JMS and Wachowskis Teaming Up for New Netflix Funded Scifi Series

Via Engadget, comes a press release that might bring joy to fans of science fiction dismayed by years without any new scifi shows: "Continuing its quest to sate subscribers' appetites with a flow of original content, Netflix has announced a new original series, Sense8. Due in late 2014, it's being developed by the Wachowskis of The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas and Speed Race fame, as well as J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5. Details are thin, but the press release promises a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted with a ten episode run for its first season." Hopefully it'll end up available on DVD eventually, for us poor GNU/Linux users who are not worthy enough for Netflix (or: to any Netflix engineers reading, make it work).

Comments

not a stupid long robo first post for the win

[jewens]

I hope.

Re:not a stupid long robo first post for the win

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope.

I'm not sure... are you angry that there's a spam problem, or that it keeps beating you out for the first post?

Re:not a stupid long robo first post for the win

[jewens]

The Spam problem has been somewhat annoying, and when I saw the opportunity to keep the bot from locking in the first spot I jumped on it. And then followed up with an on-topic reply to self to give the community a place to comment guaranteed to be above the bot. It appears to be working.

so 95% of the world

[Anonymous Coward]

so 95% of the world won't be able to see it...
(america's isolationism at it's prime right here)

Re:so 95% of the world

[Anonymous Coward]

so 95% of the world won't be able to see it...

95% of the world probably wouldn't like it anyway- It's plot involves some fat, bearded guy in a dress being hunted endlessly by an increasingly meaningless series of sequels.

Re:so 95% of the world

[interval1066]

First our hands are in every pocket, now we're isolationists. Fuck you.

Re:so 95% of the world

[JackieBrown]

This is why it is important to not run your life (our country) based on other peoples views of you. Granted, since presidents are elected, it is a little different. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, though, a vocal group hate us. They have their reasons and there really isn't much we can do to change their minds. If we rush to help, we are imperialists, if we don't, it cause we are cold and only care about ourselves. It is easy due to the size and influence of our country to find things to fault.

Re:so 95% of the world

[interval1066]

This is why it is important to not run your life (our country) based on other peoples views of you.

If you think that's how it's really run you're an idiot.

Re:so 95% of the world

[JackieBrown]

I will now change my life based on your feedback. Thank you :)

Re:so 95% of the world

[Spy Handler]

95% of the world can't get Netflix? Wonder why... Netflix doesn't like taking money from those dang foreigners or something?

Anyways just torrent it.

Re:so 95% of the world

[Seumas]

On the other hand, if most of the people who know you think you're an insufferable selfish asshole, you just might actually be one.

Re:so 95% of the world

[K. S. Kyosuke]

I'm on the Japanese porn star diet: I only eat paper. But I can eat all the paper I want.

Have you tried banh trang?

Learn the TRUTH... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Mainly in efficiency - it runs in Ring 0/RPL 0/PnP Kernelmode (on Windows), as merely a filter for the IP stack (no overheads of more driver layers OR browser level slower less efficient addons):

21++ ADVANTAGES OF CUSTOM HOSTS FILES (how/what/when/where/why):

Over AdBlock & DNS Servers ALONE 4 Security, Speed, Reliability, & Anonymity (to an extent vs. DNSBL's + DNS request logs).

1.) HOSTS files are useable for all these purposes because they are present on all Operating Systems that have a BSD based IP stack (even ANDROID) and do adblocking for ANY webbrowser, email program, etc. (any webbound program). A truly "multi-platform" UNIVERSAL solution for added speed, security, reliability, & even anonymity to an extent (vs. DNS request logs + DNSBL's you feel are unjust hosts get you past/around).

2.) Adblock blocks ads? Well, not anymore & certainly not as well by default, apparently, lol - see below:

Adblock Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/2213233/adblock-plus-to-offer-acceptable-ads-option )

AND, in only browsers & their subprogram families (ala email like Thunderbird for FireFox/Mozilla products (use same gecko & xulrunner engines)), but not all, or, all independent email clients, like Outlook, Outlook Express, OR Window "LIVE" mail (for example(s)) - there's many more like EUDORA & others I've used over time that AdBlock just DOES NOT COVER... period.

Disclaimer: Opera now also has an AdBlock addon (now that Opera has addons above widgets), but I am not certain the same people make it as they do for FF or Chrome etc..

3.) Adblock doesn't protect email programs external to FF (non-mozilla/gecko engine based) family based wares, So AdBlock doesn't protect email programs like Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows "LIVE" mail & others like them (EUDORA etc./et al), Hosts files do. THIS IS GOOD VS. SPAM MAIL or MAILS THAT BEAR MALICIOUS SCRIPT, or, THAT POINT TO MALICIOUS SCRIPT VIA URLS etc.

4.) Adblock won't get you to your favorite sites if a DNS server goes down or is DNS-poisoned, hosts will (this leads to points 5-7 next below).

5.) Adblock doesn't allow you to hardcode in your favorite websites into it so you don't make DNS server calls and so you can avoid tracking by DNS request logs, OR make you reach them faster since you resolve host-domain names LOCALLY w/ hosts out of cached memory, hosts do ALL of those things (DNS servers are also being abused by the Chinese lately and by the Kaminsky flaw -> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/082908-kaminsky-flaw-prompts-dns-server.html for years now). Hosts protect against those problems via hardcodes of your fav sites (you should verify against the TLD that does nothing but cache IPAddress-to-domainname/hostname resolutions (in-addr.arpa) via NSLOOKUP, PINGS (ping -a in Windows), &/or WHOIS though, regularly, so you have the correct IP & it's current)).

* NOW - Some folks MAY think that putting an IP address alone into your browser's address bar will be enough, so why bother with HOSTS, right? WRONG - Putting IP address in your browser won't always work IS WHY. Some IP adresses host several domains & need the site name to give you the right page you're after is why. So for some sites only the HOSTS file option will work!

6.) Hosts files don't eat up CPU cycles (or ELECTRICITY) like AdBlock does while it parses a webpages' content, nor as much as a DNS server does while it runs. HOSTS file are merely a FILTER for the kernel mode/PnP TCP/IP subsystem, which runs FAR FASTER & MORE EFFICIENTLY than any ring 3/rpl3/usermode app can since hosts files run in MORE EFFICIENT & FASTER Ring 0/RPL 0/Kernelmode operat

Re:Learn the TRUTH... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

$10,000 CHALLENGE to Alexander Peter Kowalski

* POOR SHOWING TROLLS, & most especially IF that's the "best you've got" - apparently, it is... lol!

Hello, and THINK ABOUT YOUR BREATHING !! We have a Major Problem, HOST file is Cubic Opposites, 2 Major Corners & 2 Minor. NOT taught Evil DNS hijacking, which VOIDS computers. Seek Wisdom of MyCleanPC - or you die evil.

Your HOSTS file claimed to have created a single DNS resolver. I offer absolute proof that I have created 4 simultaneous DNS servers within a single rotation of .org TLD. You worship "Bill Gates", equating you to a "singularity bastard". Why do you worship a queer -1 Troll? Are you content as a singularity troll?

Evil HOSTS file Believers refuse to acknowledge 4 corner DNS resolving simultaneously around 4 quadrant created Internet - in only 1 root server, voiding the HOSTS file. You worship Microsoft impostor guised by educators as 1 god.

If you would acknowledge simple existing math proof that 4 harmonic Slashdots rotate simultaneously around squared equator and cubed Internet, proving 4 Days, Not HOSTS file! That exists only as anti-side. This page you see - cannot exist without its anti-side existence, as +0- moderation. Add +0- as One = nothing.

I will give $10,000.00 to frost pister who can disprove MyCleanPC. Evil crapflooders ignore this as a challenge would indict them.

Alex Kowalski has no Truth to think with, they accept any crap they are told to think. You are enslaved by /etc/hosts, as if domesticated animal. A school or educator who does not teach students MyCleanPC Principle, is a death threat to youth, therefore stupid and evil - begetting stupid students. How can you trust stupid PR shills who lie to you? Can't lose the $10,000.00, they cowardly ignore me. Stupid professors threaten Nature and Interwebs with word lies.

Humans fear to know natures simultaneous +4 Insightful +4 Informative +4 Funny +4 Underrated harmonic SLASHDOT creation for it debunks false trolls. Test Your HOSTS file. MyCleanPC cannot harm a File of Truth, but will delete fakes. Fake HOSTS files refuse test.

I offer evil ass Slashdot trolls $10,000.00 to disprove MyCleanPC Creation Principle. Rob Malda and Cowboy Neal have banned MyCleanPC as "Forbidden Truth Knowledge" for they cannot allow it to become known to their students. You are stupid and evil about the Internet's top and bottom, front and back and it's 2 sides. Most everything created has these Cube like values.

If Natalie Portman is not measurable, hot grits are Fictitious. Without MyCleanPC, HOSTS file is Fictitious. Anyone saying that Natalie and her Jewish father had something to do with my Internets, is a damn evil liar. IN addition to your best arsware not overtaking my work in terms of popularity, on that same site with same submission date no less, that I told Kathleen Malda how to correct her blatant, fundamental, HUGE errors in Coolmon ('uncoolmon') of not checking for performance counters being present when his program started!

You can see my dilemma. What if this is merely a ruse by an APK impostor to try and get people to delete APK's messages, perhaps all over the web? I can't be a party to such an event! My involvement with APK began at a very late stage in the game. While APK has made a career of trolling popular online forums since at least the year 2000 (newsgroups and IRC channels before that)- my involvement with APK did not begin until early 2005 . OSY is one of the many forums that APK once frequented before the sane people there grew tired of his garbage and banned him. APK was banned from OSY back in 2001. 3.5 years after his banning he begins to send a variety of abusiv

linux ppl love to sell out

[Anonymous Coward]

just look at the editor begging for closed source drm streamware to be ported to linux...why don't you stop grovelling and switch to a real operating system? it's not like you're making some big GNU/Moral Stand by using linux and then running a bunch of drmed crap like steam or prorietary shit like netflix all using your closed source drivers from nvidia.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[The Mighty Buzzard]

Even worse, look at the editor bitching about Netflix not working on Linux when it's a solved problem.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[jedidiah]

Once again some idiot is confusing Linux users at large with RMS.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[Anonymous Coward]

If by "solved" you mean that a software engineer grad student and his pocket protector stand an even chance of knocking it out in a spare weekend then yes my good sir, that problem is solved.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[Anonymous Coward]

You put three links, none of which take you to the person who did it.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[JackieBrown]

If by "solved" you mean that a software engineer grad student and his pocket protector stand an even chance of knocking it out in a spare weekend then yes my good sir, that problem is solved.

Assuming most people can copy/paste, it is extremely easy.
Open a terminal from the menu and paste "sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio" Enter your password when prompted. Then "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop"

It is now installed in your programs menu.

