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Ask Slashdot: Linux Friendly Video Streaming?
earthwormgaz writes "I've set up a Linux XBMC + MythTV with FreeView machine for the lounge at home. It works pretty well for Linux, although things crash here and there. The Mrs wants LoveFilm or Netflix, but it seems they're Silverlight and not Linux friendly. Is there anyone doing streaming film and TV with Flash or something else that works on Linux? Failing that, is there anyway to download a film for £4-6 say, as just an AVI file or something, legally?"
Uses a flash player
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=netflix+on+linux
http://how-to.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_watch_Netflix_(Watch_Instantly)_in_Linux
As per finding a legal DRM-free film, your chances are zero for 99% of everything you'd like to watch, and just highly unlikely for the remaining 1%. Any sites that would advertise such are most likely priating the movies and then selling for profit.
Bye!
out there which have WiFi, Ethernet & USB, know CIFS, NFS & dlna and also have embedded Netflix, Vudu, etc clients.
I picked one up last week for $100. The dlna client -- which is all we have experience with -- works like a charm.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Hulu Desktop has a Linux version last time I checked.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
There is a Netflix App for Linux that runs through Wine. It works perfectly fine.
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
The usual answer to questions like this is:
(1) Decide what you want the computer to do
(2) Acquire the right platform.
Syaing "I've already got [whatever platform], how do I make it do what I want?" is often not a helpful approach.
"It works pretty well for Linux, although things crash here and there."
Lies, FUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I put together a little atom based box with the idea of installing XBMC, and rocking and rolling from there.
So many hassles, flash based video like youtube and justin.tv constantly freeze, getting 5.1 audio out seems to be a pipe dream. Somewhere between samba, the kernel, the ntfs drivers, and the hardware, my USB drive I have my files on keeps getting corrupted.
No hardware accel support in flash, so outside of xbmc I can't even watch a thumbnail sized youtube vid in chromium or firefox. It's a fucking joke.
I used ubuntu, maybe there are slightly better distros for the task, but who knows, I gave up. I just wanted to come home, sit on the couch, and watch some movies.
Pony up for a copy of windows home edition, and install XBMC on that. It's not going to get infected if you aren't installing warezez and browsing bad sites, and everything will work.
For the punchline, I picked up an original xbox from a thrift store for 20 bucks, softmodded and put the latest XBMC on it. It works like a champ.
(1) Decide what you want the computer to do
(2) Acquire the right platform.
I agree that is a usable approach if money is no object.
Syaing "I've already got [whatever platform], how do I make it do what I want?" is often not a helpful approach.
If you have to make do with the hardware that you already own, the "often not a helpful approach" is the only approach apart from doing without.
Failing that, is there anyway to download a film for 4-6 GBP
aitikin wrote:
Hulu Desktop
Since when did Hulu expand to a country that uses pounds as its currency?
For every job there are several tools that might work. For most, there are some tools that aren't the best choice. For example, while some screwdrivers could be used to hammer nails - they aren't the best for it and certainly will be frustrating to use. Linux has several places where it shines. It also has some where it is too frustrating to futz with. Video, due to the current copyright / drm mess, is one of the later. Don't cut off your choices just to be a zealot. Get an appropriate tool. That might be a Roku box or something similar. If you want to have just one unit, it could be a TiVo premier XL 4 or something like that which will be a DVR and also give you streaming through NetFlix and Hulu Plus. Or, it might even be a Windows or Mac box. My money is probably on something like a Roku and keeping what you have for the DVR. But don't tie yourself to a tool that doesn't fit the job. Use one that is actually designed to deal with the real world - that nasty place full of drm and copyright.
It's not Netflix or Lovefilm, but Hulu works great under XBMC w/ Linux using the Bluecop addon. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=121023
get a raspberry pi and set up xbmc on it. i did. it has 5.1 out, hdmi cec (turns on tv + amp, sets to right inputs automatically), runs linux, can handle 1080p video. plus it's just so cute. also unlike an old xbox it is tiny, silent, and runs off a phone charger.
no longer working for cnet
a roku hockey puck and plex media server running on my debian server and also my debian desktop. if i can't find what i want on netflix or any of the other channels on the roku i grab a torrent. i was using a soft-modded 1st gen xbox and xbmc but got the roku for Christmas. there are compromises using either set-up.
