Running Netflix On Linux

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."

Comments

Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Why in the world Netflix don't move to Flash?
It has DRM too. Come on guys! SilverSh*t is dead

Re:Still wondering

[Bradmont]

Given that Netflix' CEO was (until last month) a member of the board of directors of Microsoft, and owns about $6 Million in Microsoft stock, I think he probably doesn't want Linux to become a strong desktop option...

Re:Still wondering

[spidercoz]

flash is dead too, and about time

Re:Still wondering

[chucklebutte]

Silverlight is more secure than Flash is probably why.

Re:Still wondering

[advantis]

A while back, LoveFilm UK moved away from Flash to Silverlight citing DRM reasons. Apparently Flash DRM isn't good enough, while Silverlight DRM is. They also claimed that it was the studios that required the Silverlight DRM, so blame Hollywood.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Because that's the agreement they have with the studios. It's not a conspiracy theory to keep Linux down or anything, it's quite simple.

The studios want DRM.
They will accept Silverlight DRM.
Microsoft will not port the Silverlight DRM packages to Moonlight.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Given that Netflix' CEO was (until last month) a member of the board of directors of Microsoft

Are you from the future? According to this he will be on the board until Nov. 28th.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Because flash sucks even worse than silverlight.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Better loosen up your tin foil wig. You're a loon.

Re:Still wondering

[Synerg1y]

Between Adobe and MS, I'd go with MS, developing for Adobe and banging your head against a wall are the same thing. Also flash has horrible security and netflix has credit card #s, location, and user info, a PR disaster waiting to happen. P.S. Another challenge for Linux going mainstream, I'd never primarily use an OS that can't run my subscription services, also I remember it being a pita to install flash on there too back in the day. Who would've thought people used computers for stuff other than CLI.

Re:Still wondering

[0123456]

So how come it works on Android?

Re:Still wondering

[Cinder6]

Netflix works fine on the Mac, which is a bigger threat to Microsoft's desktop dominance than Linux is.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix works fine on the Mac, which is a bigger threat to Microsoft's desktop dominance than Linux is.

No, the Mac has nothing to do with any sort of threat to Microsoft's business model. The iPhone/iPad and the Android lineup, however, are.

Re:Still wondering

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Of course there are already netflix clients for those...

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

You're obviously a M$ shill because Linux can do all that and more, totally libre.

Well, except run flash stably, have supported codecs that people actually use and a unified platform to encourage big-house game development. It has a beautiful shell, though.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix requires silver light on Mac. I'm very surprised that the don't just have their own App rather than requiring silver light

Re:Still wondering

[Bradmont]

Oh, sorry, it was announced last month that he was leaving. I jumped the gun a little bit.

Re:Still wondering

[Desler]

Hardware-level DRM.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix doesn't really work on Android, per se. In order to get it to work, Netflix had to go around individually to various OEMs to have the DRM enabled in the firmware. It was on their blog a few years ago. Maybe stock Android has enabled DRM since then, but I doubt the Mafiaa suits would approve of any DRM that was open-source. DRM is pretty much a futile attempt as it is, amounting mostly to the old Security Through Obscurity paradigm.

Re:Still wondering

[evilviper]

Netflix works fine on the Mac, which is a bigger threat to Microsoft's desktop dominance than Linux is.

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.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

How to tell you're on Slashdot: A post suggests Netflix not working on Linux is an intentional conspiracy meant to keep Linux from becoming a strong desktop option and gets modded up as "interesting", instead of modded down for being trollish, flamebait, or just outright nuts. Here's an idea - maybe it's because Linux doesn't run Silverlight (even the open source community gave up on its own implementation), and only accounts for 1.5% of desktop/notebook usage?

Re:Still wondering

[BlackSnake112]

All those TVs and Blue-ray players that have built in netflix are not running some form on linux? Those all seem to work just fine (TM).

