is silverlight going to foul things up?

[johnsonx42]

I'm not using NetFlix yet, but definitely want to include it in my GB-PVR system when it's ready to go live (soon I hope). All this talk of silverlight, new drm, etc. has me worried though.

If I understand correctly, the NetFlix plugin depends on the 'old' netflix format using wmv files which are simply played through whatever renderer you have specified in GB-PVR - it's done in a 'proper' graph sort of way. You can stream to watch now, or download them to watch later. It all works the way it should, and can also work with a PCH.

With this new silverlight thing, all the NetFlix plugin can do is launch a browser to watch a stream through the embedded silverlight player; all the playback is done outside of gb-pvr. Movies can't be download. It won't work with PCH, unless and until Syabas adds silverlight support to the device.

Do I have all that right?

I'm concerned then that soon NetFlix will force Silverlight on everyone, somewhat breaking the full functionality of the plugin. I don't even have a NetFlix account yet, I'd be signing up strictly to use it with GB-PVR (I have precious little interest in the actual DVD's by mail part; been there done that with Blockbuster). Are they already putting new signups on Silverlight?

Am I worried for nothing? I just don't want to depend on the use of NetFlix and then find out it will soon be largely broken.

[whurlston]

It actually doesn't affect the plugin THAT much. You'll still have pretty much the same functionality.

With the current plugin, there is an "internal" player with the plugin to play the wmv files but it's actually a skinless Windows Media Player. The files were never actually played in GBPVR but a window that opens on top of GBPVR. You also have the choice of an external app for playback (it must support DRM).

With Silverlight, you won't be able to download the movie first but I've already configured the plugin to launch IE with the Silverlight player. There is a bug regarding launching IE in Kiosk mode and the Config, but I'll have that fixed shortly. Once the silverlight player is out of beta, there may be more functionality than in their original player (like maybe not having to use a mouse for ff/rew) which was the main reason I wrote the plugin. I hated their player. I actually like the Silverlight player. When ff/rewinding, it shows thumbnails of the scene. I hope they add the ability to use keystrokes but for now, keep a mouse handy.

[johnsonx42]

ah, thanks whurlston, I'm glad to see it's less horrible than I imagined.

Luckily I do have a Gyration MCE remote which has an air mouse - I got it for using Hulu.

I take it though that as long as Netflix will allow it, it's best to stay away from Silverlight? Or are there any advantages to it now?

Hey, any chance you'll ever look into writing a Hulu plugin? They've got RSS feeds to get the show data, and the videos are flv which I've heard ffdshow may be able to play (though they've got some protection on the videos which may break any effort to play the files outside of their web players). Even if ffdshow won't work, you can use their web player which shouldn't be any harder than what you've already done for silverlight. Someone named brianp101 claimed he was working on something awhile ago, but hasn't been heard from since.

[whurlston]

ah, thanks whurlston, I'm glad to see it's less horrible than I imagined.

Luckily I do have a Gyration MCE remote which has an air mouse - I got it for using Hulu.

I take it though that as long as Netflix will allow it, it's best to stay away from Silverlight? Or are there any advantages to it now?

I would hold off for now. It is a beta player after all. Also, they are still converting a lot of the existing content to Silverlight.

Hey, any chance you'll ever look into writing a Hulu plugin? They've got RSS feeds to get the show data, and the videos are flv which I've heard ffdshow may be able to play (though they've got some protection on the videos which may break any effort to play the files outside of their web players). Even if ffdshow won't work, you can use their web player which shouldn't be any harder than what you've already done for silverlight. Someone named brianp101 claimed he was working on something awhile ago, but hasn't been heard from since.

I plan on looking into it but I may not get a chance until the holiday season is over.

[johnsonx42]

If you make a good Hulu plugin, you would officially become 'da man'.

I know that's your primary goal in life, to be regarded as 'da man' by a n00b on the gb-pvr forum who's posted so much in 2 months he's a 'Senior Member' yet still doesn't have a truly live GB-PVR system running...

[whurlston]

To be honest, I hope to finish Bluray/HD DVD support first, but we'll see. No promises though. As for being 'da man', been there, done that, moved to a new country to get away from it.