Serenity now, insanity later.
Why would a Raspberry Pi work better than the intel atom based nettop I put together?
It's already tiny and runs off a 12v wall wart, and has enough stones for some light gaming/emulators
The hardware is great, it's linux that sucks at multimedia.
Assuming you have the bandwidth for it, VLC Media player itself allows you to set up a great streaming video of your desktop in Linux. Other VLC clients can then connect up to the IP address of your server and stream it directly from there. I had one Windows friend who would sort of "port" me over to LiveStream by:
a) connecting his VLC client with mine, he's now receiving my video stream
b) he created a livestream of his -own- desktop, playing my vlc stream
c) other people connected up to the livestream
The benefits are that it seems to use a minimal amount of bandwidth for both me and him, plus it gets you onto livestream if you insist. But as I say, if you can afford the bandwidth and your upload speed isn't mercilessly capped, you can easily use VLC for this.
Sure. But saying "Swap to Windows" isn't exactly any more helpful, is it? I'm not going to shell out for a Windows license and I'm not going to install it illegaly. If I can't play netflix on the operating system of my choice, they're not having my business, simple as that. Besides, at the price I would pay for a netflix movie, I'll get the DVD instead; sometimes at a car boot sale, sometimes at the thrift shop, sometimes at poundland, and I even pay full price, at times. It might score slightly lower on the "instant gratification" scale, but at least I'm watching the films on my own terms.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
> Pony up for a copy of windows home edition, and install XBMC on that
Except it will have the exact same problems with Flash. The truth of the matter is that hardware acceleration is a new thing with Adobe. It's not something you can depend on in Flash because it's a new feature that webmasters have to specifically enable.
Meanwhile, even Linux has supported full GPU acceleration for years. That copy of XBMC that you didn't really try out had that available.
The Adobe devs are too busy fixating on clanlib.
> For the punchline, I picked up an original xbox
Original xbox? Really? You need to come up with less absurd stuff.
Troll harder next time.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
But it's not a square peg into a round hole. It's an infinitely variable shaped peg which is the perfect tool for the job. That's why 99% use Linux and 1% "make settle for what they don't understand".
The problem is the hole is proprietary and no one knows what shape it is.
I know -- "Ewwwww Apple! We Linux users haaaaaaate Apple -- Apple isn't leet!"
But hey - if you can get past all that, it will stream Netflix AND Hulu and stream iTunes music from your laptops and iPhones, not that you use iTunes or any other Apple stuff. But you get the streaming services you want on something that doesn't "crash here and there", and doesn't look like an eyesore homebrew project from spare parts. And it takes all of 5 minutes to set up.
And who knows, maybe one day the idea of being able to come home and stream the song you're playing on your iPhone over your Home Entertainment System via the AppleTV will be too much to resist.
I just got a Roku 3 and the user interface issues of the previous versions are fixed. Response is snappy and you can stream video from Plex media server (native Linux app) and other streaming servers (Playon, from Windows, for example). The Roku box will handle Netflix for you (and Hulu+) and will be easy enough for your wife to use without any training, and you'll have access to all your HDD based content as well.
Like Sony says, "it only does everything". Plays games, streams Netflix and Hulu+, plays content from DLNA servers, plays blu-ray discs, including 3D. PS3's are probably on sale since the PS4's are coming out...
For me personally, I need decent Flash. My (European) country's national broadcaster has a digital Flash-based channel. I recently found out that Adobe dropped Flash hardware acceleration somewhere last year. You can't force it on through some obscure configuration file, either.
That makes for a big disadvantage for most Linux-friendly stuff, I need something Microsofty or Apple-ish.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Netflix works pretty well on Android, just pick up a nice Tegra tablet with an HDMI output and you're all set.
Or just buy a used Windows laptop to run Netflix on. It's not like that box is ever going to be doing anything else, so it'll free up your nice PCs to run Linux and get actual work done.