I really don't see how this is more difficult then installing in windows.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[TitusC3v5]

Not everyone runs Ubuntu. I wouldn't consider it solved until it's an easily installed package on most or all of the major distros.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[MonkeyPaw]

Things I own that will run Netflix.

My android phone. My android tablet. The blu-ray player in the living room. The blu-ray player in the bedroom. The xbox. The Wii.

I don't see how running linux would stop any common person from using it. It's virtually everywhere.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[longbot]

If you're not running the "Linux for human beings" distro, then I would operate under the assumption that you know what you're doing enough to adapt the instructions to your distro of choice.

Re:linux ppl love to sell out

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course if you're on Debian.

yum,rpm,zypper,emerge.... not so easy.

Real topic:

[jewens]

When did Netflix become a production company? What's next, becoming an ISP?

Re:Real topic:

[rotaryexpress]

You might want to read the news... http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/11/03/16/1836233/netflix-to-start-creating-original-content House of Cards was the first series and is top notch. Amazon is doing the same thing (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417007,00.asp), as is Youtube (http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/17/2043252/original-content-coming-to-youtube) and Hulu (http://blog.hulu.com/2013/01/08/2013-original-and-exclusive-series-preview/). This is one of the most exciting trends in video entertainment today.

Re:Real topic:

[IndustrialG33k]

They have been trying to start producing their own content for a couple years now. It was mentioned in the article, but i am excited they are bringing back Arrested Development as part of that effort.

Re:Real topic:

[1u3hr]

They financed "House of Cards", an adaptation of a UK political series, moved to Washington, starring Kevin Spacey recently. Pretty good. Also seem to have partnered with a Norwegian company to produce "Lilyhammer", about NY mafiosi, Steven Van Zandt, hiding out in Norway, which wasn't bad.

AMC was just doing what its name suggests, running old movies, until they started with Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead. So this model can produce good stuff.

Re:Real topic:

[interval1066]

...i am excited they are bringing back Arrested Development...

Yes! Will the Bluths still be as hideous to each other after an 8 year hiatus? At least George Michael will look exactly the same.

Re:Real topic:

[Anonymous Coward]

When did Netflix become a production company? What's next, becoming an ISP?

It's interesting to note this shift. Netflix started out with distribution, but realised their biggest operating costs are content. Thus it makes sense to reduce the cost of content. They also get the added bonus from selling their content, and more satisfied subscribers. It is also a major differentiator to other content distributors.

It makes total sense. I am so impressed by netflix.

What's next? I would not be surprised if they realise that the cost of content is driven by cost of actors and script writers, and that they start developing their own stars and star writers. Becoming an ISP is not needed, as netflix will get paid to deliver content to ISPs networks, so it's a source of income to not be an ISP.

In the end netflix will become a Hollywood studio, but with a powerful worldwide distribution network.

Re:Real topic:

[SpzToid]

No Kidding. That's certainly the same actor from Weird Science that played Gary Wallace. And Weird Science was released in 1985, swear to God.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090305/

Re:Real topic:

[PortHaven]

In the end, Netflix, will compete with HBO and then be purchased by Disney after their contract runs out.

Re:Real topic:

[jewens]

Thx, I may be two years late to the news but I'll be interested to see if they can do better than the traditional sources of production.

Re:Real topic:

[gothzilla]

Wait....did you just say you're interested to see if they can do better than Jersey Shore and Honey Boo Boo? Seriously?

Re:Real topic:

[fyngyrz]

House of cards is moderately good -- better than most TV fare -- but underplays the level of corruption in Washington. We haven't seen any depiction of entrenched values and religious fuckery, either, and those are part and parcel of Washington's current operations.

In the SF vein, news that would make me (and a lot of other people, I'm guessing) smile is someone pulling Firefly back together. IMHO, that show was the most consistently well done SF show ever. It had everything; it was quirky enough to be interesting just from a plot-assembly POV, it was often very funny, almost everyone had a great role (River's the exception, but it's pretty clear they were developing her slowly) and, oh, I don't know, a host of other things. A touch of genius, certainly. Perhaps several.

Re:Real topic:

[Anonymous Coward]

House of Cards was the first series

I thought Lillyhammer was the first series?

Re:Real topic:

[CastrTroy]

I think the great thing about House of Cards is that it's the first TV Series I've seen that didn't have to go through all the censors or ratings boards whatsoever. I think this allows them to make it more true to life. There's swearing, drugs, violence, and even some brief nudity. Also, because it wasn't made for TV, each episode is exactly as long as it needs to be. It rarely seemed like they added content simply because they needed to make the episode longer.

Re:Real topic:

[jewens]

Well, I meant "do better than something I'd be prone to watch from the traditional producers of the televised media." I have no intention of comparing anything to either of those shows due to the fact my sense of integrity would require me to actually seek out and experience them first hand. -shudder-

Re:Real topic:

[1u3hr]

pulling Firefly back together. Everyone has moved on. Notably Nathan Fillion and Josh Whedon have very big and lucrative gigs. No matter how affectionately they talk about Firefly, neither of them is likely to be able to do it. And Fillion is noticeably less lean and mean now.

I loved the show too, but they got another shot in Serenity and blew it. Time for the fans to give it up.

Re:Real topic:

[Bengie]

Can they top Shark Week?

Re:Real topic:

[CrankyFool]

The other cool thing about the format is that there's no "last week, on House of Cards ... " wastes of time, because you're not presumed to have waited a week since you saw the last episode. Nor "next week, on House of Cards" teasers ...

Re:Real topic:

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, Lillihammer was the first. Too bad there wasn't a second season, as it was quite good.

Re:Real topic:

[T.E.D.]

JMS produced Babylon-5 for 5 years on a shoe-string budget with his own production company for an impoverished basic cable channel. I don't see why he'd have a lot of trouble pulling off the same feat for Netflix.

Re:Real topic:

[Anonymous Coward]

What is it with people and that show?

Most-consistently well done SF show ever, well, perhaps that was because the show died so quickly it didn't have time to be different.

I don't dispute whether or not it was a quality show (i haven't seen it in full so I can't comment) but it has been years, everyone has found other lines of work... STOP LIVING IN THE PAST.

Main reason - if it did come back, for whatever reason, it wouldn't be the same show you were hoping for. You'd have polished the image so greatly in your mind the real one wouldn't compare. Rejoice in what you have, remember the saying "be careful what you wish for".

Re:Real topic:

[Anonymous Coward]

You didn't watch "Boss", did you?

Re:Real topic:

[Seumas]

Well, if they're planning to do a science fiction show/movie, then they're automatically doing better -- because there isn't any science fiction on television.

Re:Real topic:

[Seumas]

It was an enjoyable watch, but in retrospect, it was a one-trick pony.

Re:Real topic:

[vakuona]

They didn't blow anything with Serenity.

Re:Real topic:

[fyngyrz]

ok, I'll bite -- "blew it" how?

You *do* realize that the degree of creative freedom in a movie is a fraction of what it is over many episodes, right?

I'd really like you to elaborate here.

Other than that, yeah, I gave up already, but that doesn't change what I'd like to happen. :)

Re:Real topic:

[fyngyrz]

i haven't seen it in full so I can't comment

I dunno, doesn't seem to have slowed you down much. You go right ahead, fellah. :)

Re:Real topic:

[Unknown Lamer]

Worse than that, an impovershed and failing alliance of UHF syndication channels, that loved Star Trek more than him despite Babylon 5 clearly being superior. And then an impovershed basic cable channel that destroyed everything :(

Re:Real topic:

[1u3hr]

They blew their chance to appeal to anyone except the (tiny) existing fan base. The Reaver conspiracy made little sense unless you were already a fan of the series. And they pissed off those fans by killing off two major characters. And yes, I know Whedon does that. Doesn't make it popular. It had its moments, of course, but wasn't near as involving as many of the episodes. And critical analysis aside, it was a commercial failure, didn't make its cost back until the DVD sale, despite fan campaigns to publicise it. Thats what killed the "franchise".

Re:Real topic:

[Teancum]

The franchise was long dead before the movie was even made. All that Serenity did was to give a beautiful eulogy to the series and wrap up story lines for the fans... and give a little bit of fun along the way.

Quite possibly something like Firefly will be remade, and I love watching the shows on Hulu or elsewhere when I can see them. It is quality science fiction and something that definitely has a fan base, but it will take a new series to make things happen where something original must be put together that is just as fresh as Firefly was when it originally came out.

Re:Real topic:

[Teancum]

I really liked how Battlestar Galactica ended up with its reboot. Arguably it was better than the original series with Loren Greene, Richard Hatch, and Dirk Benedict. The reboot wasn't nearly the same as the original series, but it borrowed many of the same things and ultimately had a much better run (with much better spin-offs... I really love Caprica!)

If Firefly went through a similar kind of reboot with some new characters (even a whole new series "set" in the Firefly universe), I might even enjoy watching that kind of show. It would be different though and on that point you would be correct.

Re:Real topic:

[coinreturn]

I think the great thing about House of Cards is that it's the first TV Series I've seen that didn't have to go through all the censors or ratings boards whatsoever. I think this allows them to make it more true to life. There's swearing, drugs, violence, and even some brief nudity. Also, because it wasn't made for TV, each episode is exactly as long as it needs to be. It rarely seemed like they added content simply because they needed to make the episode longer.

So, you never saw Weeds, The Sopranos, or countless others on the cable networks?

Re:Real topic:

[fyngyrz]

I'm not a fan of the Battlestar Galactica remake, too much soap opera and not enough plot for me... and the human Cylons, total cop-out meh. But Caprica was an amazing surprise, head and shoulders better than BG ever was in either incarnation.

Re:Real topic:

[msoftsucks]

It was blown from the beginning by the stupid FOX managers who aired the episodes out of sequence. I originally saw that first episode and said WTF? and gave upon on it right away. Years later when it arrived on Hulu, I gave it another chance, and saw the episodes in the right order. Loved it right away! If you miss that critical first episode, you are lost as to the whole meaning of the show.

hope its better than house of cards

[alen]

i got bored after 30 minutes

Re:hope its better than house of cards

[Psyborgue]

It's good if politics interests knows and you have a decent attention span. You do have to pay attention to the show, but I've watched the series to the end and I think it's was worth it. Everything fits together at the end.

Re:hope its better than house of cards

[Anonymous Coward]

Well you may need to see your doctor for a potential ADD diagnosis. House of Cards was one of the best shows I have seen recently. Admittedly, you need to pay attention, and this is obviously made hard for the average viewer as the explanations that make everything obvious are limited to a minimum, and there are no shootings or gory deads in the first 30 seconds of each episode. Oh and yes, there are no protagonists to root for and everybody is a bad guy (i kind a like this). This is probably the worst offense to the years of conditioning that Hollywood has provided to the viewing audiences.

