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Native Netflix Support Is Coming To Linux

sfcrazy writes: Native support for Netflix is coming to Linux, thanks to their move from Silverlight to HTML5, Mozilla and Google Chrome. Paul Adolph from Netflix proposed a solution to Ubuntu developers: "Netflix will play with Chrome stable in 14.02 if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed. If this version is generally installed across 14.02, Netflix would be able to make a change so users would no longer have to hack their User-Agent to play." The newer version of NSS is set to go out with the next security update.

5 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Re:When will it work in Seamonkey and Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Amusingly, they're relying on NSS, a Mozilla library, to get it working with Chrome. But to answer your question, Firefox support is being actively developed, now that Google have mostly ceased screwing around with the specs for MSE and EME and HTML5 video in general. It's still a few versions away at least, since it's a lot of work, and that's assuming that Netflix supports them. Last I checked the only people willing to write an EME module for Firefox were Adobe, and it's not ready yet either.

  2. Re:Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    It still feels weird to call it "HTML5", when the thing it really needs is a proprietary DRM module that isn't part of the HTML5 specs (nope, EME does not specific that part).

    This is also why it doesn't actually work in Firefox. Adobe was developing a DRM module for it, but they're not done yet. The actual HTML5 video stuff (MSE) that is required got added a while ago.

  3. Re: When will it work in Seamonkey and Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't see the identicalness you guys keep insisting is there. I really don't. If that's what you consider "identical" to Chrome, then Chrome's UI is identical to Firefox 2's, and Firefox 2's is identical to any other tabbed browser. Seriously. Even on startup it looks obviously different to me, and the moment I start actually using the browser it's as different as these things can be without looking alien... the tabs look different, the menu is different, the address bar dropdown is different, and that's not even counting how easily you can customize it to look vastly different... or how obviously differently it behaves. I honestly don't see any case that can be made to claim it's "identical" to Chrome. Nor that it's inferior - but that's a debate to have with people who aren't so invested in the old UI that they consider any change to be detrimental.

  4. Re:When will it work in Seamonkey and Firefox by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm waiting on Lynx support using ASCII. Damn!

    Well oddly enough if it didn't have DRM then that would work.

    You see, lynx can fire off MPlayer and MPlayer has an aalib and libcaca output mode allowing it to play in a terminal in monochrome or in colour.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  5. Re: Finally! by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:" is hard...