> The hardware is great, it's linux that sucks at multimedia.
No. It's you that sucks. You are a really lame troll.
Plenty of Linux users (myself included) do very well with Atom based nettops.
Linux does quite well at multimedia. I don't have download anything called Shark007 in order to get my codecs sorted out. Linux is no worse supported on an Atom based nettop than Windows is.
The limiting factor is CPU guzzling streaming services that will choke an Atom anyways.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
For quite some time I just resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to boot into windows or use some other poor method to get my netflix on... then Erich Hoover arrived with a heroic flast to his eye, chin thrust forward and proclaimed, "Do not go gentle into that sudo shutdown -r now! Rage, rage against the needlessness of these cursed reboots!
Here is how to install the Netflix Desktop App on Ubuntu. Open a terminal and run these commands:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop More info here: http://www.iheartubuntu.com/2012/11/ppa-for-netflix-desktop-app.html
putting media (or any valuable data) on a windows file system is just asking for trouble. I was in a similar situation and found that it was just easier to buy a wireless ROKU box for 50$ and move it to the room where needed. I can still pull streaming video form amazon and netflix to my MYTHTV boxes through the chrome browser. but the wife factor was not friendly so Roku makes up for that.
I usually go with Plex and Chrome. has tons of content and just works with Flash / HTML5. No silverlight here.
"Meanwhile, even Linux has supported full GPU acceleration for years. That copy of XBMC that you didn't really try out had that available."
That's a lie. GPU acceleration totally depends on your driver. e.g. I ran a VIA system (more for NAS than for desktop use) that has a h264 decoder in the GPU, but the driver only does basic 2D display and you have to compile from SVN for that. I would need to use Windows 7 or 8 to get GPU acceleration (including basic OpenGL)
If you run AMD open source driver : the feature has only very recently been ported to it (so, it will work in some future distro, or in a current one if you update the driver and whatever else in the near future)
With an Atom it might as well be a crap shoot (pray that you have Intel graphics and not PowerVR, then work up from that). Apparently here, XBMC supports the Intel Intel Atom, through Intel's API, but Flash does not, and the CPU is not powerful enough for youtube 480p, maybe not enough for 360p, maybe can manage to display some 240p.
Plex...you will be pleased.
http://www.youtube.com/movies
http://hbonordic.com/home
https://www.headweb.com/
Funny that. I never seem to have problems with multimedia, be it streaming (which I usually un-stream first so I can play it on anything attached to the server) or file-based media. Using Linux. Maybe Linux does not suck at multimedia after all... which might explain the multitude of multimedia-related hardware on the market running Linux.
What makes the Raspberry Pi a good choice for this type of application is its lower power consumption, lower price, lower maintenance, lower heat output, lower noise, lower just about everything than just about everything. Yes, that includes lower CPU performance than just about everything so you don't want to be running heavy stuff on it.
Is it better than that intel atom thing you use? It might be, or it might not. It depends on your needs. If you happen to run on a limited power budget - a cabin in the woods, a boat, a mobile home - it is.
By the way, I don't see where the author of the Raspberry post said it was *better* than your intel thing. Why did you feel the need to defend it?
--frank[at]unternet.org
With Debian, android and Windows 7 machines, the cable cut and Tier II Internet (2 up, 20 down Mbps) in the house I simply use streaming devices for my TV's: Samsung wifi blu ray player for the big TV and a nice little WD Play TV device for my bedroom TV. Simple, inexpensive and fewer hassles.
Full screen 480p YouTube works smoothly on a Windows netbook. On Linux (same hardware), it drops frames due to lacking hardware acceleration.
Flash Access requires libhal, hald
This has been known since Feb 2011, which Amazon started encoding new content for TV shows using the newer version of Flash Access.
The Flash Access Component requires that the local machine support Libhal and hald, even though they are deprecated by over 7 years now by the OpenDesktop project.
It uses the information gathered from this interface to create a machine unique identifier, which it then uses as a content crypto key on the stream, and then you can play Amazon, Youtube, and Google Play content just fine.