To be honest. For the unwashed masses, or regular non computer people, having a device that they can just turn on and use is much easier. It is much easier for me to support anyway. The hardest part was getting the device on the wireless network.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember it being a pita to install flash on there too back in the day.

Sure, back in the day when you installed Slackware from floppies.
Flash on Linux has been easy to install for a long time (easy to keep from crashing is another matter).

Re:Still wondering

[Wolfrider]

--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.

Re:Still wondering

[daboochmeister]

--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?

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm skeptical of that. Apple's not much of a threat. Apple doesn't create a generic product that is readily consumable by the masses. They are focused on the niche. They don't even have a server any more.

Apple is a threat in other areas (like portable music players) although this is not within Microsoft's control anyway. Apple has its own stores.

Microsoft has influence in the places that matter through partnerships. They also have done everything they could to curtail Apple's growth on the desktop. A number of years ago they discontinued vb script in the office for mac product.

There is still the possibility that GNU/Linux can succeed although Microsoft has much influence on things that critically effect users of other operating systems.

Netflix is not a critical application for GNU/Linux to take over. Nor is steam a critical application. Nor is Microsoft Office. These are desirable applications for niche audiences. I'm one of the only people who have the statistics on these things. I can tell you that about 50% of the computing population for instance have no dependence that would prevent you from selling a GNU/Linux machine to them. My company has run tests on sample areas. Provided you have a full product catalog and can actually support GNU/Linux it works very well for the about half the populous.

Re:Still wondering

[bWareiWare.co.uk]

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.

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Torrentz are your friend

Re:Still wondering

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares about Netflix when you have TPB.

Redundant

[MightyYar]

Using
Silverlight to play
Entertainment from
Netflix?
Exciting!
Tell me more!

Re:Redundant

[h4rr4r]

Some people would prefer not to get sued.

Re:Redundant

[spidercoz]

silence, fool! you will summon the wrath!

Re:Redundant

[Anonymous Coward]

loool usenet

Re:Redundant

[Anonymous Coward]

loool usenet

Sez the 'tard who can't think any deeper than a tweet...

Re:Redundant

[Anonymous Coward]

loool twitter

Re:Redundant

[MightyYar]

You are maybe thinking of BitTorrent?

Re:Redundant

[Anonymous Coward]

eff you. shut your pie hole!

Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[h4rr4r]

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.

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[jones_supa]

Is there a reason to block it?

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[h4rr4r]

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.

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[PPH]

Two reasons:

1) Studio heads who hear 'Linux' and think free ... hacker ... piracy.

2) The possible purchase of Netflix by Microsoft.

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[Anonymous Coward]

Not any that I can see. The instructions don't help getting around DRM or anything.

Netflix is probably just happy to see the odd Linux user as a customer.

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[rwa2]

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.

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[h4rr4r]

You have to have the wine patches or it will not work.

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[Anonymous Coward]

One little problem with the Linux community's conspiracy theory - Netflix has no problems running on Mac, which unlike Linux, is an actual competitor to Windows, with actual market share (instead of less than 2%). Netflix doesn't have to spend development, hosting or support resources on Silverlight, why should they have to make a version of the player than runs on an OS that 1.5 people out of 100 uses? All you need is a Silverlight player, but even the FOSS community gave up on that (Moonlight).

Re:Let's see if Netflix moves to block this

[DarwinSurvivor]

Even the article you linked to said it was gossip and rumor!

Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[spidercoz]

Until it runs in Linux natively, I'm not reinstating my subscription. Bite me, Netflix.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[KingMotley]

After this post, you can clearly see that netflix's stock dropped by $0.00000001 per share. GO spidercoz!

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[danomac]

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!

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Netflix CEO will be stepping down from the Microsoft Board of Directors at the end of the month. Hopefully we'll see some native support shortly after this happens.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm never reinstating my subscription. Bite me, Netflix.