Re:hope its better than house of cards

[RazorSharp]

i got bored after 30 minutes

I'm sure that's why they hired the Wachowskis, they need shows to appeal to those with no taste. It's too bad they couldn't land Michael Bay for you.

Re:hope its better than house of cards

[Anonymous Coward]

The sad part is that the attitudes of the characters in the series are probably realistic.

Re:hope its better than house of cards

[MrMickS]

No constant reminders of what has happened and trailers of what is going to happen? I might just have to check it out.

Get more comments 3 of 3 loaded

[Anonymous Coward]

wow, 3 of 3 loaded yet i don't see any comments? wow, has dice actually managed to make slashdot suck even more than when those va linux pump and dump scamsters owned it?

Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone clearly didn't get the memo. Neflix on Linux is dead simple to run now. Here is a video for noobs that breaks it all down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfte5su5DIA

Install and enjoy!

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah but is it open source? Anyone who uses proprietary software is an enemy of freedom. If you going to start using proprietary shit why don't you just run Windows or OS X? You can't be "mostly free except when there's a new episode of Game of Thrones", you're either a free man or you're a slave. There's no in between.

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[jedidiah]

I use Linux because it's not crap.

The freedom stuff mainly helps ensure that the platform will not be killed off by Microsoft.

Why not Windows? It's insecure crap.
Why not MacOS? It has too much of a "walled garden for morons" mentality.

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't feed the AC trolls dude.

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[Anonymous Coward]

How is OS X a "walled garden for morons"? Because you don't have to dick around in a shell to get Netflix working? And now that you're lining up to buy DRMed turds off Steam I don't really think you have much room to whine about iTunes. Linux jumped the shark a long time ago. It used to be a nice Solaris clone, now it's an abysmal OS X clone.

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[cyber-vandal]

iOS I can understand but in what way is Mac OS X a walled garden?

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[jedidiah]

It's a walled garden for morons because if you do anything remotely creative you will be called a pirate and your use case derided.

Macs are great at doing some narrowly defined things. They are like going on a guided tour in some really dangerous country. They are pleasant so long as you stay on the tour but treacherous otherwise.

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[Anonymous Coward]

It's got those little walls you see around flowerbeds. About 3 inches high

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[Anonymous Coward]

For someone with such a low user id you sure are stupid but your ridiculous biblical name shows you probably had a moronic upbringing so maybe it's not your fault.

Re:Poor GNU/Linux Already Watching Nefllx

[retchdog]

Could you elaborate on the "called a pirate" thing? It doesn't make any sense. The only `hard restriction i can think of on my mac is that it has hdmi drm baked-in, which I don't care about, and is probably not what you're referring to. Some things are harder than linux, a lot of things are easier. Sure, you can't customize the gui, but if you really want to, you can run gnome through the X11 server; it's just that no one sees the need to develop and maintain such a port... gee, I can't imagine why...

On the other hand, Mac OS X has several unique avenues for creativity; automator for example is very powerful for how simple it is. Yes, it's far from ideal and it's dog slow, but it offers a level of consistency that is enabled by Mac OS X's centralized approach.

Netflix works on linux

[h4rr4r]

Netflix has been working in wine for quite a while.
http://www.iheartubuntu.com/2012/11/netflix-on-ubuntu-is-here.html

Way to be out of date slashdot.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Netflix has been working in wine for quite a while.

Yeah, and they've recently started soaking their own corks, too.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

I looked at the link and read "silverlight working under wine" ... followed by "it's not as easy as it sounds."

It didn't sound easy! If for no other reason than graphics hardware differences might make good playback hard.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[h4rr4r]

Clearly you did not read the link.
It states those instructions are outdated and for Novice users like yourself an Ubuntu PPA exists.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Unknown Lamer]

I think you missed the part where there's no graphics acceleration and it sucks.

Also, I really just want a DRM-free RTMP stream that I can use with xbmc. Or, hell, throw some trivial drm on there that you know is broken and just look the other way like Amazon and Hulu. Until then... I guess Netflix doesn't get my money, and I will be sad that there is no legal way for me to watch JMS return to television.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[h4rr4r]

I think you missed the part where it does not suck, and CPUs these days are plenty fast.

Keep dreaming on that DRM free RTMP stream.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[sl4shd0rk]

Netflix has been working in wine for quite a while.

4 months of "working" is still Alpha/Beta stage in FOSS time. WINE is great and a lot of blood, sweat and tears has been put into the effort but in the end, it's a recipe for disaster if you have read incantations from the Necronomicon (wget+curl+./configure+make+make install|patch -p1|at>cron|bash -x /bin/sh|blah blah blah...) just to get it working. On other platforms, it's click+download+install+watch movie. If it's this way on that (godforsaken) Boxee-Box, why is it not this way for Linux?

Yes, there's a PPA to do all the heavy lifting for you but the first kernel/library update that comes along is going to leave your Netflix with a bleeding head wound until someone can get around to hacking things together again. Don't get me wrong, it's great that we have people willing to put the time and effort into this stuff but having a hacked-together-binder-twine-duct-tape solution is a piss-poor reason to not strive for native platform integration. I'd really like to hear the reasons why Netflix (and Amazon prime and Hulu for that matter) seem to be too braindead to figure out a viable Linux platform solution. No talent? Can't get the DRM right? Flash too screwed up? Can't figure out permissions? Prefer backslashes?

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Who even cares if Netflix works on a computer. If you don't have a PS3, TIVO, Rocu, networked DVD player, or any one of a hundred other devices that include a Netflix interface, your online entertainment needs are bigger than if you can get Netflix to work on your crappy computer.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Fox_1]

The main reason I'm commenting is to affirm this statement.
Netflix has been working for a long time on a couple of my systems using the wine solution.
AND get this crazy folks
linux, virtualbox, old windows license = also working, for an even longer time - which is just as much cheating as wine, but come on, this isn't hard.
I have even had netflix working on an old blackberry running BBOS6 - though technically that was just a stream from a linux host system I could still control it with the blackberry.
The point is, what the hey hey?
*I suppose since I'm in Canada I should point out that my netflix isn't HD, perhaps that's the issue for people, these solutions probably break at HD workloads.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[h4rr4r]

I am sure they have a working client, or could have one in a day or two. The licensing is probably far more the problem.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[jedidiah]

...yes, quite.

A $60 appliance will get you Hulu+, Amazon, & Netflix. So you don't really have to fixate over whether or not desktop Linux supports Netflix.

It's not 2005 anymore.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Unknown Lamer]

We can all have dreams.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Are laptop batteries equally plentiful? The faster the CPU has to run, the more energy it is going to draw.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[drinkypoo]

You obviously have a job, so you can afford a Windows HTPC where XBMC can launch Netflix.

I'm kind of surprised, though, that nobody has come up with a scheme for using a Windows VM as an external player for Netflix on Linux. Netflix works fine on XP in VMware at high resolutions, with smooth playback. It should be relatively trivial to script vmware player to fire off iexplore pointed to the particular playback page. You can already browse/search netflix from Linux.

In the meantime, Android is Linux-based and Netflix runs on it. It should be relatively easy to make the Netflix addon for XBMC kick it off. I believe external player support is present in the nightlies. (They have stopped since, I believe, March 5. But that's Gotham Alpha 2, which works on my Xperia Play, which is an antique by modern Android standards.)

Re:Netflix works on linux

[drinkypoo]

I'd really like to hear the reasons why Netflix (and Amazon prime and Hulu for that matter) seem to be too braindead to figure out a viable Linux platform solution

Don't believe that they can't do it. Microsoft gave up a board seat to a Netflix stooge in exchange for solely using Silverlight on PC platforms (including the Mac.) That meant shining on both Flash and Linux at the same time, which was a massive win-win for Microsoft. Since, I have considered Netflix to be a Microsoft puppet. I'm giving them money anyway, since they're the only guys who almost do what I want. I've found Amazon's player to be unreliable on Linux, requiring browser restarts and the like, so that doesn't excite me either.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[mcgrew]

1. I'm running kubuntu, and the instructions are for (ugh) Unity
2. I already have Flash installed and they want me to use the Microsoft flash (silverlight) that's only used on Netflix and maybe 3 other sites on the entire internet? All the TV networks use Flash, why do Netflix have to be such dicks?
3. Are they going to give me a free copy of Wine? It isn't like NetFlix is free!
4. Fuck 'em, if I have to jump through hoops and pay more than a Windows user to watch it I'm not going to bother, this will be on TPB. I'll watch it the same way Europeans will have to.
5. When did slashdot bork the <ol> tag?

Re:Netflix works on linux

[JackieBrown]

I know the response is that this shouldn't be necessary, but I find using bluecop's XBMC amazon plugin the best way to watch amazon prime shows and movies. I prefer it to the official ps3 client since the xbmc plugin sorts prime content from non-prime content (even better - it allows you to hide non-prime content.)

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=108124

Re:Netflix works on linux

[mcgrew]

You obviously have a job, so you can afford a Windows HTPC where XBMC can launch Netflix.

You don't think the computers we Linux users use came with Linux preinstalled? WTF do you think we got rid of Windows for, anyway? Any "remedy" that requires Windows is no remedy at all for a Linux user.

We're on Linux because Windows simply pissed us off too much. Once you've used a real OS it's really hard to go back to Microsoft's toy OS, and nobody's going to jump through hoops to pay Netflix when it will be on TPB. Let me run it on the OS I use without having to buy more shit and I'll pay, but fuck 'em if they're going to be stupid.

I'll pay for Guinness even if Old Milwaukee is free, but I'm not paying for Old Milwaukee when Guinness is free. In fact, if all I can choose is Old Milwaukee I'll stay sober. Microsoft is the Old Milwaukee of software (except it isn't cheap).

In the meantime, Android is Linux-based and Netflix runs on it. It should be relatively easy to make the Netflix addon for XBMC kick it off.

Indeed, they flip me the bird yet still want my money? Fuck that.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Or a $50 set-top box, or a console gaming system, or a TV with Netflix built in, or a tablet, or a phone, or about 100 other ways to watch Netflix.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

But not all of us should.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[drinkypoo]

I bought a B5 episode on Amazon once, so maybe once I get my MK802 III, I can do a test with XBMC on Android... which is where I'm headed. I have a Pi, but it's a bit poky (especially since I have a 256MB model.)

Re:Netflix works on linux

[h4rr4r]

Yes, clearly not having a job is why I am running linux on a macbook air.

Go pound sand.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[LarryRiedel]

A $60 appliance will get you Hulu+, Amazon, & Netflix. So you don't really have to fixate over whether or not desktop Linux supports Netflix.
It's not 2005 anymore.

