I have a Netflix account and I have peeked under the hood at its video player running inside Google Chrome. Netflix calls its video player "Cadmium" and the javascript exposes all the functions and event handlers you might expect, such as play, stop, pause, mute, etc. I'm building a little Chrome extension that would enable me to call these Cadmium player function, but the hard part for me is figuring out how to create an instance of the player so I can start calling. The javascript is large, complex, and somewhat obscure. Once I can create an instance of that player, I'm thinking that making calls into the functions will be easy.
In Chrome dev tools I can set a breakpoint inside that block, and execution hits the breakpoint when I click the Mute button on the netflix video player. The Netflix js is (unsurprisingly) heavily obfuscated via method renaming. I tried stepping through the code in the debugger and ended down a hundred rabbit holes, never able to find my way to the top of the stack, so that I could make that same call (at top of stack) to simulate the user clicking the mute button. I also tried the approach of programmatically clicking the mute button on the UI player, which would meet my needs equally well, but they have serious defensive mechanisms in there, spinning me like a top.
Since there are over 100K lines of javascript, and I'm uncertain which chunks exactly would be relevant for this post, I would like to suggest that you load Netflix in Chrome, open dev tools, play a movie, and inspect the pause or mute button. Interacting with those video player controls takes you into the maze of javascript which I'm trying to see how I can tap into to control aspects of the player programmatically (just from dev tools is fine for now). Another important thing I need to figure out is how to query the video player to determine the current elapsed time of the playing video.
In this exemple the player will play the video at 10000ms.But you will need to inject the script directly in the html page, if you are making an extension using this in the content-script injected by manifest v3 (for my case) will not work.
As hinted, WD TV Live Streaming Media Player (Gen 3) is the version with Netflix support. The current WDTV Media Player product hardware is practically identical (just no LIVE on the front panel) but software is different - Netflix is one of the features removed.
The device does not have the Netflix copy protection chip in it so never can have Netflix capability. Ther are inexpensive ways to get Netflix on your TV. A Chromecast on TV controlled by a phone or tablet with the Netflix app can do the job.
The Roku was the original Netflix player and the first. one was primarily a Netflix player . I have had the first three players and have stayed with the last one,Roku 2 since the newer ones had no great features I needed. Roku was first and best player and the WDTV was not a good UI and never use it for Netflix,used just as a media player.
Cold boot time is also as much as three or four minutes and even warm boots are sometimes a minute long. Leaving the device running often results in low memory errors or videos stuttering or failing to play. Now about half of my MKVs which used to play smoothly no longer play at all.
I still have email from WD support on my WDTV Live unit. It explains how to activate Miricast which I did and as promised a large number of otherwise unseen apps showed up to the right of the screen. But; the promised NETFLIX app was not included.
There is also an instruction of loading an additional app through the USB device. This would mean access to Netflix app in a folder so it will install properly. I see one on Amazon which is perfect set up for Miricast etc. Even Kobo Books has an app for Netflix.
Because the apps are set up for immediate install we need to get it in a folder and open the folder on the USB stick. Or, a more civil thing would be for WD to undo the roll back and put the Netflix into a current update.
I need some suggestions for Control4 compatible streaming players which are supported outside USA.
I should be able to control the streaming player from the Control4 app.
I need to watch youtube, Netflix and etc...
I have been using Apple TV and it sucks big time when it comes to Control4 integration.
Apple TV keeps disconnecting whenever a new update arrives. Every time it gets disconnected, I need to reset Apple TV and reupdate.
With the most recent IOS update, even though it displays that the C4 remote is getting connected, it cannot be controlled.
I think Roku, nvidia shield and Fire TV are probably the most popular, not sure if any of them are available in your region though. Chowmain do a driver that works with a lot of android tv boxes but I have no experience with it
Just watch how much data the Chromecast uses... My oldest was living in the basement with his family a while back, and his wife streamed YouTube videos over Chromecast, and it *REALLY* sucked up the data.
Also will I be able to take the full control of the GUI of Chromecast with Google TV using Control4 app from the iPhone just like we control AppleTV?
(Hope it is not a must to have a SR260 or Neeo remote to navigate the operating system/GUI of the device)
As far as the turn off - just set the appleTV to never go to sleep and you should nbe fine, though on both the C4 made and Jessie's driver, a press of menu and cancel right after each other usually wakes it up just fine.
For me my favorite ever steamer is Xiaomi Mi Box, very cheap, I use it wired not WiFi with IRUSB and Chowmain IRUSB driver, great box, lovely Interface and with the proper smart DNS service, all US contents can be viewed.
Same here, though I can't speak for all of Canada. Some providers still 'state' a download limit, but unless you're talking bitcoin mining or (pro) server hosting (not talking about hosting something like a minecraft server)........nothing ever happens.
Here in Ontario Bell and Rogers are unlimited in their high-ish end plans that have download speeds of about 200Mbps or more. Unfortunately they no longer allow you to see how much data you use - I would love to have seen how much I would have used at the peak of the pandemic.
I've never used the Mi Box Personally (but fairly sure it's one in our office Alan has tested actually). In all likelihood though, you need to go into the the audio settings and enable something like PCM/Stereo mode (it might be trying to output as TrueHD or other surround formats not supported by some TV's)
Actually my AVR Sony DA5800ES is in my server room.
The speakers are in the Theatre room to listen to music and video's audio which are connected to this AVR.
I connected both Mi Box S & Chromecast to the Leaf AV Matrix.
One of the outputs of Leaf AV Matrix (Zone 5) is connected to this AVR (HDMI Input GAME) to get the video's audio through the receiver.
However, the audio of Mi Box S & Chromecast is not outputting through the AVR.
But the audio of Apple TV works.
I tried changing the settings of the AVR, but I couldn't figure it out yet.
The Netflix movies that you stream are NOT in high def. Although I knew this going in, I expected them to all be at least widescreen (with the exception of titles that were never widescreen). I was shocked that the first couple of titles I tried were NOT playing in widescreen. As a matter of fact they even looked a little squished. It was like they were widescreen titles that were being forced into a 4:3 format.
This player connects to your network via Ethernet. So you will need either an ethernet drop near your TV or an Ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge (which I have not tested). It would be great if these Blu-ray players either came with Wi-Fi built-in or at least offered a low cost external option like the one available for TiVo HD.
Thanks, Terry. The world has passed me by, but I think I got it. He can load the disk on his Mac and plug the AirPort into the wall near his BD300. Then he would run an Ethernet cable from the AirPort to the BD300 and would be able to stream Netflix movies directly to his TV. Sounds like a better deal for us rather than just waiting for the movies to arrive in the mail. Again, thanks so much.
I am having the same issue with the LG BD300. this player will not connect to the internet no matter what i do. Just purchased it a few days ago; it will be going back to Best Buy tomorrow. Forget about calling LG for tech support, they are ABSOLUTELY clueless. They act like they never even heard of the connection problems that people are having.
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