Fixed.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

[spidercoz]

Good option if you have it, but optical media is dead to me.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[MightyMartian]

It's rather peculiar considering there's a Netflix app for Android.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[danomac]

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.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Me too, my BD player was purchased as a cheap neflix box.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably has less to do with both Google's ability to lock the OS down enough for hollywood to be happy, and more the fact that it's enjoying a fast-growing smartphone market share, unlike Linux desktops.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

After this post, you can clearly see that netflix's stock dropped by $0.00000001 per share. GO spidercoz!

I honestly don't give a shit what fraction of my monthly Netflix subscription is equal to in Netflix stockholder shares. I can't speak for spidercoz, but I cancelled my subscription the same day the CEO had the quote in the paper something like "...but we only increased the cost for customers equal to a large latte..."

KingMotley, I guess either you forwent your daily large latte, or you are having your latte and drinking it too.

Remind me again how that French Revolution went?

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[jedidiah]

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.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're mad that the company adjusted prices based on business concerns and then was weirder out that people were making such a big deal about a price increase that's the same size as a commonly bought item that people regularly consume without protest?

I'm glad I don't know you. I imagine I'd make some comment about how the increase in time is only as much as a red light or something and you'd promptly lose your shit about simple comparisons.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[interkin3tic]

I'm with you in spirit. I can run netflix on easily:
-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.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[triffid_98]

Indeed. If their Android app wasn't so poorly written we might be able to run it through an android emulator.
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!

[i.r.id10t]

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.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[TheRealGrogan]

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 forever.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Kjella]

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 certainly wasn't because everyone was handing out hardware specs and driver code, protocol definitions or anything of the sort. You'd probably get more results cheering them on than spitting bile at Netflix, corporations are almost immune to that. Bringing Netflix to Linux is good for Linux even if they are dragged kicking and screaming.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[rwa2]

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 that.

Until they moved to Silverlight, and then all the crappy artifacts came back. I feel like it was kinda a bait-and-switch... but it makes sense since early adopters were comparing it to DVD and eventually Bluray, while later adopters were coming from crappy youtube vids.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about as peculiar as supporting any platform that comprises 70-odd% of a target market would be.

Never attribute to ill will what can better be explained by lack of market share incentive.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Remind me again how that French Revolution went?

It ended on a high note

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[RedHat Rocky]

Yet simple Amazon MP3 purchasing has changed for Linux clients, now having to mess with Cloud player.

Not happy, Amazon.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[tom17]

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's a currently mainstream show.

I used to HATE netflix up here in Canada and had a few rants on slashdot about it, but for me, it has finally gotten to the stage where it is 'sufficient'. Sure, it's no replacement for prime-time TV, but it's certainly a good replacement for kids TV and idle viewing TV.

One step closer to cancelling Rogers next year :) I just need to find a good Formula 1 solution and then I can cut the cord...

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Bert64]

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 their media from these sources instead. If silverlight drm encumbered files were the only or highest quality source of major films and tv shows then you can guarantee it would be cracked pretty quickly.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

(posting anon since I modded this story already)

If it's available in your area, consider Teksavvy. They offer unlimited plans for a reasonable amount. Non-unlimited usage is capped at 300 GB which is still decent. I use Netflix almost every day (SD on the Wii) and I never ever reached near 300 GB/month.

JigJag

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[jones_supa]

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!

[TheRaven64]

I started ripping my DVDs a while ago. I bought 3 2TB disks just before the floods and put them in a RAID-Z array, giving me 4GB of usable space. That's enough for full backups of my laptop (with periodic snapshots) and for my DVD collection (probably about 1TB when I've ripped them all). The NAS box runs FreeBSD and is connected to my projector and speakers. Because none of the streaming services use open standards for their services, I can't use them from this machine, so they don't get my money even though I'm right in the middle of the early-adopter demographic for video stuff (I bought a DVD player when they were still expensive, I have a projector and surround sound system for watching them, I subscribed to the first DVD-in-the-mail service to appear in this country as soon as it appeared).

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[danomac]

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!