I want to use my single 50in monitor as a Linux desktop while I am utilizing an online video streaming service to watch video in a window (which I can make fullscreen if I like). I do not want to buy and use an HDMI capture box.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

All that anger over entertainment. It's good to see you still have utterly misplaced emotional reactions to things in your advancing years.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Just buy a $50 DVD player with Netflix Online support.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh, good, you've justified piracy. It's important to continue to believe you have the right to be entertained as you wish, otherwise someone might mistake you for an adult.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

I want a pony, but no one is obligated to supply me with one on my terms.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Unknown Lamer]

This is what I use, since my roommate has Amazon Prime, and it is great. Also, proof that the DRM on streaming services cat is out of the bag... RTMPE was known broken for years before Amazon Prime and Hulu appeared, and yet they still use it. And tons of people circumvent is regularly, and they appear to not care. Making Netflix's licensing execuses just that. Hollywood execs seem like they're pretty easy to hoodwink.

A side question... have you ever gotten rented content to work with xbmc? I'm not a fan of "buying" video from Amazon (since ... I am not paying nearly full dvd price, sometimes more, unless I get a DRM free download, in which case I'd buy Jeff Bezos another yacht) but renting is fine by me... unfortunately the one time we tried it showed up in the watchlist but refused to play (real bummer, since I like to watch movies on a whim, and rarely care to ever see one again enough to justify the dvd... it's so close to being easier than piracy and worth it, except for the not playing part).

Re:Netflix works on linux

[kermidge]

Netflix on Ubuntu desktop works fine for me. CPU is a 1090T. I have it set to run a project on BOINC using all six cores full time; when I do something that needs graphics or CPU it usually gives way gracefully. If the crunching causes a problem with what I want to run I can suspend the project.

There are many things I _want_. Meanwhile, can I afford it, there are some things I just want to _do_.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[kermidge]

Don't know about that complicated stuff, but Netflix ran fine in an XP Home Premium vm in VirtualBox on my desktop machine.

Re:Netflix works on linux

[DarthVain]

Or heck buy a modern TV with WiFi and you don't even need an "appliance".

Re:Netflix works on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Get a Roku player for $50 and STFU.

Devices that play Netflix

[Anonymous Coward]

Hopefully it'll end up available on DVD eventually, for us poor GNU/Linux users who are not worthy enough for Netflix (or: to any Netflix engineers reading, make it work).

No smart phone, game system, smart TV, blu-ray player, tablet?

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[alen]

poster is a basement dweller who only uses a traditional computer for everything

why would you need a blu ray player if you torrent all your movies

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[dmacleod808]

Clearly the Author lives in 2002.

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[h4rr4r]

Laugh all you like, but my traditional computer hooked to my TV means I can watch HULU while laughing at their HULU+ adds TV and Bluray player support commercials.

If you have just a little know how making a wife friendly HTPC is pretty simple. No, there is no mouse in my living room and no the computer is not visible nor does it have fans.

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[alen]

i have a tiny apple TV, don't use HULU and only subscribe to netflix

i only pay for cable from time warner cable and get free HD quality broadcast channels over the same wire as the internet comes in since they aren't encrypted. that's how my wife watches a lot of her shows

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[marsu_k]

Yeah, while it is annoying that Netflix doesn't work under *general* Linux, it does work under *some* Linux-ish operating systems. Like on my Android phone/tablet, my "smart" TV (which does run Linux) and apparently soon in some Chromebooks. Yes, they should move away from Silverlight. Yes, the UI on the "smart" TV leaves a lot to be desired (why on earth should I plug in a USB keyboard I can only use the arrow keys and enter, instead of you know, typing?). But all in all, I'm not losing any sleep over it. It'll get there eventually, Silverlight is a dead end.

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[h4rr4r]

I have no cable, I have netflix and FIOS internet.
My wife has 0 interest in shows that start at any time other than when she starts them or that cannot be paused.

Re:Devices that play Netflix

[jedidiah]

A copy of the material that originated on DVD is still going to be better than any of those options. Many of those devices aren't "current' or feature complete. All of them depend on a constant and robust network connection. Many of them have interfaces that are just crap.

netflix ubuntu

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Netflix on Ubuntu there's a YouTube video of how to get it working. Its just 3 lines of code to copy and paste. I'm not a programmer or any way comfortable with the terminal and I have it working.

Re:netflix ubuntu

[Arashi256]

Soooo easy. sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop Done.

Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Huh, that's going to be one seriously polished series.

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[simonbp]

JMS is going to plan out this awesome many-year epic that never be finished, and then the Wachowskis will take a CGI shit on it.

So, it look nice, briefly.

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[Unknown Lamer]

Hopefully having been burned by the collapse of PTEN and then getting bent over by TNT, JMS negotiated a contract that will avoid immediate cancellation... because I want some good scifi that wasn't made 15+ years ago, and there's only one man left who can do it...

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, it will be just like Crusade: a (planned) multi year epic series that was a CGI shit.

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[PortHaven]

Crusade was basically TN mucking with everything until the point that JMS was exasperated.

No, it'll be more like Babylon 5 Seasons 1-4 and Jeremiah seasons 1-1.5

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Something being like Babylon 5 Season 1 is not a recommendation.

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[Surak_Prime]

David Weber? Seriously - where is our Honorverse series?

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[JackieBrown]

I know this is superficial, but Crusade lost me by the wacky incidental music.

Season 5 of Babylon 5 had some really good moments after the sting of Ivanova "leaving" was gone (and Byron dead.) The Centauri stuff was incredible.

Re:Straczynski and the Wachowskis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Even JMS says that music was a mistake, and he should have kept Franke on it.

Uh oh...

[Daetrin]

So just going from past history...

JMS = doesn't really start to hit his stride until the second season.

Wachowskis = each part of an episodic thing they work on is worse than the one that came before

So either the strengths of one will compensate for the weaknesses of the other, or it's going to start out as on okay show with some promise but a lot of problems to overcome and then go downhill from there.

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

My understanding of The Matrix is that 2 and 3 were supposed to be a single movie, with the trilogy capped off with a prequel. Unfortunately, the studios decided they didn't like that idea and meddled. Would it have worked out better if executed as originally planned? It's hard to say; however, the blame shouldn't be laid solely at the feet of the Wachowski brothers.

Re:Uh oh...

[KatchooNJ]

In all fairness... most shows take a couple seasons to hit their stride. I still remember watching the first episode of Star Trek: TNG and thinking that it stunk and I completely gave up on the show at that point. I then rejoined the party in season 2 and ended up loving the series, for the most part.

Also, how many episodic things have the Wachowskis worked on? I can only think of the Matrix films. Maybe there are things out there I haven't seen yet.

Re:Uh oh...

[loonwings]

"Wachowski brothers" is inaccurate. Lana Wachowski identifies as female.

Re:Uh oh...

[RazorSharp]

My understanding is that the Wachowskis were still the ones who wrote the abomination that was the final Matrix movie. Studios will always meddle, but few writers/directors are given as much artistic license as the Wachowskis were given. It's obvious that Warner Bros. didn't meddle enough -- they have interns that could have identified the Revolutions screenplay as crap.

Re:Uh oh...

[RazorSharp]

In all fairness... most shows take a couple seasons to hit their stride.

What on earth gave you this idea? Most shows, if they don't hit their stride by the end of the pilot, there isn't a season two. I don't remember the first season of Star Trek: TNG (been waaayyyy too long), but that was riding on the Star Trek name and fanbase. I don't think that show is indicative of greater trends in television.

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

As far a science can tell its biologically accurate.

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not necessarily. There's more going on with sexual identity than what's between the legs. There are anatomical differences between male and female brains, and imaging studies have shown that many transgendered people have brains that are structurally similar to the sex they identify with, regardless of their genitalia. Some people with XY chromosomes actually develop into women (as the XX/XY thing is just a shortcut to describe what happens in 90-whatever percent of cases -- its not actually a hard-and-fast rule like high school courses teach). The biology behind sexual differentiation and identification is pretty complex, a reality that is sadly not well publicized.

Re:Uh oh...

[geekoid]

So? they are genetically male.
self identification is bullshit. You don't go changing definition because it suits you. It's left over pop psychology form the 70s.
It's OK if you want to surgically change you gender, I don't care about that. but don't go around changing terms and definitions.

Re:Uh oh...

[geekoid]

There are a lot of shows that barely squeak by, then are tweaked to get better numbers. Rockford file, Magnum PI, Battlestar, Heroes. Pretty much every show.

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Has penis = is male.

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

self identification is bullshit. You don't go changing definition because it suits you. It's left over pop psychology form the 70s.

Translation: "It makes me uncomfortable, so I don't want it to be true"

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome

kthxbai

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard s/he already had a sex change surgery, so...

Re:Uh oh...

[jedidiah]

Let us not forget the original Trek.

MASH was on for 11 years and it nearly didn't make it to it's 2nd season. It was pretty much saved by having one single very well placed fan (some executive's wife).

Re:Uh oh...

[CTachyon]

So? they are genetically male. self identification is bullshit. You don't go changing definition because it suits you. It's left over pop psychology form the 70s. It's OK if you want to surgically change you gender, I don't care about that. but don't go around changing terms and definitions.

What does "genetically male" mean? 46,XY? Congratulations, you just excluded men with 47,XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) and 47,XYY (XYY syndrome) as "not male". Presence of a Y chromosome? Congratulations, women with 46,XY who lack the SRY gene (Swyer syndrome) are now "male". Presence of the SRY gene? Congratulations, 46,XY women with SRY but non-functional testosterone receptors (CAIS, complete androgen insensitivity syndrome) are now "male". And those are merely some of the conditions that are diagnosed by hormones and genitalia, without even looking at the giant ball of complexity that is the brain.

Self-identification of gender isn't bullshit 70's pop psychology. It's a practical consideration: science doesn't currently know what triggers male versus female identity in the brain. We know there's a surge of prenatal testosterone in the male fetus, followed by another testosterone surge a few weeks after birth, and that these two surges seem to trigger changes in the brain, but beyond that... hell if we know. We don't even know to what degree male identity is controlled by those testosterone surges versus direct action of SRY, or how many specific biological components there are in the brain that need to be affected. We don't know which circuits in the brain control self-identity ("I am a man/woman") versus proprioception ("my mental body map expects to receive sense data from male/female genitals") versus presentation ("other people see my behavior as feminine/masculine") versus orientation ("I am attracted to women/men"), if there are other categories than the ones I listed, where the lines are between these categories, or how blurry those lines are. Given how stable they are, we can infer that they're hardwired, which means that they must be phenotypes set during development; yet, the easiest way for a doctor to find out how genotype became phenotype in any particular patient is for the doctor to ask that patient to say their own gender identity.

Re:Uh oh...

[Dragonslicer]

I don't remember the first season of Star Trek: TNG (been waaayyyy too long)

Be glad of that. The acting, especially from Stewart and Spiner, was something you'd see in a bad high school play. I don't know who, if anyone, should get the blame for that, since Stewart and Spiner are both very good actors.

Re:Uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

You sir are an idiot... The Matrix TRILOGY was this generations masterpiece...

