StreamIt from Netflix (Alpha NPVR version)

[johnsonx42]

In regards to the updater, it sounds like waiting for the PostUpdateEPG.bat support will be good. Given how long it takes to run the netflix updater, having it run in the UpdateEPG.bat and block the EPG update would not be a good idea. Having a PostUpdateEPG.bat that the recording service just launches and forgets about is a very nice idea.

[johnsonx42]

In your pre-announcement thread, about using the remote in fullscreen mode, you said:

I can remap remote keys when the custom browser (the player) is in windowed mode but when switching to fullscreen, I cannot remap the keys. So for fullscreen, you will need a programmable remote or programmable remote software like HIP.

I have an MCE remote, and also run EventGhost to catch some of the button press HID events and fire off a keypress event. So what keypresses allow seeking and pause in fullscreen mode? I thought Enter would pause/unpause, but it only seems to work in Pseudo Fullscreen mode. Can you enlighten me?

[whurlston]

In your pre-announcement thread, about using the remote in fullscreen mode, you said:

I have an MCE remote, and also run EventGhost to catch some of the button press HID events and fire off a keypress event. So what keypresses allow seeking and pause in fullscreen mode? I thought Enter would pause/unpause, but it only seems to work in Pseudo Fullscreen mode. Can you enlighten me?

In the Netflix Silverlight player while running Fullscreen, CTRL+SPACE will pause the player in a mode that will allow you to skip forward/back. Currently, the keyhooks and keypresses that I am sending don't seem to work though. That command will probably not work with my custom player though so you will need a build that does not use keyhooks.

Enter will pause/play but it does not allow you to ff/rew while paused.

[whurlston]

As it turns out, there is nothing wrong with my keyhooks for true fullscreen mode. The problem lies in using the webbrowser control in a custom form. For some unknown reason, the Silverlight control acts differently in fullscreen mode when using the browser control. For now, the workaround will have to be actually launching a webbrowser (IE or Firefox). IE can be launched in Kiosk mode (similar to the custom player's pseudo fullscreen mode) but Firefox cannot.

[johnsonx42]

So if I set EventGhost to send a Ctrl-Space to the silverlight player fullscreen window when I press my pause button, that will pause it and then let me skip with the arrows? I can do that.

[whurlston]

Yes. You will need to set a trigger to switch to the new profile. I'm not familiar with EventGhost. Are the triggers actived by the active window name or by the executable file of the active window? Either way, the Fullscreen mode window name is "Microsoft Silverlight" and the assembly for Silverlight 3 is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Silverlight\3.0.50106.0\npctrl.dll". Remove the " (x86)" if you are running 32 bit Windows. I will add something to the code that will log the Silverlight assembly version to NPVR.log just in case someone is running a different version. I should have an updated release tonight or tomorrow that will launch IE instead of the custom player and not use keyhooks. It will also have the ability to limit the list of movies by genres (movies can be listed in multiple genres).

Edit: I'll also be releasing the plugin source code about the same time.

[johnsonx42]

Are the triggers actived by the active window name or by the executable file of the active window? Either way, the Fullscreen mode window name is "Microsoft Silverlight" and the assembly for Silverlight 3 is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Silverlight\3.0.50106.0\npctrl.dll". Remove the " (x86)" if you are running 32 bit Windows.

EventGhost can use pretty much anything as a trigger. Basically Eventghost's structure is "IF <EVENT> THEN <ACTION(s)>". <EVENT> can be all manner of things, including particular windows gaining or losing focus, and among many other things <ACTION> can be to enable or disable various sets of eventghost commands. Thanks for the info on the exact window name, that will probably be the easiest way to trigger it.

I will add something to the code that will log the Silverlight assembly version to NPVR.log just in case someone is running a different version. I should have an updated release tonight or tomorrow that will launch IE instead of the custom player and not use keyhooks. It will also have the ability to limit the list of movies by genres (movies can be listed in multiple genres).

Yeah for the genre support! Regarding using IE instead of your custom player, does that make the above discussion about EventGhost and Ctrl-space moot?

[whurlston]

Yeah for the genre support!

What, you don't like scrolling through 8000+ titles? I will warn you though, there are still 500 genres available. I will look into allowing this list to be selective later on.

Regarding using IE instead of your custom player, does that make the above discussion about EventGhost and Ctrl-space moot?

No, by using IE instead of the custom player, it will allow the trickplay keyboard commands to work. For some reason, the keyboard commands (like Ctrl-Space) do not function properly when the fullscreen is launched from a custom player. I tried targeting the custom player to .Net 4 hoping that the newer WebBrowser control would fix the issue but then the player didn't work at all. By using full blown IE by default, all keyboard commands will work including the ones used in fullscreen mode.

By not using programming keyhooks into the plugin, it will require the use of something like EventGhost (IR Server Suite, Intelliremote, etc) but that will be more reliable than my keyhooks (which could have other unintended consequences). It will also allow for more user customization of the commands.

On another note, I've added the ability to show only available titles to the next build. I am only limiting it to titles that are not available yet (available from > now = not available). It will still show titles that have expired but they will show the availability dates in red. The reason for this is that there are some titles that are past the expiration date but they are actually still available for watching (Dexter Season 1 is an example). I'll change this should the expiration dates become more reliable.

You will also have the ability to specify a number of days for "Expiring soon" titles. If the title is expiring before now + [expiring soon value], it will also show the available dates in red.

[johnsonx42]

500 genres? wow. I can think of about twenty; it will be interesting to see what crazy stuff they've come up with for the other 480. Comedy.... Comedy-Drama.... Comedy-Drama-Romance.... Comedy-Drama-Romance-but-a-Little-Sad-in-Spots.... Comedy-Drama-Romance-but-a-Little-Sad-in-Spots-but-still-a-happy-ending.... Comedy-Drama-Romance-but-a-Little-Sad-in-Spots-and-a-downer-ending-illustrating-the-futility-of-life.... Comedy-Drama-Romance-but-a-Little-Sad-in-Spots-with-a-red-headed-dwarf.... Comedy-Drama-Romance-but-a-Little-Sad-in-Spots-with-a-one-legged-blonde-prostitute.... and so on...

I look forward to exploring the new version.

[whurlston]

If you open your Netflix.db3 file in an SQLITE browser like SQLite Admin, you can look at the Genres table and see the genres available.

But yeah, you're pretty close.