[Desler]

No, it's not. It uses hardware DRM on mobile devices.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Time to get a new wife.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Clockwurk]

Android is important, desktop Linux is not.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[spidercoz]

I still have some but they're relics, haven't been played in years.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[RanCossack]

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.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Spin...

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Penurious Penguin]

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

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Your little conspiracy theory 'tin foil hat' mumbo jumbo sounds good to the mickeysoft fanboidom, but in reality, Netflix uses Linux on its servers (not just for some way back somewhere stuff, but for streaming silverblighted content). They know about Linux, and likely have a version, since they support android, which is a version of Linux for smartphones. Good try about the "you must be wearing a tin-foil blah", but *you* really *are* wrong here.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[houstonbofh]

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.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[houstonbofh]

Amazon Prime works fine on Linux... So you can still "think that" if you wish.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[houstonbofh]

Unless that "Linux Market" is Roku boxes, or TVs with Linux kernals... It works on Linux, but not for us.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[organgtool]

I didn't realize Netflix stock could get any lower. Btw, count another $0.00000001 deduction for me.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

What is the best way to rip and watch DVDs without causing bad quality? How to get the iso of and watch it?

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[oakgrove]

$ dd if=/dev/sr0 of=TheMovie.iso bs=20M

Works for me.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

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

I guess you didn't see the word natively.

Re:Not good enough, dammit, not good enough!

[Eroen]

$ mplayer dvd:// -dumpstream -dumpfile video.vob

Should work whenever mplayer works, which is more often than dd will work.

Netflix now works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Expect this bug to be addressed in a future patch

No sale

[Hatta]

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 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.

Re:No sale

[Anonymous Coward]

The use case for non-DRM rentals is practically non-existent. Coding a DRM-free option would be a waste of development resources.

Re:No sale

[jedidiah]

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.

Re:No sale

[Hatta]

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.

Re:No sale

[Bert64]

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 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.

(and yes i do have a large collection of bought and paid for VHS tapes and audio CDs)

Re:No sale

[jones_supa]

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.

Re:No sale

[TheRaven64]

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-increasing library. From their perspective, it should be great if someone downloads something and watches it locally the second time, because they've reduced Netfilx's bandwidth costs. You can't reasonably download their entire catalog (even limiting people to downloading 30 or 60 hours a month would satisfy most people and prevent this easily), the thing you're paying for is a service that means that when you want to watch something you can easily get something that you want to watch. The more technical obstacles that they put in the way of this, the less valuable their service becomes.

Re:No sale

[Desler]

They would also have to change their policy on DRM-free content

You mean change their policy so they lose all access to their current content? Yeah, brilliant move that would be.

Re:No sale

[Desler]

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.

Many commercial VHS tapes used anti-copying technology like Macrovision. So yiur statement isn't really all that true.

Re:No sale

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would I pay Netflix?

There, fixed that for you.

Re:No sale

[Bert64]

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.

Re:No sale

[jones_supa]

Yes, I admit that it is a tricky situation.

Looks like it'll work as smoothly as Flash

[Anonymous Coward]

Enough of half baked solutions!

Undoing moderation; please ignore this post

[WillerZ]

n/t

Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me know if/when it's ever an xbmc plugin.

Until then I'll keep using XBox 360 for everything I intended to do with the (useless, waste of money) linux based media center I built.

Hell, let me know when youtube works again.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Hell, let me know when youtube works again.

Let me know when it stops working, and then I can let you know when it works again. I haven't had any trouble with it on my desktop or Linux based media center.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

plugin.video.youtube works, been updated a while ago. Search xbmc forums

Odd route..

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix is supported by a whole lot of embedded devices. From Blue ray players to media players to TV. Without a doubt some or most of those run linux. I think it would be easier to hack out a netflix binary from one of those devices for some good wholesome unauthorized use?

Hell, there's an andriod netflix app! How hard is it to run andriod apps on desktop linux? (Emulator? Port the environment? Some sort of wrapper?)

Re:Odd route..

[h4rr4r]

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.

Re:Odd route..

[Desler]

It also uses hardware-level DRM. So it would not work in the emulator anyway.

