Native Netflix, Pandora Hello...?

[RyanW]

Apple, Boxee, Sony, Samsung, now even WD has a set top box with Netflix support. We're fast approaching the point where Sage is the only product on the market that does not ship with built-in support for Netflix and Pandora. Given that every cat and dog in town is doing it, I can only assume that Netflix has made a development kit that must make it very easy to add Netflix support to just about anything.

I do not want to send money to PlayOn. I do not want to be stuck with PlayOn's standard-def Netflix limitation. I am willing to pay more for SageTV HD Theater and for SageTV if it comes with Netflix and Pandora built-in.

Who else agrees?


Apple, Boxee, Sony, Samsung, now even WD has a set top box with Netflix support. We're fast approaching the point where Sage is the only product on the market that does not ship with built-in support for Netflix and Pandora. Given that every cat and dog in town is doing it, I can only assume that Netflix has made a development kit that must make it very easy to add Netflix support to just about anything.

I do not want to send money to PlayOn. I do not want to be stuck with PlayOn's standard-def Netflix limitation. I am willing to pay more for SageTV HD Theater and for SageTV if it comes with Netflix and Pandora built-in.

Who else agrees?

* merged *

[paulbeers]

Are we really rehashing this again? Where's the lock button on Threads. Do a search..... We don't need another of these "why isn't sage doing Netflix...."....

[paulbeers]

Really? two places?!?! really?!?!

[cncb]

Well, it would be nice to get a concrete answer for once. Are we always going to have to have 2 boxes at each tv? This is making me pause on buying additional HD300s...

[stanger89]

You're not going to get one. It would be stupid for Sage to say "we're never going to do it" (and I personally doubt that's the case), and if they're looking into it, they're not going to say anything until it's ready.

[Chriscic]

Are there any solid theories on why they don't have this now? I agree, it seems like every other device offeres Netflix these days, so the omission feels sort of glaring, and it's hard to believe that Netflix would make it onerous to enable their service (which they get paid for).

Maybe they just haven't gotten to it yet.

[JetreL]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

Maybe they just haven't gotten to it yet.

Maybe they have and they think the licensing is just to damn expensive or the DRM that would have to be included would kill one of their key product sellers or maybe they are worried that getting sued by the MPAA for allowing this without DRM would wipe them out of business. Who knows?

[frontlinegeek]

One of the biggest issues is that like CableCard, there is a need for a protected playback path...

With that said, it should be a joke for them to find a way to add it to the PC clients and Placeshifters as it should just reach out and use the Silverlight API as does the web browser on every PC and MAC that can currently access Netflix. The complex part is building a good interface for the user and not to knock Sage, but user interfaces were not their strong suit until v7 came out...

There was also a note that the new HD300 has a DRM chip of some sort on it so perhaps that is another vector for them.

Being in Canada, what I CAN say is that Sage would be making a massive strategic mistake if they are not the first to put proper support into the HD300 for both the US and Canadian market. I say this as the only viable Netflix options right now in Canada are the Wii and the PS3. PlayOn now works but it sucks even compared to the Wii and I would FAR rather pay money to Sage and not to PlayOn. Roku, WD and Apple are very likely going to have Netflix support for Canadians soon, but if Sage were to beat them to the punch, then it would/could be good press to then help them sell even MORE product.

And to complaining that this subject keeps coming up? This is for a reason!!! Netflix integration is a VERY highly desired feature. Right now, I am a Netflix subscriber and also a SageTV user that is in need of upgrading/replacing one of my HTPCs. I DESPERATELY want to do it with an HD300 but now that Canada has Netflix, I am not moving until I know what is happening. I tried the PlayOn thing and as I stated above, it sucks.

So with that!!!!

PLEASE Sage!!!! NETFLIX!!!!!!

[sleonard]

I don't know about Hulu but I've read that Netflix has a very high bar for entry. Something along the lines of 100,000 shipped units in the first year or you don't get Netflix on your device. Whatever the number it was unreasonably high for small companies such as Sage.

So it seems to me that all the plea's and complaints should be directed towards Netflix instead. Maybe an email campaign from loyal Sage users would help lower Netflix's entry bar? I doubt it but maybe?

S

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by sleonard

Something along the lines of 100,000 shipped units in the first year or you don't get Netflix on your device. Whatever the number it was unreasonably high for small companies such as Sage.