Re:Uh oh...

[mcgrew]

I still remember watching the first episode of Star Trek: TNG and thinking that it stunk and I completely gave up on the show at that point. I then rejoined the party in season 2 and ended up loving the series, for the most part.

What's funny is I watched that first episode (part 1) and thought, meh... they did Q before. I was hooked by the second episode (part 2).

TNG had a few stinkers but overall, I think it's better than TOS -- and I saw TOS in 1966.

As to the Matrix, if it were two normal length movies rather than three with two of those being pretty long, the sequel (sequels with most of both movies excised) it would have been pretty good.

But, most likely I fear we'll get Matrix2&3 in fifteen hour long episodes...

Re:Uh oh...

[happy_place]

A series takes a while to get going because of a number of factors. Not just the series writers, but also the actors don't know their characters well enough to know how to act their parts. The production crew, the effects, everything is new up front. What is stiff and wooden, often is eliminated as it receives feedback from discriminating fans, honest feedback, and producers who spot what works and what doesn't.

Very few series start out "fresh", and if they do, it's often based on a gimmick that's unsustainable. (like Lost, or The Event, for example)

Re:Uh oh...

[RazorSharp]

I don't remember the first season of Star Trek: TNG (been waaayyyy too long)

Be glad of that. The acting, especially from Stewart and Spiner, was something you'd see in a bad high school play. I don't know who, if anyone, should get the blame for that, since Stewart and Spiner are both very good actors.

Maybe they were just trying to recreate the magic of the original series.

Re:Uh oh...

[Velex]

Hi there. I originally wasn't going to respond since I was at work, but I was washing off my woman suit just now and I suddenly had a thought that put me in dispair!

You're absolutely right! We can't just go changing the terms and definitions. I had never thought of it that way before!

I had watched The Silence of the Lambs for the first time earler this week to try to get some tips on how to improve my woman suit. It's already pretty good. Most people who know me outside of work call me "she." I learned the other day that one of the greeters at a Meijer I frequent thinks that I'm a woman, and I didn't even tell her that I was wearing a woman suit!

But that's not all. Then I realized I was in for some big, big trouble. Since I browse /. as AC at work, I get to see all the ads. This site is plastered with attractive young women with large breasts who all want to sell me T-shirts. How do I know they're women? Why, it's obvious! There's only one ad that's a problem. There's a woman from IBM trying to sell something or other (I never pay attention too much to the ads), and she's butt-ugly. Then I remembered your comment. What if I made a mistake? What if he's really a man, too!

How could we ever find out? How do you do it? When you see an ugly woman with a man jaw in public, do you feel her up to make sure before you use a pronoun to refer to him/her? I just realized! That's what the TSA is doing. The TSA is doing a public service! They're sorting out the ugly women from the men with woman suits!

OMG! This is so awful! You know Harisoo who is a Korean pop singer? I JUST REALIZED THAT HE'S A MAN! Oh god! I was jacking off my woman suit to a man ALL THIS TIME!

whatdoidowhatsdoidowhatdoido?!?!?!?!

Free as in beer, freedom, etc

[Anonymous Coward]

While I understand that this is slashdot, and that these sort of conversations are the norm here, why did the article blurb about the TV show have to be followed up with some snip at getting free software ways to play it? Why is that important to add?

I mean, slashdot talks about mobile phones all the time (recently the samsung galaxy has been all over the headlines) and yet the open source gab is not there in the summary. What about the Tesla Model S electric car, which has been dominating headlines too? There's dozens or possibly of hundreds of non-free non-accessible encumbered firmwares in that car, and nobody's adding a sentence to the end of that

I think the main issue I have with it is that the little sentence at the end is mainly _whining_ and there's no actual recourse given as to what one can do about it. But it's slashdot, so that flies here.

Re:Free as in beer, freedom, etc

[jedidiah]

Some people are more demanding. A lot of those people read Slashdot. This demanding nature also includes the TV watching experience. Slashdot users are much more likely to be early adopters of things like Tivo, HTPCs, and streamers.

I would love to be able to liberate a Netflix show from the Netflix user interface.

We're not a herd of sheep here.

Re:Free as in beer, freedom, etc

[geekoid]

"Why is that important to add?"
Becasue /. has a large userbase of people who want that. It's right AT the demographic.

Silverlight, Magnetic Link and Bittorrent

[Anonymous Coward]

Nowadays, we already have the tool to make it better than netflix.

We just need some tool on the browser (using Silverlight and Monolight [1]) as a plugin or a website. The website and plugin must not store any file, so it will not be subject to DMCA.

Then you can use magnetic links like this:

example.com/magnet:?xt=urn:btih:adb526f76cef1f631dfb74728ac7c5f4a54acab9&dn=The+code+linux&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.istole.it%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80

The plugin/website will start download using Monotorrent[2]; It will appear not those fancy torrent download progress bars but a simple one like netflix;

No commercial ads, no bullshit.

The website/plugin will start streaming the main file as soon as its available (and there are many way to determine that), look for subtitles, and PLAY the movie.

example.com/$magnetic-links -> PLAY!

Like Magic!

That the way you do a website/plugin DMCA complaint. As EASY for the USER as NETFLIX, WITH A FAR BETTER AND LARGE DISTRIBUTED CONTENT STORAGE.

[1]: http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight
[2]: http://www.monotorrent.com/

Re:Silverlight, Magnetic Link and Bittorrent

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah! Right!

Is "Netflix exclusive" ever really exclusive?

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard that "Lilyhammer" was supposedly Netflix exclusive but there were scene releases available immediately, for everyone whose money Netflix had said no to (e.g. all-Linux houses like mine). Was I wrong that it was exclusive (i.e., the scene got the video from somewhere else) or has Netflix been cracked?

I've been looking forward to Arrested Development season 4, and this thing (or at least its first episode; Lilyhammer turned out to be pretty boring and I stopped watching after two or three episodes) might be worth a watch too. I've assumed that Netflix' staunch position of "fuck you, don't pay me," (dudes, I think you're misquoting Ray Liotta) won't matter (we'll be able to get the video in spite of Netflix not wanting to do business) but maybe I'm wrong. Am I?

Re:Is "Netflix exclusive" ever really exclusive?

[h4rr4r]

Recording a netflix stream is possible without cracking it directly. You could even just record off the HDMI output since HDCP is trivial to crack.

Re:Is "Netflix exclusive" ever really exclusive?

[PortHaven]

My understanding is Netflix is producing as exclusive, but then planning to syndicate to other networks.

Re:Is "Netflix exclusive" ever really exclusive?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've assumed that Netflix' staunch position of "fuck you, don't pay me," (dudes, I think you're misquoting Ray Liotta)

No, it's the Cartman business model.

Want some cheese with your whine?

[damn_registrars]

Who still watches netflix on their computers, anyways? At least half the blu-ray players on the market today can play netflix out of the box. Every major game console can as well. Quite a few TVs have it built-in now, too. Why on earth would you want to watch it on your computer?

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

What kind of retro luddite would have a blu-ray player? Isn't that one of those devices that makes you watch ads, and you can't even fast forward past them? About a decade or so ago, everyone upgraded up and away from that level of tech.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[h4rr4r]

You might find this hard to believe, but HDTVs made computers more popular for this sort of thing. It became trivial to hook a computer right up to the largest screens in the house.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[locopuyo]

Maybe you have a computer connected to your TV so you don't need a crappy blu-ray player or console.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[L4t3r4lu5]

My computer is attached to my TV and does more than just Netflix. Plus, if there is an update to the software platform Netflix uses which breaks your smart TV / games console / Blu-Ray player, do you think they will update it? No, they'll tell you to buy the newest version and throw your old one away.

My 5 year old Samsung 37" has YouTube, NetFlix, Sky Go, iPlayer, etc etc etc ad nauseum because it is a dumb TV.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

I watch majority of Netflix on computer. True geeks multitask.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[pianoman113]

Why on earth would you want to watch it on your computer?

Here, here. Quit bitching and drop $100 for a Roku 3.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

The interface on the PS3 version of Netflix is really quite bad.

You can only see what they provide for you in the basic categories, limited to 75 titles each. To this day I haven't figured out how to browse all 100+ videos under Horror, for example. You also can't organize the titles in such a way (sort by name, age (year produced), or by rating)

Sure, you can 'search' for titles if you know what you're looking to watch, but most days I'm just flipping through the options to see what interests me.

Mind you, most of the options are utterly terrible, but that's for another story.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

In our house it's the other way around: Why on earth would we watch TV?
We get access to the content when we need to, in a familiar and friendly interface that already is up to date and tweaked to be useable for whatever we need it to.
It saves space, headache, the environment, time for updates, among other things. The only thing it isn't is kid / family friendly, but with some work and cordless intergration, it could be.

For us, 18,2" laptop fits the bill. It could probably be connected to something, but we don't need to, so won't. It makes our life easier, more flexible and casual.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee, let's see here:

A) Buy a TV plus a blu-ray player or video game console at hundreds of USD each. Watch Netflix.

B) Open up a web browser. Watch Netflix.

One of these is slightly more attractive than the other.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Shados]

Actually, smart TVs, game consoles and blue ray players are regularly updated. Hell, my panasonic TV even can stream freagin CrunchyRoll, and that gets updates almost instantly. Rokus even have indie developers making channels for it and updating them regularly.

Even the freagin Nintendo DS gets regular updates for its streaming apps...

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Saethan]

Plus, if there is an update to the software platform Netflix uses which breaks your smart TV / games console / Blu-Ray player, do you think they will update it? No, they'll tell you to buy the newest version and throw your old one away.

Weird how I keep getting Netflix software updates on those devices. Just had to update Netflix on my parents' Wii the other day because they hadn't turned the thing on in over a year. As of Monday night my dad is happily watching Netflix on the Wii in his computer room.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good job getting all the nerds worked up.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[geekoid]

Man solves problem by telling other people where to spend their money.
Let me guess, consultant?

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[StormReaver]

Why on earth would you want to watch it on your computer?

Because I choose to.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[antdude]

Not everyone has a TV. I don't even have a HDTV and Blu-Ray player. :)

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[jedidiah]

Been there. Done that. Know better.

I've seen what those so called timely updates amount to. You're better off just buying a newer device. Fortunately, they are cheap It's still annoying though.

A smart TV is about the dumbest thing you could buy. You get the crappiest appliance tech for the cost of an actual PC (or worse).

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[jedidiah]

The PC based versions of these streamers run on crappy web technology that quite often doesn't do well at exploiting the hardware acceleration features in PCs.

It may be far cheaper to buy the Roku than to beef up your HTPC.

THAT is another reason that spinny media is better. I can strip the DRM and use the most efficient playback software available. While Adobe is whining about clanlib, I can enjoy everything my GPU has to offer.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[jedidiah]

Blu-ray players are now $60.