Re:Odd route..

[h4rr4r]

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.

Runs in 64bit, too

[Dizzer]

You have to compile wine in a 32bit chroot. Instructions are on the wine wiki. It is pretty straightforward. But without decent hardware acceleration in Silverlight under Wine it runs like crap. I tried it, but it is so jerky (half the frame rate) that watching TV like this is no fun.

Re:Runs in 64bit, too

[h4rr4r]

Is there a reason Silverlight can't use hardware acceleration under Wine? Video games running in Wine use the video card just fine.

Excellent streaming P0RN says traveling I.T sales

[Anonymous Coward]

folks - meanwhile more skilled /. readers just go straight to the source (web camera in mums room), no-slashdot readers just go straight to the source (girlfriend/wife)... blackhats go were they want ;)

I installed Ubuntu to have a "work machine"...

[InvisibleClergy]

...and then this happens. This is worse than when I got WoW working in WINE.

No Worries

[Anonymous Coward]

Moonlight will catch up to Silverlight "any day now" (tm) giving you a rich native Netflix experience on Linux. Just be patient, my friends.

Re:No Worries

[sageres]

that can't happened because de Icaza said we can't have DRM.

Re:No Worries

[Dr_Barnowl]

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.

Meh.

[bmo]

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

Re:Meh.

[Anonymous Coward]

why bother trimming it? hard drives are terabytes now, no one notices a few gigabytes.

Re:Meh.

[bmo]

>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

[Urban Garlic]

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.

Re:Another answer

[h4rr4r]

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.

Re:Another answer

[Anrego]

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.

Re:Another answer

[Anonymous Coward]

The android version also uses low bandwidth streams as its intended for consumption on small displays. Artifacts and obvious when viewed on large displays. The Netflix android option is a poor option for most users who wish to view streaming content on a non-handheld device.

Re:Another answer

[squiggleslash]

There are several problems with this:

1. You're correct that it runs under Linux. Unfortunately Linux is not the same thing as "The operating system commonly known as Linux", which we'd call GNU/Linux if it wasn't for the fact that would be kowtowing to a Dirty Smelly Hippie(tm). Android is not GNU/Linux, it has a significantly different API. It merely shares the same kernel.

2. Netflix is compiled code, and is compiled for ARM. Your Ubuntu desktop, on the other hand, is an Intel machine. So yes, you'll require a device emulator as you said. But it's going to be slow, and it's an emulator, so why use it?

3. The Netflix program is only downloadable from Google Play, contains DRM, and - if it's not already - may check the device it's on in the future.

The Android Netflix app is, in some ways, a proof of concept. The existence of the app proves that there's no good reason to prevent users of other operating systems from using Netflix. The C++ code is going to run happily under GNU/Linux as long as certain APIs are provided. The Dalvik code likewise. Unfortunately, it's not a solution in itself, just proof a solution could be made available.

That said, perhaps Motorola's move into Intel-based Android devices might push things along a little.

Re:Another answer

[JabberWokky]

Ooo! Ooo! Now do the same for TiVo! And ChromeOS!

And explain how they can have the resources to be releasing for multiple, radically different versions of Linux, just studiously avoiding the desktop. Which is as insecure as the Windows or OSX desktop when it comes to DRM hacks.

(Note that I'm not calling you or your post out specifically, just commenting that they are actually releasing quite a bit for Linux, just with one very notable gap).

Done.

[Anonymous Coward]

Roku.

Flash is dead?

[macbeth66]

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.

Re:Flash is dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can turn off/toggle flash per object. You can't yet turn off parts of html 5 that you don't like and still have sites work right.

Re:Flash is dead?

[EGSonikku]

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.

Re:Flash is dead?

[Synerg1y]

Flash likes to turn itself off by crashing, under load it's almost guaranteed.

Re:Flash is dead?

[larry bagina]

It's dead on mobile. iOS never had it. Adobe made some lame attempts for Android then killed it (no longer even available on Google Play as of 3 months ago).