Otherwise it bitches that your Flash is "out of date", when what it really means is that it can't install the Flash Access component because the libraries and supporting components used in the installation success test aren't there.
Most streaming applications won't support Linux because it doesn't require signed system components, and without that, the can't protect their content from piracy, commercial skipping, and so on when they stream to Linux systems; it's too easy to interpose libraries, system calls, and so on and take unencrypted digital content and rip it to some mp4 or other container file format.
This is also why the components from Provo, Utak for abc.com, nbc.com, and cbs.com have never been ported to Linux, and probably never will be.
The Mrs wants LoveFilm or Netflix.
Maybe you should deliver and not persuade.
If you want to fight windmills then go right ahead, meanwhile let the Mrs save face among friends.
Really, no really, don't get your priorities mixed up.
Google Play plays through Youtube. So if you can use Youtube, you should be able to use Play. Full disclosure: the one time I used Google Play to rent a movie, I ended up watching it on a Windows computer. Not because I was having issues with Linux--the Windows computer was just better situated for watching.
Both work on Linux, although Amazon requires the Flash plugin (new Chrome-only Pepper API one will not work) with the HAL (there's a HAL package on Ubuntu: http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/flash-player-11-problems-playing.html) The Adobe DRM for Amazon may come into a future Pepper API plugin but it is not currently implemented, which is why you need the old plugin Flash plugin + HAL. Hulu works with both, as far as I can tell. It's been a while since I've watched stuff on there, though.
--
Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
XBMC is too heavy for Raspberry Pi. It's chunky on it. As well, it doesn't support Netflix. The Amazon plugin is shaky. OpenELEC is busy confusing itself by doing stuff like taking bluetooth out and putting it back in. If you are actually going to go buy something to do this job, a Raspberry Pi is absolutely the wrong thing to spend your money on. It's not the worst media player, but it really doesn't provide the kind of experience it probably should. The old Xbox may not be tiny or silent, or run off a "phone charger" (most phone chargers are 1A or less at 5V...) but XBMC was much smoother on it than it is on the R-Pi.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm using tvheadend for a backend (on a beefy desktop PC with TV cards, SSD and TBs of storage) and an Acer Revo 3710 (a "little atom based box") with XBMC on Ubuntu 12.04. No problems with hardware acceleration (uses Nvidia ION 2) once I installed the proprietary nvidia-current driver or sending 5.1 audio to my 5.1 setup (obviously use the Sound section in Ubuntu's system settings to test the audio before doing the same in XBMC's audio settings). It should be noted that everything is connected HDMI (Revo -> receiver-> plasma TV) and I was worried HDMI audio might not work, but it seems to be fine.
My only beef with XBMC on my setup is that it can hang at "exit points" periodically (either stopping a video/live TV stream from playing or trying to exit XBMC completely).
It should be noted here that I don't watch movies on Youtube - it's about the last place I'd think of looking! I tend to watch local or LAN-networked files from a DVD or Blu Ray rip - any streamed video is useless IMHO (it buffers unless your connection is perfect and can't picture search FF/REW or even position jump at decent speeds),
One option is to run an android emulator and use the netflix android app.
The days of "my service does not work it must be Linux problem" are over. Netflix and many other services are designed to play to many clients other than MS-Windows. The current generation of SMART TVs support various apps. Both my current Samsung and previous LG TVs run Linux. The Samsung has a Netflix app that does not have problems.
I have this working perfectly on my htpc:
Is a customized wine install + ffox for windows + some old version of silverlight.
I know there is a hulu desktop app that is also linux friendly. There are xbmc and amazon prime plugins that work just fine.
http://m.lifehacker.com/5963726/netflix-finally-comes-to-ubuntu-in-the-form-of-an-unofficial-desktop-app
"Multimedia" may work fine under Linux, but the no-longer-maintained Adobe Flash proprietary plugin definitely sucks. It is, IMO, one of the reasons why Flash as a content delivery platform needs to die. It was developed by a company who put a developer who was vocally and publicly anti-Linux in charge of their Linux plugin. Hooray.