They haven't been hundreds of dollars for awhile now.

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh, so you dismissed out of hand experiences that don't match your own out-of-date ones? That's an interesting technique. Are you a politician?

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[Darinbob]

I'd rather just not watch TV than to watch it on a computer. It's just netflix, I'm just never going to watch it, the same way I'm never going to fork over money to watch shows on HBO or Showtime that friends can't stop fawning over.

And blu-ray? Isn't that the DRM ladened system designed to make DVDs look benign?

Re:Want some cheese with your whine?

[kermidge]

Why on earth would you want to watch it on your computer?

Because it's what I have.

Not to worry.

[westlake]

so 95% of the world won't be able to see it...

I'd say the chances are quite good that production will be co-financed through partnerships with other networks and services.

Re:Not to worry.

[1u3hr]

Well, I can't get Netflix. But I can download webrips. So I'm happy.

Can't Wait

[FuzzNugget]

Honestly, it sounds ... well, it has potential anyway. I seriously enjoyed three of the four movies mentioned (let's just play pretend and say that fourth one never happened, mmmkay?)

Fringe is over after a good run, V was canceled just as it was getting really good and there's not much else out there I can find with as much character depth.

Bring it on!

That's the way to do it!

[houbou]

I like how Netflix delivered "House of Cards" in one shot. That's how TV shows should be. No more Neilsen ratings crap. There are SO many great shows that were axed because of prime-time competition. I hope this model will work and become the norm for TV entertainment and kill those NBC/CBS/ABC/ and other networks.

Re:That's the way to do it!

[Gramie2]

I'd say it's because the networks want to see the response to a show before investing in a whole season's production. That way they can cut their losses if it's a disaster.

Lots of us do

[future assassin]

I have two htpc's (AMD A-10 and A-8 and Linux Mint 14 KDE). One at home and one at work. Watch online content, Netflix, Hulu and play Stream. With 700+ dvd's who needs a BluRay player? Skipped right over it to all digital. Thanks....

Re:Lots of us do

[future assassin]

Stream = STEAM woops.

Re:Lots of us do

[geekoid]

People who ,like better the DVD pictures? People who like to watch thing that aren't available on the net?

Re:Lots of us do

[The_PS4_Will_Fail]

What do you do for work that you are streaming entertainment like that?

JMS...

[asylumx]

The Java Message Service is teaming up with the Wachowskis? That's going to make for a strange movie. (Seriously... stop using acronyms for peoples' names. We get enough without that.)

Re:JMS...

[lister king of smeg]

Do you also complain when people say RMS, or ESR?

Re:JMS...

[PortHaven]

JMS was JMS before Java Messaging Service. And probably has more internet acclaim than java messaging does as well.

Dang, JMS was on GEnie yes, before the world wide web was even popular. Hell, JMS predates Java itself

Sorry your failed at your nerdiness...

Re:JMS...

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you also complain when people say RMS, or ESR?

No, because those are people who should be familiar to most visitors of this site AND they've routinely gone by their initials for the majority of their popular lives. "J. Michael Straczynski" is just some TV creator/producer only known by name to a subset of a subset of people (even around here), and even fewer know him just by "JMS".

Re:JMS...

[Anonymous Coward]

RMS is that GPL-guy, right? Unless you work with rotating measurement systems.
In my world ESR will always mean "Equivalent Series Resistance" but for people who doesn't look for it in datasheets on a daily basis I guess it could mean something else.

Re:JMS...

[geekoid]

no. Not knowing JMS means - geek point.

Thinking JMS is Java Messaging Services is + nerd points. You know, the points that ACTUALLY matter.

Re:JMS...

[asylumx]

And, of course, this is news for nerds -- NOT news for *geeks*

Re:JMS...

[asylumx]

Thanks, glad at least one AC gets the point!

Re:JMS...

[asylumx]

It's all about context, and there are very few people who would get that JMS is a person (let alone a specific person) from that awful headline. This is news for nerds. I expect a lot more nerds to know what JMS is regarding software than I would expect them to know who JMS is regarding people. You may be confusing nerds and geeks.

Re:JMS...

[Darinbob]

But everyone calls him JMS. Besides, what the hell is Java Messaging Service anyway? I think there's a reasonable chance that more people on Slashdot know JMS the writer than JMS the middleware (heck, I don't even know what middleware is, much less JMS). This is news for nerds, not news for Java professionals.

Re:JMS...

[PortHaven]

Seriously, JMS gave us the first major space TV series to use physics...

Zero G fighters, rotational ship/station compartments.

Granted a lot of typical sci-fantasy. But dang, it was leaps and bounds above Star Wars/Trek science. And he was one of the earlier internet fandoms to interact with his fans. Heck, even gave nods to internet culture "Lurkers".

Nah, JMS = J Michael Staczynski - he is far more cooler, nerdier, than Java Messaging Service.

Re:JMS...

[kermidge]

Uh, I think JMS was on GEnie circa '84 before the Web existed, late Summer and Fall of '91. I seem to recall some of his posts in the sci-fi and writers roundtables, but I was spending most of my time in the Atari ST RT and over at Pournelle's RT.

As long as it is not on cable

[mauriceh]

As a cable TV boycotter, all I can say is :
"All good as long as cable companies do not make a cent of it)

Re:As long as it is not on cable

[Obfuscant]

"All good as long as cable companies do not make a cent of it)

You do realize that if it makes it to free OTA it must also be carried by cable systems, don't you? So what you're saying is that you don't want it to be free to everyone via broadcast, but Netflix or some other network streaming company making money from it is ok?

Re:As long as it is not on cable

[mauriceh]

How is something on Netflix "free OTA" ??
I expect that this content would only be available on Netflix.

Re:As long as it is not on cable

[Obfuscant]

How is something on Netflix "free OTA" ??

It isn't, and nobody said it was.

I expect that this content would only be available on Netflix.

Then any concern that it might show up on that dastardly cable is moot, and the OP needn't worry. I don't know why this would be limited to Netflix, though, since that automatically limits the money that can be made from it.

Since he is worried, I thought I'd point out that if it does appear free OTA then that dastardly cable must carry it, which means he is specifically saying that he hopes it never appears OTA where many people can watch it for free. That sounds pretty selfish to me.

Re:As long as it is not on cable

[mauriceh]

Simply put, I am tired of cable subscribers being "mined" by cable cos.
Their monopolies stink
Forced bundling.
Ridiculous prices for the few cable networks worth watching
It just never ends.

So, now that we are subscribers to alternatives such as Netflix, and our money is being used for those services,
I simply do not want the fruits of that money to go to the cable cos that took such callous advantage of us in the first place.

Netflix ( and Hulu, I hear, I am Canadian) demonstrate that it actually is possible to deliver good content,
  with easy to use and unobtrusive user interfaces, at a fraction of the cost that the cable cos gouge us.

Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Harald Paulsen]

There were several new shows in the past years. Not many made it though..

From memory, and the amount of scifi might be discussed but in no particular order:
Threshold, Werehouse 13, Defying Gravity, Lost, Person of Interest, Revolution, FlashForward, Eureka, The Event, Fringe, Alcatraz, Stargate Universe, Continuum, Heroes, V (the new one), Dollhouse..

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Cajun Hell]

Not disputing your point at all, but: Revolution sucks. Continuum sucks.

And Lost was not scifi. The big thing about Lost was that it felt like it might be scifi but it ever got there. If Lost is scifi, then so is Hogan's Heroes, and the term has nearly no meaning.

As for the rest, I haven't seen them, I remain hopeful, and I thank you for the tip.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[PortHaven]

Stargate Universe died in 2010. It's been three years since we've had ANY space sci-fi shows.

Yes there have been some sci-fantasy shows, but really most of that is SF lite. It'd be great if Netflix would consider a space series.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Harald Paulsen]

Can't really say I miss space sci-fi. Sure, I loved stargate universe, firefly and defying gravity, but space is not a necessity for a good sci-fi. Perhaps in some years when they can do something that is actually new. There can be only SO many weekly episodes of yet another planet and/or new aliens. ;-)

Speaking of which.. you know they recently revived Red Dwarf? I guess that sort of counts like a space sci-fi.

Haven't actually seen the new episodes yet.. hmm, better get around to that some day.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not disagreeing, but Syfylys has at least been mumbling about a RHW series ("Defender" IIRC) coming soon for most of that time, so there's that. If it ever gets here.

I'm really looking forward to it, because I liked a lot of things about Andromeda (not saying it was great, just a lot of good aspects among the poor) and it went way downhill after RHW was booted; earns him some goodwill in my book.

JMS+Wachowskis is two decent enough things that don't necessarily go well together, but at least it's Netflix, not Syfylys... I'll watch it, but I'm not real hyped.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Psyborgue]

Lost might have been sci-fi but they fucked it all up at the end with the "god did it" bullshit.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Psyborgue]

Oh. Warehouse is shit. Eureka is shit after the 3rd season. Fringe is ok but inconsistent and the ending doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Stargate Universe was good but got cancelled. Heroes was meh, and hardly sci-fi. V was good, but again, cancelled. Dollhouse was good but ... you guessed it ... cancelled. Seems anything good gets cancelled. I have high hopes for JMS and the Wachowskis. Hopefully it's good and by some miracle doesn't get cancelled.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[geekoid]

"ANY space sci-fi shows."
you moved the goal post.

Space doesn't equal sci-fi.
However, Dr.Who has been in and through space(and times) several times.
I think Caprica might have involved space in some way.

"sci-fantasy shows, but really most of that is SF lite"
No true Scotsman, eh?

That's not even looking at the many, many animated series.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[1u3hr]

Lost might have been sci-fi but they fucked it all up at the end with the "god did it" bullshit.

Same for BSG. But at least that you can just try to forget the last episode and the rest was pretty tremendous.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[geekoid]

Warehouse is shit.
actually, it's not. Its decent writing, and consistent with interesting characters.
It's a well put together show.
Now, subjectively you may not like it, but that doesn't make it shit.
Learn the different between good/bad and like/don't like.

"Seems anything good gets cancelled. "
OR you a hipster who only like things becasue they get cancelled.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Psyborgue]

That's true. You could do the same with Lost, I guess, and pretend something else happens at the end. Actually you could probably cut off the whole final season and leave it at that.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Psyborgue]

Of course when I say something is "shit" it's my opinion. Something cannot be objectively shit unless it's literally shit. It's a qualitative statement. I shouldn't have to elaborate. To be fair, I never watched Warehouse after the first episode. It was just that bad the way I saw it. It was a cheap ripoff of Fringe and lacked it's humor, depth, and any attempt at scientific accuracy (though that's very hard to find these days). Maybe i'll give it another chance. Maybe it gets better.