Re:Flash is dead?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can turn off/toggle flash per object. You can't yet turn off parts of html 5 that you don't like and still have sites work right.

Oh really? I must have just hallucinated that whole noscript add on, then.

Re:Flash is dead?

[Darinbob]

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 HTML5 is in no way a replacement. HTML should have been made simpler anyway while telling all the goofballs wanting more features to shove off.

Re:Flash is dead?

[oakgrove]

Sure you can. Right click, Inspect Element, Delete Node. Presto! Works every time.

How does it run on blu-ray players?

[damn_registrars]

Most likely people have looked into this before, but I would suspect my blu-ray player is not running windows. Maybe instead of trying to get netflix to work in a browser in WINE in linux, they should try looking at how blu-ray players do it?

Re:How does it run on blu-ray players?

[h4rr4r]

They use software not compiled for x86 so it is actually easier to get Wine to work than what you are suggesting.

Re:How does it run on blu-ray players?

[AwesomeMcgee]

If they could get it working in linux for arm I think people would be more than happy calling that "netflix on linux" because they'd just go buy their rPi's and happy happy joy joy. Furthermore there's a trick with flash to tweak one of the libs in android so it appears as non-android which allows hulu to play as well. These 2 systems for arm worked up for normal linux on ARM would give the rPi and slashdotters everything they want. So I kind of agree that someone should be out there trying to get these binaries out of bluray players to work in open arm systems.

I'd be more interested in...

[Anonymous Coward]

... running Netflix on Germany

Of course it does, always has...

[macbeth66]

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.

Re:Of course it does, always has...

[Cinder6]

Netflix is pretty great for TV shows, but yeah, movies are pretty lacking.

Re:Of course it does, always has...

[lister king of smeg]

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

Re:Of course it does, always has...

[macbeth66]

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

[Crimey McBiggles]

I have an LG TV (LV5500 I think) that has Netflix as a built-in app. The TV's operating system is Linux, and its manual even includes a copy of the GPL, along with a list of libraries (e.g. FFMPEG, Apache, etc). They've probably partnered with Netflix to get some sort of BLOB that can be run only on the intended hardware, so I doubt that it is free or open. TLDR; the title should says something about "desktop" or "Intel", because my ARM-based TV plays Netflix just fine thank you.

Re:Netflix already works on Linux

[interiot]

Netflix runs fine on ChromeOS on x86, which is Linux-based too.

Re:Netflix already works on Linux

[AwesomeMcgee]

Seriously? How???

Re:Netflix already works on Linux

[lister king of smeg]

try ripping the binary out that runs it push it to pirate bay then

Re:Netflix already works on Linux

[bill_mcgonigle]

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.

Re:Netflix already works on Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

wait - isn't there a recent (OMG) "hack" that lets one run ChromeOS under Ubuntu?

Old News - Has been available for a few years

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix has been running on Linux since early 2008 - in Blu-Ray players and network connected TVs

Title of TFA should read "x86 Support added for Netflix on Linux"

I'd be interested only if...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd be interested only if I could download enough of the movie to play thru without continuous "rebuffering..." pauses, only to see my feed rerouted from a relatively nearby [i.e. fewer hops] to something much further away [i.e. many greater hops] thereby exacerbating the problem.

Get a faster Internet feed you say? Yeah, right, doesn't exist. CenturyLink & previously Qwest won't update their static'y "copper all the way" to my neighborhood (yeah, they did lay fiber within a hundred feet of my 'hood) & Comcrap's feed into my 'hood is slow & unreliable. Plus, Comcrap is well-known for throttling netflix anyways, plus I don't want to nourish their effective monopoly around here. All this in a 600,000 population community.

Local buffering would easily solve the problem but them content people are so fearful...GACK!

Re:I'd be interested only if...

