Running Netflix On Linux 185
ndogg writes "Netflix now works on Linux... sort of. The folks at iheartubuntu have figured out a way to get Netflix to run on the Windows version of Firefox using Wine (with a number of custom patches) and Silverlight. They plan on releasing packages for it all soon. Currently, it seems they have only had success with 32-bit, while compiling for 64-bit is tricky."
Still wondering (Score:2, Informative)
Why in the world Netflix don't move to Flash?
It has DRM too. Come on guys! SilverSh*t is dead
Re:Still wondering (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Still wondering (Score:5, Insightful)
Netflix works fine on the Mac, which is a bigger threat to Microsoft's desktop dominance than Linux is.
Re:Still wondering (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple's Mac is clearly no threat to Microsoft. They've shown themselves perfectly happy to have a profitable niche, rather than lower prices and cater to the unwashed masses.
The real threat to Windows is Android... A decent Android tablet is only $80, plus a few for bluetooth keyboard and stand. Viewsonic is embedding Android systems in their monitors, now, so you can go buy a new monitor for your PC, and later decide the PC its attached to is redundant. I'm frustrated nobody has put together a polished Linux OS layer for Android, ala. Cygwin or MacPorts, so a number of Linux apps I need can't be run on Android. Microsoft knows the threat, and they've (re-)entered the tablet market to try and just slow the competition down, and divide the market, with Win8, rather than let a free and open option gain dominance and that magical economies of scale that suddenly tips the balance of power.
Netflix doesn't seem happy about Android, either. They dragged their feet as long as they could on getting out a Netflix app for Android, and while it's out there now, it sure performs like crap on my nice fast cell phone that easily runs everything else... I suppose no matter how much Netflix loves Microsoft, they can't ignore the market to the point of their own demise.
Meanwhile, HuluDesktop has been available for Linux for a good long time... If you want to stream TV shows and a few movies on your Linux DVR, Hulu Plus is obviously the way to go.
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Android is Linux, it doesn't need any compatibility layer!
You can just install you distro of choice in a chroot. Debian and Gentoo both work great for me.
The lack of X11 acceleration is annoying but everything I have tried has run.
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Of course there are already netflix clients for those...
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--I can already watch Netflix streaming in Vmware Workstation/Player (Win7--64 guest) running on a 64-bit Linux host with accelerated video drivers - which I believe is a better and more natural arrangement. WINE's work, while nice to have, is not the only way to accomplish these things.
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--I can already watch Netflix streaming in Vmware Workstation/Player (Win7--64 guest) running on a 64-bit Linux host with accelerated video drivers - which I believe is a better and more natural arrangement. WINE's work, while nice to have, is not the only way to accomplish these things.
Better ... you can do that for free? Without paying MS for the privilege of watching NetFlix?
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Flash is dead? (Score:4, Insightful)
Since when? It seems that more and more crap is being shoveled out. I would have thought HTML5 would have marginalized Flash, it hasn't.
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I haven't had Flash installed for years now, and doesn't seem like I'm missing anything. Most video sites (including YouTube or pr0n have options for loading an HTML5 video player, or will do so if they detect an iOS device.
Fanboy sez... (Score:2, Funny)
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Does HTML5 work yet? Doesn't much of the hyped functionality require additional stuff to make it work? Ie, you also have to have extra codecs, or javascript, or something else. While Flash has problems, HTML5 certainly does also and still can not do what Flash does.
There really is a place in the market for a media programming language thing. Markup languages can not match that, no matter what the web oriented fanboys think. Now maybe Flash is the wrong thing for that, and Silverlight is even worse, but
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Re:Still wondering (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Still wondering (Score:5, Interesting)
So how come it works on Android?
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Hardware-level DRM.
Redundant (Score:5, Funny)
Using
Silverlight to play
Entertainment from
Netflix?
Exciting!
Tell me more!
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Some people would prefer not to get sued.
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You are maybe thinking of BitTorrent?
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Let's see if Netflix moves to block this (Score:2)
Netflix can either set minimum silverlight to 5 or find another way to block it. It will be interesting to see if they do that.
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Reed Hastings is on the MS board until Nov 30 and owns quite a bit of MS stock.
Also WIne might make recording this content slightly easier. I would imagine you could just record the screen in windows as well, though.
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Two reasons:
1) Studio heads who hear 'Linux' and think free ... hacker ... piracy.
2) The possible purchase [bizjournals.com] of Netflix by Microsoft.
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Netflix can either set minimum silverlight to 5 or find another way to block it. It will be interesting to see if they do that.