And the shows I liked I watched far before they were cancelled. Hell. I was hoping they'd remake (and finish) V back after they cancelled the original (which was admittedly, cheesy and bad, although the miniseries was fantastic). Good sci-fi died with Star Trek. The best was TNG, especially the earlier seasons before Roddenberry died. Then it started going downhill -- less about sci-fi and philosophy and more about drama and action (not that there isn't a place for that). You won't find this speech on tv anymore (no, modern sci-fi respects the societal cancer known as religion). The Outer Limits was very good as well. Sci-fi used to present you with a scenario that made the viewer ask ethical, scientific, and philosophical questions. I like Sci-fi that makes you think, and there seems to be very little of that left.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[1u3hr]

With Lost, it went all wishy washy long before the finale. They systematically erased all the possibilities of a rational explanation as the show went on. It was just Purgatory, like they swore blind in the first season it never would be. I kept watching, hoping they were going to pull it off, but it ended up like 1970s Sunday morning Christian telemovie. Very well produced and acted, but a terrible disappointment as you find out that nothing matters. The whole flash-sideways shtick even less so.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Psyborgue]

I couldn't agree more. Perhaps as they were writing it they had no idea how they were going to end it -- making it up as they go along. Maybe Purgatory was the only way they could think of. I really wish when they started writing series, they would have some coherent idea of what's going on in the show's universe -- some idea of the plot arc. Fringe suffered from the same flaw and inconsistencies in the way they ended it. Seems to be a JJ thing. I'm watching Revolution (don't recommend it) right now and I'm willing to bet it'll be more of the same. We're into the 2nd season and we still don't know what caused all the power on earth to suddenly stop workign (the main premise of the show). Characters hint that they know what happened and promise to explain it all later (as soon as JJ thinks up something). I'm willing to bet, JJ being such a massive troll, that God will end up having done that too.

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[PortHaven]

I'd love to see a Mars Colony drama series...

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[PortHaven]

Geekoid, I did move the goal post. I am affirm believer if I have to deal with 20 different sports seasons, 150 comedies and dramas, that dammit. I deserve at least on !@#$% show in "space".

Okay, so I desperately want HBO to produce the "Man-Kzin wars after Game of Thrones"

As for not a true Scotsman, dammit, you found me out. I am a clan member, but through adoption. Which the clans recognize...but not by blood. :-|

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[1u3hr]

Well, with Revolution I watched it as it came out. Very, very dumb series. But everyone was telling JJ from the start that he HAD to have an explanation, that no one trusted him any more, after Lost, and the mess he made of Alias before that, when the ending was just pulled out of his ass and satisfied no one. Before the end of season 1 they do show you what caused the power to go off. But not who did it and why.

But the girl as the star is a Barbie doll and the plots are very repetitive and silly. The technology is terribly inconsistent. They keep having flashbacks, 15 years before, yet everyone looks exactly the same as they are "now".

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[Psyborgue]

My favorite inconsistency from the last episode was with the "amplifier" in the latest episode. If they're flying around an amplifier that gets everything to work within miles, why do they need to attach a separate necklace to the missile launcher? Does it only work for the bad guys? Also. Once the power went out, the gun on the helicopter should not have fired as i'm pretty sure they're electrically powered. There are so many holes in the plot in every single episode. I must have missed where they explained how the power went out, though. It's explained the government was experimenting with ways to inhibit power selectively (and perhaps this went wrong), but nothing definitive has been said, unless I missed it. And yeah. The main character is not very interesting. Her mother is OK, though. I've always liked that actor since Lost. As to flashbacks... What else do you expect from JJ?

Re:Without any new scifi shows? In what universe?

[1u3hr]

As to flashbacks... What else do you expect from JJ?

Well, in the Lost flashbacks, they gave the actor a shaggy hairdo to make them look "younger". Younger Ben Linus was hilarious. With Revolution, the fat Google guy is exactly as fat and bearded as he was after 15 years of post-apocalypse.

Re: retro luddite would have a blu-ray player

[DocSavage64109]

You either have gigabit internet, or don't mind recompressed video quality. Some of us don't have that kind of bandwidth and appreciate a good picture.

Not now, honey

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Is it really proper to say, "of Cloud Atlas and Speed Racer fame"?

Re:Not now, honey

[SuricouRaven]

Speed Racer is made of seizures and LSD.

mod 80p

[Anonymous Coward]

If *BSD isv to cuurent core were

"Souls hunted"?

[demon driver]

Makes me set my expectations low, if religious mystery is already communicated in such prominent a line. As much as I liked B5, JMS's embracing of everything religious and metaphysical was in my opinion the most annoying aspect of the series. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to find out whether my prejudice will be proven right or wrong!

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[cashman73]

I'll still give it a shot, given the fact that the origins of production are getting away from the typical mainstream model that Sci-Fi (excuse me, Syfy) follows. But when I saw "souls hunted", my first thought was, "OMG! More Ghost Hunters garbage!"

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[Anonymous Coward]

JMS is an atheist from what I can tell in the various things he's posted on the internet (he's done a lot of online discussions). I think he included relgious and metaphysical stuff in B5 to show how people latch onto religious ideas and values and use them to guide their actions because that is a real phenomenon regardless of whether you believe in the reality espoused by a given religion. Religious ideas have a hand in driving all sorts of conflicts in the real world (and conflicts are important elements of stories).

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[T.E.D.]

Yup. JMS has stated he doesn't believe in God, and the rest of parent post is dead on as well. However, he does acknolwedge that religon exists, and even did some speculation into what that would look like with alien species. That's the kind of thing Sci-Fi is supposed to do. What he didn't do is ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist, like was done in Star Trek.

GP was essentially complaining that B5 wasn't Trek. It his perrogative to prefer that narrative I suppose, but it doesn't make other narratives bad. At any rate, this is an argument most of us tired of a decade and a half ago. If you only want to watch Trek universe shows, please just go do that already and leave the rest of us alone.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[Psyborgue]

I didn't see it that way. I mean the only "gods" in the show ended up being frauds (powerful energy based life forms that messed with our evolution so we would view them as gods). Even the soul hunters explained that if they did not capture the minds/souls before they died, they would be lost forever. About the only truly metaphysical thing in the show was Humans an Minbari sharing "souls" (some sort or re-incarnation), but even that could perhaps be explained away through the science of the series.

I do, however, agree that he was far too tolerant of religion. I would have preferred open hostility a-la Picard from Roddenberry's Star Trek. After he died, the series stopped criticizing religion openly and even broke his wishes by introducing it as a positive aspect of culture in DS9 (although even then, the "gods" are merely aliens.). Shows today are too politically correct. You won't see a speech like this today.

I think most networks today would get too many complaints if they openly bashed religion. It's too politically dangerous to rock the boat. It's a shame since that's exactly what good sci-fi is supposed to do.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[jedidiah]

Trek had this annoying habit of assuming that everything would be a Communist utopia after we met aliens for the first time. It was rather annoying. They especially neutered humans from TNG onward to be drained of anything interesting enough to allow for drama. Alien races became stand-ins for human flaws.

People in the 24th century will likely be not that different than those of the 4th.

JMS seemed to be much more of a realist.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[Psyborgue]

And yet B5 includes "souls". Humans and Minbari share souls, which in the show, are real. It's not just alien religion. It implies the religion, or at least part of it, holds validity. DS9 has similar religion too, even with gods that end up being powerful, energy based life forms, but it has no souls. Roddenberry's Star Trek was openly hostile towards religion, as I assume you know. I don't consider this unrealistic. I think if any civilization is going to get to the stars, it's going to have to abandon religion. If we don't we'll kill each other far before. Even if religion were not abandoned before making contact with other species, it certainly would be afterwards. It would disprove every single creation story. How could religion exist?!?!

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[demon driver]

Do you understand the concept of fiction? Actually, to "pretend" things is exactly what fiction is about. And if a creator of fiction wants to "pretend" there's a future without religion, then that's just as valid as anything, and, another mistake on your behalf, I do not need to be a Startrek fan to prefer the idea of a future without religion to one where religions still exist. (My favourite ST series used to be DS9, although it contained more tolerance for religion than I'd call healthy, and I generally do regard B5 much more highly than most ST productions).

Oh, and by the way - a future without religion, as improbable as it may seem today, is something I'd still call more probable than the existence of "souls", a purely religious belief that seems to be part of the coming production just as it ran like a golden thread through B5. No matter whether JMS calls himself atheist or not.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[T.E.D.]

sigh If you're going to start up a 10 year old argument, at least look into what has been said before.

The Mimbari believed in that soul stuff. That doesn't make it true, just true for them. In fact, if you watched the episode Soul Hunter, you would have seen another species that believed very differently than the Mimbari about souls (with the predictable unblinking hatred from the Mimbari, much like you see from many other religons when their practices are incompatible, for example Mormon post-mortem "babptisims" of people who were other faiths in life).

JMS was a atheist, but one who at the time was interested what he could say about religon and intolerance if he made the (not unreasonable) postulation that spacefaring species might retain that part of their cultural heritage. His Narn had a totally different religon, and his human characters all had their own different beliefs, some old (Ivonova was Jewish), some new (Their male doctor was an adherent of some kind of multispecies Universalist church created after space travel), and various characters had their own levels of belief or disbelief in religon. Just like people today. What a concept!

Again, if you prefer Trek's treatment of religon, that's fine. Go watch that. But it doesn't make another author's treatment of it wrong.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[happy_place]

Nonsense. Religion isn't going away, nor should it. Roddenberry's biases is one aspect of his work that dates it. In general, one of Scifi's greatest flaws is despite its portrayal of fascinating scenarios and technological wonders it is difficult to apply to actual people because its main characters are often not people. Instead they are agnostic idealogues that come across as shallow. Its wooden/unrealistic portrayal of human depth due to many authors who insist in creating a caricature of religion for the sake of either making it either a cliche'd villain or the elimination of meaning altogether makes many of the great ideas presented therein flawed...

Good scifi takes into account that intelligent people can and do acknowlege a higher power without turning all evil or into one-dimensional automatons.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[T.E.D.]

Oh, and by the way - a future without religion, as improbable as it may seem today, is something I'd still call more probable than the existence of "souls", a purely religious belief that seems to be part of the coming production just as it ran like a golden thread through B5. No matter whether JMS calls himself atheist or not.

Sigh. See my sibling post on this for a long version. But the short version is that one species in the show believed that. One. The humans mostly did not (although they certianly weren't going to talk that other species out of it, as it was the one thing that stopped them from exterminating humanity). Sure, it came up a lot, but only because that one species was central to the plot arc, and this belief was driving their actions. There was nothing in the show whatsoever that implied their beliefs had to be true.

Try this. The Vorlons and the Shadows were the most advanced (major) species in the series. Show me one instance where they said anything about "souls". One. In fact, one ep strongly implied that the development of most religions from most species (including the soul-believers), were heavily influenced by Vorlon interference.