[Eroen]

s/static'/nois/

ppa? how about .deb?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ability/instructions to install to non-ubuntu/debian installs (deb package) would be appreciated. Believe it or not, some of us non-gurus have been running regular debian for some time (nearly ten years in my case) and would appreciate instructions/pointers on how to install this, especially if deb files can be made available, or if there is a ppa2deb script that actually works for ubuntu to debian conversions.

no Netflix for me

[CosaNostra Pizza Inc]

I was twice a Netflix member. I quit because I wasn't happy with their selection, which is really only of value if you have children. Now I'm an Amazon Prime Member. Amazon is priced competitively plus as a former studen,t I'm now paying $40 per year for the short term. The selection of "free" movies for Prime members is comparable to Netflix's selection but there is a greater selection at additional prices. Plus, I get the added benefit of free 2-day shipping for anything I buy through Amazon. On the whole, I think Amazon Prime is a better deal. I'm primarily a linux user with Chrome and my only issue is having to use Firefox just to watch movies because Chrome's built-in Flash player doesn't support DRM.

Re:no Netflix for me

[bill_mcgonigle]

The selection of "free" movies for Prime members is comparable to Netflix's selection

Shirley, you must be joking.

Re:no Netflix for me

[CosaNostra Pizza Inc]

No, I'm not. And don't call me Shirley. :P

ChromeOS

[BuypolarBear]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but why not just use ChromeOS's support for Netflix in something like Virtualbox?

Re:ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

CromeOS is a joke. Google sends you to download sites where you either have to pay or wait days with dozens of retries to get it. Really? If google really was serious about ChromeOS, they should just host it.

Re:ChromeOS

[ndogg]

Because that won't work. Netflix for ChromeOS is specifically tied to certain Chromebook hardware.

Fanboy sez...

[Andy Prough]

...Steve Jobs didn't give it to me, so I must not have needed it anyways.

Re:Fanboy sez...

[EGSonikku]

I've hated Flash long before I ever owned a Mac or iOS device, but this is Slashdot, assume away and continue to wonder why this site has faded into obscurity compared to what it once was. I've been on Slashdot a long time and remember when it used to be about cool hacks and people helping one another. Now it's nothing but week old stories and fanboy'ism.

Why bother?

[Bert64]

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.

Re:Why bother?

[VortexCortex]

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 personal computer (PC). The tech on the line assumed I had windows for a while, but when he finally realized I have Linux, they said their silverlight doesn't run on Linux, and they use Silverlight. I pointed out that that's B.S. since it runs on Android and Android uses Linux. They said that their Android player only runs on ARM, not x86(-64). "Ah, gotcha. So, what you're saying is that you have source code you compile on ARM to get Netflix running on Linux for Android, but your company refuses to compile that same code on an x86 machine to give me access on Linux since Android-x86 ports exist. So, what you're company is doing is letting MICROSOFT dictate WHO your customers are? You're VOLUNTARILY turning away paying customers?!" Then I mentioned that I'd be reporting this to their shareholders and the board... and that Hulu runs on Linux via Flash, and that I'll be recommending ANYTHING but Netflx for the people to adopt since you don't want video subscriptions to be locked-into that Windows8 disaster." When asked if there was anything I else they could help me with, I had them cancel my account, and then let me speak to their manager, and his manager, and her manager, for about 4 hours I went up the chain (my day off, heh). They even offered free months of services, or a voucher for XBLA to get me back on Netflix as a last ditch effort via the "executive customer retention" call center.

I know it's the media racket that's requiring silverlight for any desktop machines, however, it's the board and CEO who agree to be bullied by them instead of standing up and saying, "We can use Cross Platform DRM, that'll get us more users, and get publishers more money".

Until then, screw it. I'm out. I don't infringe copyrights, and I don't support big "throw our weight around and squash choice" media anymore, not even by contributing upload speed to a .torrent. Instead, I watch new-media, web shows, Kickstarter funded stuff like Pioneer One. You know what? I didn't have much time for watching video anyway, and there's more new-media stuff to watch than I can consume. To fill the little void left in my entertainment-time budget I started yet another hobby software project, and it's far more rewarding than any passive media.