Um, I just happened to try this out a few nights ago on my Linux Mint 13 laptop. I had Silverlight 4 on Firefox 14 installed under Wine1.4. The Netflix page made me download a newer version of Silverlight which didn't work.
Of course, I didn't bother with any of the wine patches, so I probably lose anyway. I was going to try Win7 under VirtualBox next to see how that performs.
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You have to have the wine patches or it will not work.
Not good enough, dammit, not good enough! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough! (Score:4, Funny)
After this post, you can clearly see that netflix's stock dropped by $0.00000001 per share. GO spidercoz!
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After this post, you can clearly see that netflix's stock dropped by $0.00000001 per share. GO spidercoz!
Well, add another $0.00000001 for me. Eventually this adds up to some money.
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I used to think that way until my old DVD player died. My replacement BD player has netflix built-in, and it doesn't require a computer attached to the TV.
Still not going to get a netflix subscription though. I don't have enough time to watch shows and movies, and I'm pretty sure my ISP will complain loudly if I watch it every day. Go Canada!
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You don't own any optical media? I thought about that for a long time - just get rid of everything I have so I don't have to store it. I replaced the player to play my old content, I have hundreds of legit physical CDs and DVDs and a couple BDs.
I didn't even know that it could do netflix until I took the new player out of the box and set it up.
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Works for me.
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The selection in Canada is terrible. I hooked up a Roku box for one of my customers who bought one, and there was not one movie or show on Netflix that they wanted to watch. (I saw a few things I could have watched, but to say I was underwhelmed is an understatement) I left them exploring some of the other (free) channels that the Roku could connect to, but I was not optimistic.
Seriously though, I wouldn't bother with Netflix when I can download most any movie or show that has ever existed and keep it forev
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OK, here is a test for you. Using your regular channels, can you see if you can currently get any of the following?
All the Curious George episodes (I can only find 1ep on easynews)
Harold and the Purple Crayon episodes (None on ezn)
All the Thomas & Friends (A few on ezn)
Go Diego Go (I can only find a few german ones)
Similar luck on torrent sites too, but I can't check right now.
I won't go on, but there is lots of stuff for kids (and adults too, but granted, not as much) that's not easy to find unless it'
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In my area, my speed would halve. I'd do it if they could match my speed or even better, increase it.
Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough! (Score:5, Funny)
-android
-iphone
-ipad
-Xbox 360 if I paid the additional fees
-Wii
-Macbook
-Windows laptop
-WDTV device that crashes constantly
Things I cannot run netflix on easily:
-The ubuntu laptop that I have no use for except as a HTPC.
I'd cancel my subscription out of protest. But my wife would side with Netflix over me any day of the week.
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This is for the people who won't use Linux because it doesn't run Netflix, not the people who won't use Netflix because it doesn't run on Linux. Netflix don't want you, don't care about supporting you and might in fact hate it because it causes problems with their content providers who demand "robust" DRM. But as usual there's hacktivists that won't take no for an answer and they'll reverse engineer, emulate, patch and prod it until it works, it's how Linux got off the ground in the first place. It certainl
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Until it runs in Linux natively, I'm not reinstating my subscription. Bite me, Netflix.
http://www.iheartubuntu.com/2012/11/netflix-on-ubuntu-is-here.html [iheartubuntu.com]
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Perhaps the reason Netflix is using Silverlight is not because of some evil Microsoft conspiracy, but the fact that the Linux market is too small to develop and support for and Netflix can't guarantee the studio-required DRM will not be circumvented.
But yeah, it's probably a vast criminal conspiracy just to troll /.'ers. We're that important.
Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's rather peculiar considering there's a Netflix app for Android.
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I would wager it doesn't work -at all- on at least 25% of the android devices on the market, and quite poorly on another 25%, particularly after their recent UI update.
I don't know what kind of slack jawed yokels they have on their android development team but seriously, WTH guys?
Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough! (Score:5, Informative)
And if you run nmap against my Samsung TV, it reports that it is running Linux. Youtube, BBC channel, all sorts of sports stuff, Hulu plus, Netflix, etc. are all built into it.
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It's rather peculiar considering there's a Netflix app for Android.
We can assume that he meant desktop Linux.
Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough! (Score:5, Informative)
No. Netflix has an incestuous relationship with Microsoft. That's why they are using Silverlight while Amazon is using Flash.
So Amazon works fine in Linux.
You want to know what's really the minority platform? Silverlight.