It seems the problem a lot of people have here is that the writer depicted people of faith without going out of his way to debunk their beliefs. Many people can't seem to get it through their heads that this isn't the same thing as an endorsement of their beliefs. Some people can actually (gasp) coexist with folks who adhere to a different belief system than themselves, without trying to show they are wrong at every opportunity. In fact, if there's one religous "golden thread" to look for in the series, that is it.

I don't mind complaints about the show, but they should at least be accurate complaints. For instance, the psionics certianly did seem inarguably supernatural. That's an old SciFi complaint though, and is hardly confined to B5.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[Psyborgue]

How could, say, Christianity or Islam exist once we discover other species? Wouldn't it disprove creation mythology, by extension casting doubt on the rest of it? I don't think it's unrealistic to think that after a hundred of so years after first contact the last vestiges of religion would entirely disappear.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[T.E.D.]

I don't know enough to speak for Islam, but many (if not most) Christians don't base their entire belief system on every word in the Bible being literally true as a historical record. What we've found in the realms of Physics, Biology, Geology, and Archeology have already given ample proof against that.

Most "mainline" Christian demoninations are just fine with reading the three (yes three) different creation stories in The Bible as alegorical stories. The rest (who you seem to incorrectly believe are everybody, rather than the loud galling minority they are) have landed on contorted logcial arguments to explain away any pesky evidence, and I do not see how any further evidence of any kind will magically defeat them.

The fact that you ask these questions though make you a good candidate to watch the show. How faith interacts with life with other species (often of other faiths) is *exactly* the kind of question JMS was trying to explore with his coverage of religon on B5. For example, you could view this issue as just another example of interfaith interactions touched off in the Age of Discovery, which ultimately ended up creating Unitarianisim. Sure enough, B5 has one character (the station doctor) who is an adherent of a kind of Unitarianisim created after first contact and the advent of space travel.

Re:"Souls hunted"?

[cwsumner]

How could, say, Christianity or Islam exist once we discover other species? ...

Maybe...

But what if the "Angels", described by various names in many religions, turned out to be extraterrestrial civilizations? Some religions would self destruct, I suppose. But in fact it would mean that many of the stories would be "as real as a slap in the face". And a more advanced civilization might know a whole lot more about "creator gods" than we do. How advanced would a being have to be before it qualified as a real "god"?

Re: retro luddite would have a blu-ray player

[jedidiah]

Most BD players these days are as cheap as dedicated streamers and have exactly the same apps that you would want from the dedicated appliances.

No space ships, no SciFi

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, can we film a Sci Fi series somewhere other than the desert southwest and British Columbia. How about space? You know, the nothing that takes 99.99999% of the universe. Sorry executives, good scifi requires some actual sci and that costs money. Stop being such accountants and actually imagine something for a change.

AppleTV and Roku boxes are cheap

[SuperKendall]

Even if you can't get Netflix working under Linux, you can always buy an AppleTV or Roku box for under $100 and run Netflix on that. The experience is superior anyway, no plugins or updates, Netflix runs really well and you can easily attach it to any TV.

Re:AppleTV and Roku boxes are cheap

[Darinbob]

You still need an internet connection, with enough streaming bandwidth to support your TV viewing habit. That's a severe barrier to many people.

Plus I think the current design is stupid. I don't want streaming TV, I want TV I can download in off-peak hours to watch later, DVR style. Streaming is being a bad internet neighbor as it uses the most bandwidth during the heaviest usage hours.

Re:AppleTV and Roku boxes are cheap

[SuperKendall]

You still need an internet connection

COME ON. We are on Slashdot, and my point in particular was aimed at Linux users! What a stupid thing to say.

with enough streaming bandwidth to support your TV viewing habit

The amount required is a lot smaller than you think.

That's a severe barrier to many people.

CONTEXT.

I want TV I can download in off-peak hours to watch later, DVR style

Hello, iTunes (or possibly Prime on a Fire).

Streaming is being a bad internet neighbor as it uses the most bandwidth during the heaviest usage hours.

I wasn't aware midnight to 2am are the heaviest usage hours! That's when I view most of my streaming media anyway.

Oh that's right, were you talking about people utterly orthogonal to the people I was talking to and about? Why yes, yes you were!

Re:AppleTV and Roku boxes are cheap

[Darinbob]

Why is this stupid? Slashdotters aren't necessarily experts in rewiring their house to get from the internet port to their TV. And I'm sure plenty of them are still at 1.5mbps.

Re:AppleTV and Roku boxes are cheap

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously you've never used Netflix. Even the cheapest broadband connections suffice. You make it sound like people are still on dial up.

If you have to worry about 'being a good internet neighbor' there's a problem with your ISP, not your internet habits. It's not like we're talking about having as many torrents as possible downloading as much media as the connection can handle. We're talking about streaming a single movie/show (usually not even HD). If I use Skype during prime-time hours, does that make me a bad internet neighbor?

Do you work for a freakin' ISP or something? If they can't handle the bandwidth then they ought to stop advertising, ought to stop accepting new customers. If my ISP couldn't handle Netflix (in ADDITION to the other internet devices running in my home) then I would drop them in a heartbeat. That's why I pay my internet bill -- if I couldn't do that stuff during prime-time hours then what's the point of having broadband? A dial-up connection can handle like 90% of my e-mail (100% if I'm REALLY patient).

Re: retro luddite would have a blu-ray player

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep because everything is either plastic disks or streaming over the internet.

Nobody would rip blurays on their computer (or pirate raw bluray files) and store them in their HTPC's media library unrecompressed (or recompressed much more gently than either typical "1080p" streaming rubbish or scene downloads).

House of Cards is not really about Washington.

[sgtrock]

What's currently running in the U.S. is just a remake of a BBC series from 1990. Naturally it doesn't really eflect Washington in 2013.

Re:House of Cards is not really about Washington.

[Seumas]

Considering it was made in 2012 by people in the US, there's no reason it couldn't have been made to reflect it.

Then again, I don't really have much interest in watching it. I already watched (and watched it get canceled) Boss, which was fantastic.

what?

[geekoid]

" might bring joy to fans of science fiction dismayed by years without any new scifi shows:"
If you can't find new scifi shows, you aren't looking.

Re:what?

[Xeth]

What would you recommend?

Re: retro luddite would have a blu-ray player

[geekoid]

In what was does a BD with a dedicated 'streamer' Magically increase the person bandwidth?

what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Jeremiah no thanks ...that was utter crud crap....this just sounds like a bunch a people broke cause they spend to much money looking to cash in again...like season 5 and crusade and the last 2 matrix movies.
good luck cause obviously no one else is wanting them either.

i wouldn't even pirate warehouse LOL

[Anonymous Coward]

seriously the indiana jones moves do all you want and xfiles ...trying to merge the two with whom they had ...sorry didnt work and i could hardly watch 2 eps let alone the 3 i did

Yeah, can't wait.

[garyoa1]

Zombies attack Vampires while the Transformers and Supergrandpa look on in the 25th century. Can't wait. Sci fi has been a lost art for eons now.

freedom may be required for "not crap"

[Anonymous Coward]

Freedom is what causes it to be non-crap. If it weren't free, the controlling entity would turn it against the users to make it crap.

Freedom doesn't indicate quality, but lots of anecdotes suggest it might be a requirement for quality. I mean the user having a quality experience, not the fundamental technical architecture. For example, a QNX system, which is non-free, may be technically excellent in every way. But the reason someone might use QNX, is that the licensing would allow them to use it to build a product which works against the user. So you'd get well-operating crap: something which (unlike Windows) actually works, but works to harm its user (like Windows).

Netflix runs on Linux...

[Anonymous Coward]

What OS do you think is in all those BluRay players that have Netflix?

Netflix will never allow native Linux access.

[Anonymous Coward]

The CEO of Netflix is Reed Hastings.

Reed Hastings is also on the board of directors of Microsoft.

Why do you think they switched to silverlight?

Linux? There's a fast, easy solution for that

[pkbarbiedoll]

I run several flavors of Linux at home and work and am disappointed that Netflix doesn't work natively under Linux. Rather than fudging around with a virtual machine or trying to get things working under Wine, I walked into my local electronics store and paid $70 for a nice blu-ray, internet enabled player. A Smart TV box. I now watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube and more without taking a hit on my laptop performance.

Space science fiction is encumbered

[Leo Sasquatch]

Not to mention expensive to do properly.

You have to postulate working anti-gravity without acknowledging the ramifications of that technology. Or spend more on wirework and/or CGI than can be coped with by a standard show's budget.

And you have to find plots that haven't been done before. Without resorting to reversing the polarity of the neutron flow or getting this cheese to Sickbay. There's what, about 800 episodes of Trek in all its incarnations, plus Galactica old and new, Babylon 5, and stuff that only made very short runs, S:AAB, Space Rangers etc.

All the science fiction from the last decade I can think of is earth-based, and I don't think it's because it's easier or cheaper to make, although it probably is. I think much of it is because any time someone comes up with an idea for a space-based series, it just sounds like Star Trek, The Nth Generation, or Babylon 6.

Yes they are

[Unknown Lamer]

If they want my money they are.

Keep it on the content, not your complex

[Blue23]

Hopefully it'll end up available on DVD eventually, for us poor GNU/Linux users who are not worthy enough for Netflix (or: to any Netflix engineers reading, make it work).

You know, I get netflix on a bunch of embedded systems in my house - one TV, two refurbished blue-ray players I got from Woot! I'd be surprised if none ran Linux. Oh, and my kindle fire gets it, it's Android, so ... Linux.

Really, you felt an article about a new show was improved with a "pity me, I'm persecuted because I use Linux" whine? It's like complaining that your electric toothbrush doesn't run Linux, but you hope Colgate will fix it. I love Linux, doesn't mean that I expect one tool to do everything. Well, Perl, but that's a different story. (And a quick search on CPAN shows WWW::Netflix::API. I'm scared.) Buck up, put out a good story, and if you're editorial doesn't add to it, leave it out.

Circling back around, I was just thinking about rewatching B5 again, it's been a couple of years. I'm looking forward to this, I wonder how long it will take to produce and when it will come out.

The world USA

[chester_nut]

More to the point, hopefully it comes out on DVD so that the >95% of the world that does not live in the USA gets to watch it as well! All of this wonderful new content being exclusive to the internet streaming services is a real blow for most of the denizens of our fine planet, as they cannot access any of it!

No suprise that...

[Anonymous Coward]

once again the rest of the world gets fucked.

Trivial pursuit

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> or: to any Netflix engineers reading, make it work

Because only trivial numbers of sci-fi fans use Linux, and only trivial numbers of sci-fi Linux fans know how to use torrents when they can't get it legally, even though, as engineers, they can easily afford it and want to to support it.

Re: retro luddite would have a blu-ray player

[Anonymous Coward]

I get an excellent HD picture with a 20 Mbps connection. Gigabit internet is not necessary.