Bonus: When folks start talking about some Hollywood blockbuster with the same recycled (and butchered) scripts from games, books, comics, and previous films, or some dumbed down TV show, I tell them about the same or better quality of show I'm getting without supporting oppressive media regimes that raped then murdered our public domain.

Re:Why bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound like a lot of fun at parties.

Re:Why bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your position is certainly legally stronger than GPs but your manipulative attitude and open support of ethically questionable laws makes your criticism of GPs morals laughable.

If you can sleep well at night I pity you.

Um... not quite so sure about that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mac users will have to work pretty hard to jump ship and move to PC/Windows. The whole ilife suite combined with icloud is a pretty hard for non-tech savy people to move away from. I know there is Itunes for PC, but what about all of that other content, such as books and mac software which generally carries a higher price tag than PC stuff. Also, the nice sharing between idevices and Os X make it less compelling too move away.

Asia?

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was in Japan, Netflix said something like Sorry, Netflix is not available in your part of the world (Yet). Given the global scope of Android on tablets and Phones, doesn't it make sense to port it to android if they wanted to expand into the Asian market?

Runs perfectly on my BluRay player

[Gothmolly]

Which itself runs a version of Linux. Has anyone ever cracked one of these open and looked at the code?

Surprised at the route

[bsharitt]

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!

[sl4shd0rk]

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.

I'm surprised

[BluPhenix316]

That is has taken this long for a work-a-round. If Netflix streamed all the porn you could want, then I'll be there would have been a work-a-round a lot sooner

Boxee can do it.

[briancox2]

So far Netflix has run on Boxee, Android and the Chrome OS from Google. What they have against Linux is therefore really hard to understand.

Wine is not an option

[thetoadwarrior]

Sorry but I'm not going to run something that could enable Windows viruses.

Re:Wine is not an option

[Anonymous Coward]

"Sorry but I'm not going to run something that could enable Windows viruses."

And I bet you have at least one Microsoft Windows install running, even if only in a VM, riiiiiiiiiiight? Don't bother answering, it's a rhetorical question.

Re:Wine is not an option

[Anonymous Coward]

Yo Dawg let me tell you about nobody account and chroot jails...

Nothing to do with emulator

[daboochmeister]

NetFlix on Android works because of a hardware component that supports the DRM ... which obviously isn't emulated in the emulator.

Virtual Box/Vmware

[Brad1138]

Easier to just run it out of a VM

Linux for teh win!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Netflix works fine on the Mac, which is a bigger threat to Microsoft's desktop dominance than Linux is."

With thousands of people losing their jobs everyday, with a possible depression in the future, with how fscked up the economy is now, at least in some countries, Linux, likely the most popular distro of, will race ahead of both Windows and Mac.

Two things need to happen:

1. Advertising! Spread the news of free and open!
2. Developers rejecting DirectX for OpenGL. (thus breaking the grip Microsoft has on games for the PC) Remove the need for WINE and Crossover.
3. Educate people on WHY proprietary software fails, again and again. How many PATCH TUESDAYS fix REMOTE TAKEOVERS OF THE ENTIRE MACHINE! I dare you to count them all for Win7 and XP from bare bones install on up.

The time will probably come soon when a large majority of the poor won't be able to afford Macs or to have them stolen. So cheap computing hardware and Linux will win in the end.

Time is on our side.

i'm torn between

[Anonymous Coward]

blasphemy and ignorance. why would you want to pay money to watch a movie?

Dear linux user: file a bug once or twice a year.

[anon mouse-cow-aard]

filing a bug with netflix means they cannot say that 'no-one ever asks for it'' ... filing it over and over again means they have to mark it as a dup, close it, file it, and it shows up on their metrics. how many other bugs do they have that affects roughly 1% of their population (say 5 million subscribers, that's 50,000)

Chrome already does it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Chrome runs the Netflix player on Linux (Debian Unstable, x64) with no problems. This is a non-story.