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I don't know of any way to get it to work on a Rpi at the moment.

If you have a x86/x64 server somewhere in the house you could try to stream the output from the browser running on the server - or something like that. But I'm guessing the DRM will get in your way.

http://www.playon.tv/playon does something like this from a Windows PC to XBMC - but at $70 I would look elsewhere.

What you need is .... TiVo for NetFlix!
Um...you mean PlayLater?

There's a neat little transcoder called PlayOn (playon.tv) that connects to a whole host of online broadcasts, including all of the major cable and broadcast networks, Netflix, Hulu, and a few other things.

Obviously, this is not a perfect solution, but it does allow Netflix to run via XBMC (or another UPNP frontend), and while you have a somewhat limited choice of episodes with the broadcast networks (usually only the last three episodes plus another one or two "important" episodes), the commercials at least show a countdown timer.

I have been using and recommending PlayOn for several years. The open nature of their plugin system allows you to roll your own for any site out there. I did a quick search of one of the most active plugin/scripting sites for PlayOn and found this. With it's active scripting scene you can find just about anything you are looking for. And if you don't you can usually find someone willing to tackle it for you just for fun. Add to that the fact you can live stream from it to any DLNA compatible device as well as any iDevice/Android/BB over the internet.

The PlayBook and Kindle Fire are basically cousins anyway. Quanta makes both of them.

As far as HULU it is HULU to blame as they have blocked the PlayBook from working on their site. You can try installing SimpleBrowser from App World. It lets you specify a user agent string HULU doesn't block. I simply use PlayOn to stream HULU from my PC.

PlayLater does prestreaming/recording see http://www.playon.tv/playlater/ Unfortunately its a closed beta atm (playon.tv subscribers get a invite code to test out the service) and while a tad buggy at times, It works pretty good for Netflix + Amazon VOD (hulu too), doesnt have a scheduler as of yet but I was told its coming as well

My "cable" company (if you consider AT&T U-verse cable; it's close enough) wanted $120+ a month to watch what I wanted and DVR it. Corrupt video? Schedule get screwed up? Local network happen to be out? I'd be screwed. This was on top of $50-$60/mo just for internet. So now it's $50-60/mo on internet plus $16/mo for Netflix, $8/mo for Hulu Plus, and I can still buy $96 worth of TV off Amazon or iTMS and still break even!

Of course I'm sure the internet providers (who also provide TV) will start getting bitchy when people start dropping their service for cheaper options over their existing network connection. But their service is crappy and their prices are outrageous.

Save your $8/mo for Hulu Plus and connect your laptop to your tv. IF you don't have one and don't want that hassle (like me) of that or a HTPC, head over to www.PlayOn.tv. With it you can stream all net video, including Hulu and ESPN3, to your TV or iPhone (flash video sent to iPhone even over 3G!!) through numerous devices that support DNLA (many BR players do these days as well as game consoles or net connected TV's). It costs money (free trial) but you get much more than Hulu Plus and it has numerous other services it can stream. /end commercial

That's what we use and I love the service and it's wife friendly (main selling point).

NHL GameCenter Live for live NHL games

I've been told that games shown on local cable TV are blacked out on NHL's online stream.

ESPN3

ESPN3 isn't available anywhere. An ISP has to subscribe to it, and I'm guessing based on what I read in ESPN3's FAQ that not all areas have a cable or fiber ISP that does.

and they all work with PlayON which is compatible with PS3 and Xbox360

I'm not entirely sure that the CPU of the PC in the household in question is fast enough to meet PlayOn's minimum system requirements. It was bought used a few years ago. Besides, they would still need to buy a PS3 or Xbox 360 for the TV room. The cost of a new PC and a new PS3 just to watch PlayOn would pay for several months of cable TV. Or can someone usefully surf the Web and write homework in a word processor while PlayOn works in the background? If so, I might be able to promote the combination to the head of household as a PC and Blu-ray movie upgrade.

" Do you have any tips for stopping cable for people who live with fans of cable news or cable sports?"

Yes: kill them. Tell them all they need is /. If they don't understand get new fans, they're not worth having around anyway.

Only news I get is online (/.) or Colbert. Seriously news is waaay overrated. Haven't watched the local news in 4 years and I don't feel worse for wear.

But if someone must have sports *shutters* then there's NFL Game Rewind with every NFL game in HD, NHL GameCenter Live for live NHL games and MLB. There's also ESPN, ESPN3, Fox Soccer... just google it, and they all work with PlayON which is compatible with PS3 and Xbox360.

"How many Netflix subscribers actually use the PC version? "

Anyone that uses PlayON to stream Netflix to their HDTV. I believe XBMC and boxee does that too.

I recently had to stop using my XBMC for Netflix because I had so many problems with getting Silverlight to work correctly with XP. Now I stream Netflix through the PS3.

b) the fear that something that works for you might get packaged as a product for the masses.

You mean like PlayOn

Yay! Someone on /. who can think!