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No. Netflix has an incestuous relationship with Microsoft. That's why they are using Silverlight while Amazon is using Flash.
So Amazon works fine in Linux.
Yeah, this is the real answer. Drop Netflix for Amazon Prime streaming until Netflix provides a Linux client. It's cheaper per year. Sorry you lose some of the content that's only on Netflix, but it seems like they've been losing some of the good shows anyway.
When Netflix first came out, it was pretty awesome. I was working in near-realtime video transmission then, and was pretty picky about mpeg4 quantization and vertical sync artifacts. Netflix had actually done a pretty good job with handling all th
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DRM will always be circumvented if there is any interest in doing so, it is purely security through obscurity... If the device is capable of decoding and displaying the stream then it's also capable of recording it and it's only a matter of someone working out how.
If such DRM hasn't been cracked already it's because noone has bothered, and why would they? The movies and tv shows on netflix are old and generally of inferior quality to high definition broadcast tv or bluray media, so the pirates will source t
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but the fact that the Linux market is too small to develop and support for and Netflix can't guarantee the studio-required DRM will not be circumvented.
ChromeOS has a netflix plugin. ChromeOS is basically a limited Linux distro, with a very limited X11 window manager. Netflix already *has* a working solution for the Linux market, and they added special checks so it won't run on non-ChromeOS machines.
I'm glad we have this workaround now, and I donated to the developer, but if I'm going to buy a video, I'd at least buy it from Amazon -- where they don't go out of their way to sabotage Linux and at least have a few help page entries about it.
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No sale (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would I pay Netflix when they won't bother to support my OS? If they want my money, they can port their software to my OS, or they can package Wine with their software, and support that.
They would also have to change their policy on DRM-free content [ninapaley.com] before they get any of my money. I'm willing to pay for TV, I'm even willing to watch their ads. I'm not willing to facilitate an effort to make DRM the norm.
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The use case for non-DRM rentals is 99% of the population out there that have no technical skills to speak of. There is nothing on Netflix streaming that I can't get somewhere else.
Infact, I am far more likely to find what I am looking for in some other format that is more widely supported.
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Any decently designed crypto system should be able to drop in a null cipher as easily as any other. If it takes more than a trivial amount of work to add a DRM-free option, that's a sign of really bad design decisions on the part of their engineers. Netflix should fix that for the sake of their own platforms robustness.
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We had non DRM rentals before in the form of VHS and VCD...
We could copy our VHS tapes if we wanted, most people didn't anyway.
Now rentals are encumbered with DRM, those people who copied VHS tapes now crack the DRM while many of us who used to pay for VHS tapes now pirate because we detest the idea of DRM.
To reiterate, i will only pay for and/or put up with commercials on DRM-free media, if the content is encumbered with DRM i will either acquire a pirate copy where the DRM has been removed (and the commer
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To reiterate, i will only pay for and/or put up with commercials on DRM-free media, if the content is encumbered with DRM i will either acquire a pirate copy where the DRM has been removed (and the commercials too as an f-you) or do without the content at all so you will never make any money from me so long as you try to force evils like DRM on me.
If you buy DRM-free media, that's a good idea. But if you pirate the DRM'ed ones, you're probably just provoking them to add more DRM to fight piracy.
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I do buy DRM-free media if it's available, the problem is that in many cases it's simply not available to buy - the only source of DRM-free media is warez groups.
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The idea of a rental is problematic anyway for digital content. You loan me a physical object, you no longer have it. I use it and then give it back, and you have it again. With an electronic version, you give me a copy of an object, but still have the original. Later, I delete the copy and you still have the original. The problem is trying to use a metaphor that simply doesn't make sense as the basis for a business model.
The service of value that Netflix offers is not rental, it's access to an ever-i
Undoing moderation; please ignore this post (Score:3, Insightful)
n/t
I installed Ubuntu to have a "work machine"... (Score:3)
...and then this happens. This is worse than when I got WoW working in WINE.
Meh. (Score:2)
The only way to reliably play Silverlight stuff is to install the most trimmed back XP you can get (WinFLP for me) and install IE8.
And you know what?
I never watch Silverlight stuff anyway even with the ability to do so.
--
BMO
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>why bother trimming it?
Total process footprint and boot speed.
WinFLP boots in 8 seconds on this machine after clicking the icon. Reboots are between 4 and 6 seconds. And it takes up about the same memory footprint as W2k.
--
BMO
Another answer (Score:2)
It actually sort of already works in "Linux", since there's a working Netflix app for Android.
I've never done it, but presumably this means that you can run it on your Linux desktop by running an Android device emulator with the Netflix app.
