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

[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

[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

[Desler]

Hardware-level DRM.

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

[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?

Redundant

[MightyYar]

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

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]

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!

[MightyMartian]

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

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!

[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!

[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!

[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.

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

[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.

Undoing moderation; please ignore this post

[WillerZ]

n/t

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

[InvisibleClergy]

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

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?

[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.

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

[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.

ChromeOS

[BuypolarBear]

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

Re:ChromeOS

[ndogg]

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

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

[Cinder6]

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

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.

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.

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.