren't ~double the cost of the basic Blockbuster plan. Otherwise, I think I'd be joining you people in streaming.

My new HDTV (Sony) has Netflix as does my PS3. It would be interesting to see which was better - but I'd bet the PS3 is better.

I did try PlayOn, definitely didn't like it, and uninstall-ed it. I found the quality to be poor for Hulu. I see the compelling reasons to use it though.