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I believe that would be way to slow to watch. The netflix app uses the NDK so you have to emulate ARM which is slow. Besides it might well check for an emulator and fail to start.
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You can also run a windows XP virtual machine using virtual box and watch netflix that way. Works fine if you enable hardware acceleration and have decent hardware.
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How does it run on blu-ray players? (Score:2)
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They use software not compiled for x86 so it is actually easier to get Wine to work than what you are suggesting.
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Of course it does, always has... (Score:2)
I just pop the DVD into the player and off it goes.
Wait. You mean streaming. Oh, okay. But who cares when Netflix has very little of their content available for streaming.
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Netflix is pretty great for TV shows, but yeah, movies are pretty lacking.
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but they have what matters:
Star Trek - OS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT,
Stargate - SG1, Atlantis, Universe,
Battle Star Galactic - New series, caprica, razor
x files, eureka, warehouse 13, Alphas,
unfortunately they no longer have red dwarf probably will again when season x hits dvd
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Like a good nrd, I own the proper ones;
Star Trek - OS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT,
Battle Star Galactic
x files
Gah! I shudder at these syfy failings ( after the first season )
ST:VOY Only for Seven of Nine
Netflix already works on Linux (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Netflix already works on Linux (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Netflix already works on Linux (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously? How???
libnetflixplayer.so or something like that - it's a Pepper plugin.
My cobwebbed mind suggests it has some sort of tie-in with TPC that is inactive if the Chromebook isn't running in developer mode. Somebody correct me here.
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try ripping the binary out that runs it push it to pirate bay then
no Netflix for me (Score:2)
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The selection of "free" movies for Prime members is comparable to Netflix's selection
Shirley, you must be joking [bgr.com].
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ChromeOS (Score:2)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but why not just use ChromeOS's support for Netflix in something like Virtualbox?
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Because that won't work. Netflix for ChromeOS is specifically tied to certain Chromebook hardware.
Why bother? (Score:4, Interesting)
Regular TV is broadcast in a standard format that can be received on any compatible device, where the specifications required for compatibility are openly available for anyone to implement.
VHS was the same...
Now media is delivered in drm-encumbered proprietary formats, all in the name of "preventing piracy", however piracy is now more common than ever.
I used to buy movies on VHS and/or watch them on broadcast TV, but if you try to force me to use a proprietary device to watch tv i will just find superior alternatives instead that can be viewed on devices of my choice.
The warez versions are massively superior to what netflix offers:
- you can watch the files on any device thats physically capable with no arbitrary restrictions
- you can download at any time and watch later (eg if you have bandwidth caps during the day but not at night, or want to watch on a portable device)
I would pay for a legit service which offered the same quality of service as warez, but since such a service isn't available i can't... Those services which are available are clearly inferior and entirely unusable for me.
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I would pay for a legit service which offered the same quality of service as warez, but since such a service isn't available i can't...
Interesting opinion... It's bullshit, IMO, but whatever. You act like warez is your only other option. Whatever helps you sleep at $BEDTIME. Everyone has different morals.
I was once a Netflix subscriber. My XBox Live subscription ran out, and I wasn't playing many games (and I realize how shitty it is to pay for ads in a service that any PC can do w/ server list, not loading down MS servers), so I sold my Xbox & games, then called Netflix support when I couldn't seem to get it working on my perso
Surprised at the route (Score:3)
I thought someone would eventually come through and get some sort of Netflix working on Linux, but Silverlight working right was not at the top of my list. I was expecting either a dedicated and optimized "player" for the Android app or a port of the the ChromeOS version.
Yo, Dawg! (Score:2)
We heard you liked Netflix so we had some hackers, hack your hack to hack wine to hack firefox on windows hack.
Gotta give the guys credit for figuring this out, but sheesh that's quite a software stack just to watch a grade B movie from 1982.
Wine is not an option (Score:2)
Virtual Box/Vmware (Score:2)
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The android app uses the NDK so you would have to emulate ARM. Which would be slow. Many of the embedded device use ARM as well.
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What hardware level DRM are they using?
I really would like to learn more. Netflix works fine on my all my android devices most of which are not running their origonal roms.
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Is there a reason Silverlight can't use hardware acceleration under Wine? Video games running in Wine use the video card just fine.
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that can't happened because de Icaza said we can't have DRM.
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You can't have DRM because MS patented the form of DRM that Silverlight uses. Which is presumably at least one of the reasons why de Icaza says he won't allow it to be implemented.