BTW -- it's possible for both cases to partially work under Wine. SketchUp works for everything that doesn't use WebDialogs (and some WebDialogs do work). You can get Silverlight 3.0 working on Wine, but the DRM still crashes wineserver. A possible solution for MythTV and XBMC users is to use PlayOn and a Windows PC to stream it via UPnP. Not perfect, but it works.

...although why you'd want to run Windows 7 in a VM just to watch Netflix I'll never know.

You might install the sanctioned PlayOn UPnP Media server to broadcast to your Linux UPnP clients maybe? Heck, if you were technically forced to, Windows networking might be VPNd which allows some degree of port control which is otherwise difficult when using an XBox, PlayStation, Roku, Wii, AppleTV etc. How would you otherwise force an XBox or some such hardware to SSH or VPN using only a router like DD-WRT?

Perhaps you should provide a link to PlayOn since you mentioned it. Been using PlayOn for almost two years and having HULU on my Wii/360/PS3/BD/Ipod Touch has been great. But I find I'm actually using some of the community created plug-ins even more than the baked in ones. It's not without it's gotcha's but when problems are identified the PlayOn team has been quick to patch and improve the service. Now we just need an updated DLNA protocol to improve the experience.

Here's my (not fully tested) solution to watching NetFlix using my favorite, cheap Ubuntu NetBook as well as my Nokia N95, via UPnP. These are my current plans actually.

Perhaps your requirement is for non-US NetFlix access, so it should be possible to SSH to a US-based DD-WRT router serving as a proxy. I sold my older Asus Eee and am now waiting for the newer dual-core 1015PEM to be released, and it comes with Windows 7 Starter.

http://www.playon.tv/playonPlayOn is a Windows-based proxy for streaming NetFlix, etc. as UPnP; and costs about $30. I plan to use Acronis True Image to move the Windows 7 to a Virtual Machine environment (VirtualBox these days), and install PlayOn there. Also I'll install Bitvise Tunnelier so I can re-direct the Windows ports to use the SSH-connected US router/proxy.

I'll also use the Ubuntu Alternate installer, to fully-encrypt the Asus hard disk during installation. Then I'll add the netbook interface options select 'Ubuntu Netbook' from Synaptec's 'Mark Packages by Task' option. OR, I might test the newly released Meego Netbook 1.1 from last week.

"To offer some perspective, here in the UK we have monthly limits that are most commonly in the 15-30Gb range"

To add some perspective, here in the US I transfer ~200gb a week, and since April 28th just one of the three always-on PCs transferred a upload/download combined 602gb. That's the media server, which transcodes video delivered from Hulu and Netflix through PlayON so it's viewable on the TV through a XBMC. I cancelled my TV service nearly 3 years ago and have been relying on downloaded and streaming media ever since.

Even my regular PC, which I use for email, web and occasional Youtube video averages 70gb a month.

If I was limited to 250gb a month I could not watch Hulu or Netflix and would have to closely monitor my Youtube usage. I would also have to install flash and ad blocking software to prevent any banner ads from appearing which hurts the websites I love.

Glad I have Charter.

Want to easily monitor your usage for free? Install Netmeter

PlayOn is a media-server app that lets you use Hulu (among other things) through current-gen consoles.

I use a PC with PlayOn to stream to my PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, and an XBOX with XBMC. It will actually stream to any device that is DLNA compliant. There is an active plugin group where you can request or submit plugins for different sites. Since I am seeing many of the newer Blu-Ray players come with DLNA baked in I would look for one of those if a gaming console isn't what you have or want.

If you have a decently fast Windows PC on the same network, I just pay $40 once to PlayOn and I get streaming with no issues. And you can also stream Hulu, and CBS, and a number of other sites, not just Netflix.

- Pitabred (anon since I've moderated, and I'm just a happy customer, not an employee or in any other way related to the software)

Try running a Windows OS in VirtualBox sorta like a server, (in a closet, headless maybe,) along with the PlayOn software http://www.playon.tv/playon.

The idea is the Windows/PlayOn server can receive NetFlix fine, and stream to your UPnP Linux workstations. 'Theoretically', you could feed your MythTV this way with input from NetFlix-- I have never tried this.

Can anyone could suggest a nice UPnP client for Ubuntu? Does Totem do UPnP?

PlayOn costs $40, and maybe you've were given an XP license on some box you upgraded to Ubuntu? At any rate, this is competitive with the price of a Roku box, and if you run VM servers anyway, this reduces hardware, increases VPN options, etc.

If you've got Series2 TiVos, then you'll need Digital Converter boxes that the TiVo's will control, the same way they do the cable boxes right now. They run ~$40 each (you'll probably want one for each television).
Before I jumped shipped we had already switched to a Series3 and an HDTV, so I'm not sure which models are recommended. Try looking/asking here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/.

Things to keep in mind:
If you replace one of the TiVos with a Series3, TiVoHD or TiVoHD-XL they come with built-in Dual Tuners and can output to SD also.
The Series3 models are also the ones that support NetFlix, BlockBuster, and AmazonVideo.

I would recommend looking into a HTPC that can be plugged into the TV to support Internet Video. I commented on some of the things here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1464648&cid=30306402 (linked rather than reprinting).