Yes. I've spoken with Netflix directly on this, and it is indeed true that to get "Netflix Branded Partner" status (what Sage would need to get Netflix working natively in SageTV), you need to show Netflix how you will deliver 100,000 units (was 50,000 last year) in a year. Something I don't think Sage can do.

My hope is that GoogleTV will be a back door around this. A SageTV app for GoogleTV, or GoogleTV on a SageTV extender would give SageTV users "native" access to Netflix, Pandora, etc. Of course, it's unknown if SageTV would do something like this -- just a hope.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Are we really rehashing this again?

Yes. Because I'm highlighting the fact the I'm willing to pay more for an HD300 with Netflix support. I will most likely be making another media extender purchase this year, and a requirement is that it has Netflix support. The location of this box does not mandate I have live TV or the ability to adjust Sage's recording schedule, so any media extender that can play the recorded TV files on my server will suffice.

It's not just a question of will it bring in new customers. It's also a question of will it prevent current customers from switching to a different solution.

I looked all over the Netflix website to find an appropriate email address to encourage them to support Sage, but I couldn't find anything useful. If someone else has a useful link or email address, let us know.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Because I'm highlighting the fact the I'm willing to pay more for an HD300 with Netflix support.

In my opinion, Netflix support that works only on the HD300 (or HD400), and only in standalone mode, is at best a stopgap solution. I want to be able to access Netflix seamlessly from within the SageTV UI, from any client on my system, software or hardware, and without having to resort to external apps or rebooting STBs into a special Netflix mode. Any solution that does not provide this kind of seamless server-side integration does not count as "native Netflix support" in my view.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I looked all over the Netflix website to find an appropriate email address to encourage them to support Sage, but I couldn't find anything useful. If someone else has a useful link or email address, let us know.

Not sure if all of these are still active or not, but you can try:
Ryan Troy <rtroy@netflix.com>
Michael Hart <mhart@netflix.com>
Thomas Purnell-Fisher <tpf@netflix.com>
Kirsten Jones <kijones@netflix.com>
Netflix API Support <apisupport@netflix.com>

[michelkenny]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

HD300 (or HD400)

Holy crow, the HD300 was just released and we're already talking about the HD400

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Any solution that does not provide this kind of seamless server-side integration does not count as "native Netflix support" in my view.

An embedded browser that supports silverlight would be suitable to get Netflix working in other SageTV Clients.

[frontlinegeek]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Any solution that does not provide this kind of seamless server-side integration does not count as "native Netflix support" in my view.

Well, I would like to be that pure about it too but I would be happy with just having it in the extender...

Otherwise, the only viable alternative for me to keep costs and complexity to a minimum would be to buy the HD300 AND a BluRay player that supports Netflix. However that introduces the issue of having TWO NICs that need cabling at each spot that I do this. I can deal with that easily enough with small switches hanging off the network at each location but that is ugly.

[farfromuman]

I have the HD300 coming to replace the HTPC server/client and have the same dilemma. Even if Sage adds Netflix, soon we will be asking for Hulu, then Vudu etc... So I decided to find a second box to complement Sage.

I narrowed it down to a Roku box, it will do Netflix, Pandora and Hulu Plus (soon they say) - the entry level 720p/WIFI model starts at $60 which is a very good deal compared to Play-On's subscription based solution.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by sleonard

I don't know about Hulu but I've read that Netflix has a very high bar for entry. Something along the lines of 100,000 shipped units in the first year or you don't get Netflix on your device. Whatever the number it was unreasonably high for small companies such as Sage.

Originally Posted by brainbone

Yes. I've spoken with Netflix directly on this, and it is indeed true that to get "Netflix Branded Partner" status (what Sage would need to get Netflix working natively in SageTV), you need to show Netflix how you will deliver 100,000 units (was 50,000 last year) in a year. Something I don't think Sage can do.

But that makes me wonder how PCH, Dune, or Oppo can get Netflix on their boxen. I would not expect them to sell huge numbers either.

Originally Posted by brainbone

An embedded browser that supports silverlight would be suitable to get Netflix working in other SageTV Clients.

Easier said than done in a Java-based cross platform (Mac/Linux) app.

[MTisza]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Easier said than done in a Java-based cross platform (Mac/Linux) app.

I don't know much about the guts of the extenders, but I do know that java is being used all over the place. I'm sure Linux is the embedded OS. Where does Mac come into this? Just curious.

[stanger89]

I was talking more the issues of getting a Microsoft Silverlight "browser" running on Linux or Mac.