In a nutshell, I'd suggest to look at something that can run Zinc (or something like it) (if you are going to want to go down the road of using Over-The-Internet Video to supplement Over-The-Air).

Another alternative I didn't mention in that posting was that a PS3 would make a decent "companion device".
Out of the box it plays DVDs and Blu-Ray (I know you don't care, about the HD, but its nice to know it isn't going to go obsolete). Sony also their own video store that carries a lot of shows "timely" (similar to iTunes and AmazonVideo).
Add in something like PlayOn running on a Networked Windows PC and you've got the NetFlix and Hulu content running on your TV.

If you've already got a PS3, XBox360 or Wii, you can download a two week trial of it and give it a whirl to see if it might work.

You can do all of this with an SD TV, you'll probably have more wires, and it will be a more complicated/cumbersome setup, but if you've already got most of the equipment (TVs and TiVos), then its not a terrible road to go down.

Other things to keep in mind, are that most people I know with CableTV also have CableModems. The cable companies will often charge higher rates if you JUST get the internet connection from them.
When I dropped Cable, I dropped them for everything and switched to DSL from Verizon. I already had a land line, so it was just a self-install kit, and phone call or two to get it all connected, but its something to keep in mind.

Verizon had a two week "cancellation" clause, so I didn't cancel my cable, till I'd had the DSL line put in, switched everything over, and had already disconnected from the cable in my house.

Most of the decisions really come down to personal choices that are based in large part around what you already have.

If I can help answer any more questions, just track me down at my username@ att and then just add a .net to the end. :)

It's non-free ($40US) Windows-only software but it serves NetFlix over your LAN via DLNA/uPnP...

http://www.playon.tv/playon/how-it-works

A tidy, secure-ish and affordable (if you use XP) solution might be to install it on a Windows VM running on your Linux server...one box still does all the serving and if the Windows VM gets pwned, you just bring it back from a backup in minutes. The VM will have a separate IP via its virtual network adapter so it shouldn't conflict with the host box. DRM might be an issue too but this could be a workable solution if you really want NetFlix in a non-Windows environment...

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxee

Boxee is a cross-platform freeware media center software with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV. Boxee is a fork of the free and open source XBMC media center software which Boxee uses as an application framework for its GUI and media player core platform, together with some custom and proprietary additions. Marketed as the first ever "Social Media Center", Boxee enables its users to view, rate and recommend content to their friends through many interactive social networking features. The current version is Alpha but works very well. You can register for free on their website. Also the beta version of Boxee will be released for all platforms on December 7th 2009.

PlayOn Media Server

PlayOn gets your favorite Internet Videos off your computer screen and onto your TV. Download and try out PlayOn for free for 14 days. All you need is a home networked PC and a DLNA-compatible device — like a PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, or Moxi HD DVR. We've also announced PlayOn for Wii public beta.

My Notes:

At home we have two Xbox360's and we stream content to them from PlayOn. From a budget perspective view PlayOn is the way to go if you have consoles at home. PlayOn only costs $39.99 and to configure it its a onetime setup which is pretty straight forward. You can also download free plugins from PlayOn Plugins. At my home we currently we use Netflix, Hulu, Cartoon Network and a bunch others). Once you got your settings configured, you go into your console and in the Video section you will see a "Channel" that looks like "yourPCName:Playon" when you select it you will see all the options you configured to watch. It works as advertised and works very well. I have another 360 that got banned in my bedroom with a 36" LCD and it works great.

Boxee, I used it for a while, but I never had a PC/Mac dedicated just for that... It is pretty good and there is lots of support... One thing is that Boxee is free.

I hope this helps!

Kildjean

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxee

Boxee is a cross-platform freeware media center software with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV. Boxee is a fork of the free and open source XBMC media center software which Boxee uses as an application framework for its GUI and media player core platform, together with some custom and proprietary additions. Marketed as the first ever "Social Media Center", Boxee enables its users to view, rate and recommend content to their friends through many interactive social networking features. The current version is Alpha but works very well. You can register for free on their website. Also the beta version of Boxee will be released for all platforms on December 7th 2009.

PlayOn Media Server

PlayOn gets your favorite Internet Videos off your computer screen and onto your TV. Download and try out PlayOn for free for 14 days. All you need is a home networked PC and a DLNA-compatible device — like a PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, or Moxi HD DVR. We've also announced PlayOn for Wii public beta.

My Notes:

At home we have two Xbox360's and we stream content to them from PlayOn. From a budget perspective view PlayOn is the way to go if you have consoles at home. PlayOn only costs $39.99 and to configure it its a onetime setup which is pretty straight forward. You can also download free plugins from PlayOn Plugins. At my home we currently we use Netflix, Hulu, Cartoon Network and a bunch others). Once you got your settings configured, you go into your console and in the Video section you will see a "Channel" that looks like "yourPCName:Playon" when you select it you will see all the options you configured to watch. It works as advertised and works very well. I have another 360 that got banned in my bedroom with a 36" LCD and it works great.

Boxee, I used it for a while, but I never had a PC/Mac dedicated just for that... It is pretty good and there is lots of support... One thing is that Boxee is free.

I hope this helps!

Kildjean